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May 27, 2025
UAF faculty and staff,
Last week, on May 22, 2025, UA system Federal Relations Executive Director John Latini,
Associate Director Denae Benson, and , the vice president for research and advocacy at the (APLU), provided an excellent update to the Board of Regents. Both shared a common
sentiment of working together to help the UA system and UAF stay up to date on the
federal actions taking place. APLU discussed their advocacy on behalf of UA and all
public land-grant universities.听
During her update, Altenburg shared that in addition to the agencies who have capped
their facilities and administrative (F&A) costs at 15%, the Department of Defense
plans to publish something similar. She shared that it has been challenging to advocate
for these costs simply because it is difficult to explain how F&A rates are determined
and how they are used. Altenburg shared that APLU has joined with 10 organizations
to come up with a new model that would hopefully be more simple and more easily explained
when working with the different funding agencies. There is potential for the work
of these organizations to help UAF as we continue to seek out and apply for grants.
In addition to the work being done by APLU, John talked about how it has been his
job to track grant impacts, which change daily. Even with the impacts, we are continuing
to see there are opportunities available in critical minerals, artificial intelligence,
nuclear technologies, and translational science. Even with the changes, John shared
his confidence in UAF continuing to receive future grant funds as we are extremely
competitive nationally. He shared an example that UAF has a 46% success rate receiving
grants from the National Science Foundation, twice the national average. Additionally,
UAF being in the top 15% of universities in research and development in the nation
is testament to our competitiveness.听
John and Denae also discussed the significance of federal aid challenges and it being
essential for Alaskans to be able to access education. He reassured us that Pell Grants
are not going away. However, current legislation will require students to take 15
credit hours to receive the maximum Pell Grant, which may be challenging for some
of our students because of work or family commitments.听
I am appreciative of the work of the federal relations team in these times of uncertainty.
They are working hard to save every grant and every dollar they can. They are asking
us to have patience because they know things are taking a while to unfold and they
want to ensure they have information right before sending it out. Faculty and staff
can stay updated on federal issues through the and through my weekly messages.
Thank you for choosing UAF.
Dan White, chancellor
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