61 Notable alumni of
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Updated:
The University of Alaska Fairbanks is 1445th in the world, 506th in North America, and 474th in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 61 notable alumni from the University of Alaska Fairbanks sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Tom Emmer
- Enrolled in the University of Alaska Fairbanks
- In 1984 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- politicianradio personalitylawyer
- Biography
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Thomas Earl Emmer Jr. is an American attorney and politician who has served as majority whip in the United States House of Representatives since 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he has represented Minnesota's 6th congressional district since 2015.
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Mike J. Dunleavy
- Occupations
- school teacherpolitician
- Biography
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Michael James Dunleavy is an American educator and politician serving as the 12th governor of Alaska since 2018. A Republican, he was a member of the Alaska Senate from 2013 to 2018. He defeated former U.S. senator Mark Begich in the 2018 gubernatorial election after incumbent governor Bill Walker dropped out of the race. He was reelected in 2022.
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Mary Peltola
- Enrolled in the University of Alaska Fairbanks
- Studied in 1994-1995
- Occupations
- politicianjudge
- Biography
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Mary Sattler Peltola is an American politician and former tribal judge who served as the U.S. representative from Alaska's at-large congressional district from 2022 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as a judge on the Orutsararmiut Native Council's tribal court, executive director of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Bethel city councilor, and member of the Alaska House of Representatives.
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Colton Parayko
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
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Colton Parayko is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman and alternate captain for the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League (NHL). Growing up in St. Albert, Alberta, Parayko played minor ice hockey with the St. Albert Flyers and Fort McMurray Oil Barons before earning a scholarship to the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He went overlooked and undrafted in his first year of NHL eligibility before being selected 86th overall as a 19-year-old in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft by the St. Louis Blues. Following the draft, Parayko played three seasons with the Alaska Nanooks, earning All-Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) First Team and West Second-Team All-American honors. He concluded his collegiate career in 2015 to begin his professional career within the Blues organization.
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Joe Miller
- Occupations
- judgepoliticianlawyer
- Biography
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Joseph Wayne Miller is an American attorney and politician. He is best known as the runner-up in both the 2010 United States Senate election in Alaska and the 2016 United States Senate election in Alaska. A member of the Republican Party, he was defeated by Republican Lisa Murkowski in both races.
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Chad Johnson
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
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Chad Terry Johnson is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He most recently played for the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected in the fifth round, 125th overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.
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Matthew Emmons
- Occupations
- sport shootercoach
- Biography
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Matthew D. Emmons is an American rifle shooter. He competed in various events at the 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympics and won a gold, a silver, and a bronze medal.
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George Schaller
- Occupations
- zoologistnaturalistbiologistenvironmentalist
- Biography
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George Beals Schaller is an American mammalogist, biologist, conservationist and author. Schaller is recognized by many as the world's preeminent field biologist, studying wildlife throughout Africa, Asia and South America. Born in Berlin, Schaller grew up in Germany, but moved to Missouri as a teen. He is vice president of Panthera Corporation and serves as chairman of their Cat Advisory Council. Schaller is also a senior conservationist at the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society.
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Brad Oleson
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Bradley Scott Oleson Lashinski is an American-born naturalized Spanish former professional basketball player. He is a 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) tall point guard-shooting guard. His hometown of North Pole, Alaska, celebrates Brad Oleson Day every year on April 24.
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Kameron Hurley
- Occupations
- novelistwriter of feminist science fictionfeministwriterscience fiction writer
- Biography
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Kameron Hurley is an American science fiction and fantasy writer.
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Jay Hammond
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Jay Sterner Hammond was an American politician of the Republican Party, who served as the fourth governor of Alaska from 1974 to 1982. Hammond was born in Troy, New York and served as a Marine Corps fighter pilot in World War II with the Black Sheep Squadron. In 1946, he moved to Alaska where he worked as a bush pilot. Hammond served as a state representative from 1959 to 1965 and as a state senator from 1967 to 1973. From 1972 until 1974 he was the mayor of the Bristol Bay Borough. Then, in 1974, he was elected governor of Alaska.
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Bob Bartlett
- Occupations
- reporterpoliticianminer
- Biography
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Edward Lewis "Bob" Bartlett, was an American politician and a member of the Democratic Party. He served as a U.S. Senator. A key fighter for Alaska statehood, Bartlett served as the Secretary of Alaska Territory from 1939 to 1945, in Congress from 1945 to 1959 as a Delegate, and from 1959 until his death in 1968 as a U.S. senator. He was opposed to U.S. involvement in Vietnam, along with his fellow Senator Ernest Gruening, and also worked to warn people about the dangers of radiation. Many acts bear his name, including a major law known as the Bartlett Act, mandating handicap access in all federally-funded buildings.
