Former governor, schools superintendent among 8 finalists to lead University of Alaska Anchorage

A sign on the campus of the University of Alaska Anchorage. (Photo by Tegan Hanlon/Alaska Public Media)

The superintendent of the state’s largest school district, a former Alaska governor and a former head of Utqiaġvik’s tribal college are among the eight candidates in the running to serve as the next chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage.

UAA’s search committee announced the group of finalists on Thursday.

The three Alaskans are Anchorage School District Superintendent Deena Bishop, former Republican Gov. Sean Parnell and Pearl Brower, former president of Iḷisaġvik College in Utqiaġvik.

The other five candidates are university leaders from outside of Alaska:

• Satasha Green-Stephen, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs at Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System.

• Angappa Gunasekaran, dean of the School of Business and Public Administration at California State University, Bakersfield.

• Robert Marley, professor of engineering management at Missouri University of Science and Technology, and former provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs.

• Rashmi Prasad, dean of the School of Business at Truman State University, and former dean of UAA’s College of Business and Public Policy.

• David Rosowsky, professor of civil engineering at the University of Vermont, and former provost and senior vice president.

All eight candidates will meet with UAA students and staff and attend community forums next week, according to Thursday’s announcement.

Interim University of Alaska President Pat Pitney will name one of the candidates as UAA chancellor next month, in consultation with the UA Board of Regents.

That person will take over the job once held by Cathy Sandeen, who left UAA earlier this year to become president of California State University, East Bay.

For more information on the candidates and upcoming forums, visit alaska.edu.

Alaska Public Media

Alaska Public Media is one of our partner stations in Anchorage. KTOO collaborates with partners across the state to cover important news and to share stories with our audiences.

Sign up for The Signal

Top Alaska stories delivered to your inbox every week

Read next

Site notifications
Update notification options
Subscribe to notifications