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Morris Thompson
- Occupations
- businesspersonelectronics techniciancivil servant
- Biography
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Morris "Morrie" Thompson was an Alaska Native leader, American businessman and political appointee working on matters related to Alaska Natives. Thompson was best known as the official in charge of the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the U.S. state of Alaska during the 1970s, and later as head of Doyon, Limited, the Alaska Native Regional Corporation for Interior Alaska. Following his retirement from Doyon, while returning to Alaska from vacationing in Mexico, Thompson died, along with his wife and one of his three daughters, in the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261.
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Aaron Voros
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
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Aaron Voros is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Voros played in the National Hockey League with the Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers and Anaheim Ducks between 2007 and 2011. He served two consecutive years as the team president of the NHL Players Association for the New York Rangers and one year for the Anaheim Ducks.
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Lyman Hoffman
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Lyman F. Hoffman is a Yup'ik politician and Democratic member of the Alaska Senate since 1995. He represents the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska Peninsula, and Aleutian Islands. He also served in the Senate from 1991 to 1993 previously, and was a member of the Alaska House of Representatives from 1987−91 and 1993−95.
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Margaret Elizabeth Murie
- Occupations
- activistwriternaturalistconservationist
- Biography
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Margaret Elizabeth Thomas "Mardy" Murie was a naturalist, writer, adventurer, and conservationist. Dubbed the "Grandmother of the Conservation Movement" by both the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society, she helped in the passage of the Wilderness Act, and was instrumental in creating the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She was the recipient of the Audubon Medal, the John Muir Award, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the highest civilian honor awarded by the United States.
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James Wickersham
- Occupations
- judgepoliticianlawyer
- Biography
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James Wickersham was a district judge for Alaska, appointed by U.S. President William McKinley to the Third Judicial District in 1900. He resigned his post in 1908 and was subsequently elected as Alaska's delegate to Congress, serving until 1917 and then being re-elected in 1930. He was instrumental in the passage of the Organic Act of 1912, which granted Alaska territorial status. He also introduced the Alaska Railroad Bill, legislation to establish McKinley Park, and the first Alaska Statehood Bill in 1916. He was among those responsible for the creation of the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines, which later became the University of Alaska. A residence hall on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus is named in his honor.
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Syun-Ichi Akasofu
- Occupations
- earth scientistgeophysicistclimatologist
- Biography
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Syun-Ichi Akasofu [sʲɯn-itɕi̥ akasoɸɯ] is the founding director of the International Arctic Research Center of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), serving in that position from the center's establishment in 1998 until January 2007. Previously he had been director of the university's Geophysical Institute from 1986.
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Tom Albanese
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
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Tom Albanese was the former chief executive officer of the Vedanta Resources and was the former chief executive officer and a board member of the Rio Tinto Group. He was asked to resign from Rio Tinto on January 17, 2013 and was replaced by Sam Walsh. Albanese to stepped down as Vedanta CEO in August 2017.
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Scott Kawasaki
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Scott Jiu Wo Kawasaki is an American healthcare professional and politician from Alaska. A Democrat, he is a member of the Alaska Senate representing the state's District P, which includes neighborhoods within the city limits of Fairbanks.
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Brent Sass
- Occupations
- dogsled musher
- Biography
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Brent Sass is an American dog musher who is one of only six people to have won both the Iditarod and Yukon Quest sled dog races.
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DeeDee Jonrowe
- Occupations
- dogsled musher
- Biography
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DeeDee Ann Jonrowe is an American kennel owner and dog musher who is a three-time runner up in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. She is a very popular figure in the sport, and her completion of the 1,049-mile+ (1,600+ km) race in 2003 just three weeks after completing chemotherapy for breast cancer received widespread publicity.
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Jordan Hendry
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
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Jordan Hendry is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks. He won the Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks in 2010.
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Robert B. Duncan
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Robert Blackford Duncan was an American politician from the state of Oregon. A Democrat, he served multiple terms in the Oregon Legislative Assembly and as a U.S. congressman from Oregon. In the Oregon House of Representatives he served as speaker for four years, and in the U.S. House he represented two different districts. The Illinois native and World War II veteran ran three unsuccessful campaigns to be elected to the U.S. Senate.
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John Binkley
- Occupations
- businesspersonpolitician
- Biography
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John Emerson "Johne" Binkley is a riverboat pilot, businessman and Republican politician from the U.S. state of Alaska. Binkley served for one term apiece in the Alaska House of Representatives and the Alaska Senate during the mid and late 1980s, but is perhaps better known for his candidacy for governor of Alaska in the 2006 primary election. In that election, he finished far behind Sarah Palin (who would go on to win the governorship), but also far ahead of one-term incumbent governor Frank Murkowski, by then deeply unpopular amongst Alaskans.
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Cody Kunyk
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
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Cody Kunyk is a Canadian ice hockey forward currently under contract to Löwen Frankfurt of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). He has formerly played with the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League. (NHL)
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Ben Grossmann
- Biography
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Ben Grossmann is a visual effects supervisor in Los Angeles, California. He won an Oscar award for Hugo in 2012, and an Emmy award for The Triangle in 2006. He is the co-founder and CEO of Magnopus, a cross-reality experience company.
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Pete Kelly
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Peter Gene Kelly is an American politician who served as a member of the Alaska Senate. He also served as President of the Alaska State Senate from 2017 to 2019. Kelly previously served in the Alaska Legislature in the Alaska House of Representatives and Senate from 1995 until 2003. He was defeated for re-election in 2018, losing to state representative Scott Kawasaki.
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Terry Miller
- Occupations
- businesspersonpolitician
- Biography
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Terrence Brent Miller was an American businessman and politician. Miller served as the fourth lieutenant governor of Alaska from 1978 to 1982. His political career, which began while he was in his early 20s, lasted over two decades and was cut short by his death from lung cancer at age 46.
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Jamie Lynn Gray
- Occupations
- sport shooter
- Biography
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Jamie Lynn Corkish is an American sport shooter who won a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
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Mark Myers
- Years
- 1955-.. (age 70)
- Occupations
- geologist
- Biography
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Mark D. Myers is an American geologist who currently serves as a commissioner for the U.S. Arctic Research Commission. He also served as the fourteenth Director of the U.S. Geological Survey. He was nominated by President George W. Bush on May 3, 2006, confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and sworn in September 26, 2006. Dr. Myers replaced prior director Charles G. Groat, who had resigned effective June 17, 2005.
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Adam Wool
- Occupations
- businesspersonpolitician
- Biography
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Adam Wool is a former American politician who served as a member of the Alaska House of Representatives from District 5. He was a member of the Democratic Party. Wool is now living in his home state as a physics teacher at the Advanced Math & Science Academy Charter School.
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Reggie Joule
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Reginald L. "Reggie" Joule, Jr. is a politician in the U.S. state of Alaska. Until recently, Joule served a three-year term as mayor of the Northwest Arctic Borough, having been elected to that position in 2012. He announced his intention to retire from public service at the end of his term.
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Chris Birch
- Occupations
- mining engineerpoliticiancivil servantcivil engineer
- Biography
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Christopher Jim Birch was an American politician who served as a member of the Alaska Senate for District M in 2019 and the Alaska House of Representatives for the 26th District from 2017 to 2019. Birch was a member of the Republican Party.
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Tyler Morley
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
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Tyler Morley is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre. He is currently playing for EHC Kloten in the National League (NL). He made his professional debut with the San Diego Gulls in the American Hockey League (AHL) after concluding a collegiate career in the NCAA Division I with the Alaska Nanooks.
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J. Jill Robinson
- Occupations
- editornovelist
- Biography
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Jacqueline Jill Robinson is a Canadian writer and editor. She is the author of a novel and four collections of short stories. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have appeared in a wide variety of magazines and literary journals including Geist, the Antigonish Review, Event, Prairie Fire and the Windsor Review. Her novel, More In Anger, published in 2012, tells the stories of three generations of mothers and daughters who bear the emotional scars of loveless marriages, corrosive anger and misogyny.
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Mike Kelly
- Occupations
- aircraft pilotpoliticianbusinesspersonchief executive officer
- Biography
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Michael Patrick Kelly was a Republican member of the Alaska House of Representatives, representing the 7th District from 2005 until 2011. In the 26th Alaska State Legislature, he served on the Finance Committee, chairing the Corrections and the Natural Resources Finance Subcommittee. He also served on the Fish & Game Finance Subcommittee.
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Kyle Greentree
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
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Kyle Greentree is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. An undrafted player, he previously played two games each for the Philadelphia Flyers and Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League (NHL).
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Curtis Fraser
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
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Curtis Fraser is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre.
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Paul Seaton
- Occupations
- teacherpolitician
- Biography
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Paul K. Seaton is a former Republican member of the Alaska House of Representatives, who represented the southern Kenai Peninsula between 2003 and 2018.
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Bart LeBon
- Occupations
- politicianbanker
- Biography
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Barton S. "Bart" LeBon is an American politician and retired banker who served as a member of the Alaska House of Representatives from 2019 to 2023. He defeated Democrat Kathryn Dodge in the 2018 Alaska elections by a margin of only one vote.
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Bill Thomas
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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William A. Thomas Jr. is a businessman, commercial fisherman, and politician from the U.S. state of Alaska. Thomas served as a Republican member of the Alaska House of Representatives from the 5th District, comprising scattered rural and semi-rural communities throughout Southeast Alaska and stretching westward to Prince William Sound, from 2005 to 2013. Thomas served in the majority his entire tenure in the House and held multiple chairmanships. Thomas gained a seat on the powerful House Finance Committee during his second term and would eventually co-chair the committee. Following redistricting, Thomas lost reelection in 2012 by 32 votes to 23-year-old Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, a political newcomer who left Yale University to run.
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Darcy Campbell
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
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Darcy Campbell is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
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Dallas Ferguson
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
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Dallas Ferguson is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman and coach. Ferguson retired as a player in 2000 following a four-year professional career in the West Coast Hockey League with the Alaska Gold Kings and Anchorage Aces.
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Jay Kerttula
- Occupations
- politicianreal estate developerfarmer
- Biography
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Jalmar Martin "Jay" Kerttula was an American businessman, farmer, and politician in Alaska. A member of the Democratic Party, Kerttula was the longest-serving member of the Alaska Legislature, having served in the House from 1961 to 1963 and 1965 to 1973 and in the Senate from 1973 to 1995., until his record was surpassed by Lyman Hoffman in 2019.
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Georgianna Lincoln
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Georgianna Lincoln is an American politician and businesswoman.
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Tyler Eckford
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
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Tyler Eckford is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Eckford played for the New Jersey Devils organization of the National Hockey League (NHL).
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Jeff Penner
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
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Jeffrey Ryan Penner is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played two National Hockey League (NHL) games with the Boston Bruins during the 2009–10 season.
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Tyler Kornfield
- Occupations
- cross-country skier
- Biography
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Tyler Kornfield is an American Olympic cross-country skier.
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Timothy Mark Burgess
- Occupations
- lawyerjudge
- Biography
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Timothy Mark Burgess is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Alaska. He served as the District of Alaska's U.S. Attorney from 2001 to 2005.
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Dion Knelsen
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
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Dion Knelsen is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is currently playing with EHC Olten of the Swiss League (SL).
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Niilo Koponen
- Occupations
- businesspersonpoliticianteacher
- Biography
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Niilo Emil Koponen was an American educator and politician.
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Dwayne Zinger
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
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Dwayne Zinger is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played briefly in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Washington Capitals.
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Katey Walter
- Occupations
- limnologistecologist
- Biography
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Katey M. Walter Anthony is an Alaskan aquatic ecologist and biogeochemist researching carbon and nutrient cycling between terrestrial and aquatic systems, and the cryosphere and atmosphere.
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William Scott Home
- Years
- 1940-.. (age 85)
- Occupations
- zoologistnovelistscience fiction writer
- Biography
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William Scott Home is the pen name (and, later, legal name) of an American author, poet and biologist principally known for writing horror and dark fantasy. Best known for a short story that appeared in 1978 in The Year's Best Horror Stories (along with Stephen King's "Children of the Corn", which also made the cut that year), Home was most prolific during the 1970s and 80s when his poetry and fiction was published in a wide range of media. Part of a circle of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror writers that paid homage to M. P. Shiel and H. P. Lovecraft, Home is considered by many to be a unique talent in his own right. His range of styles and control of language and suspense is well-demonstrated in his published collection: Hollow Faces, Merciless Moons. While he has published little since the 1980s, Home is still writing and currently lives in the Dyea Valley, west of Skagway, Alaska.
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Joe Sova
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
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Joe Sova is an American professional ice hockey defenseman. He is currently playing with the Quad City Storm of the SPHL.
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Fred Brown
- Occupations
- engineerpoliticianlawyer
- Biography
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Frederic Emil "Fred" Brown was an American attorney, electrical engineer, and politician.
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Joseph L. Hayes
- Years
- 1930-2018 (aged 88)
- Occupations
- lobbyistpoliticiancivil engineer
- Biography
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Joseph Lynn "Joe" Hayes was an American civil engineer, lobbyist, politician and surveyor.
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Walter Bickford
- Years
- 1942-.. (age 83)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Walter E. Bickford is an American civil engineer and politician who served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1977 to 1983 and served as Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Fisheries and Wildlife from 1983 to 1991. In 1999 he ran in the special election for the Massachusetts Senate seat in the Middlesex and Worcester District vacated by Robert Durand. He lost in the Democratic primary to Pam Resor.
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Jushay Rockett
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Jushay Rockett is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Mississauga Power of the National Basketball League of Canada (NBL).
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Pearl Kiyawn Nageak Brower
- Enrolled in the University of Alaska Fairbanks
- In 2016 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- academic administrator
- Biography
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Pearl Kiyawn Nageak Brower is an American academic administrator. She was president of Iḷisaġvik College from 2012-2020.
