Steve Colt, Interim Director and Associate Professor of Economics
Ph.D., Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1999 .
BA, Economics, Williams College, 1981

Steve Colt became ISER's director in May 2007. He has worked at ISER since 1984, first as a research associate, and later as a faculty member. His research interests include energy economics, tourism, and the economic value of ecosystem services. Dr. Colt helped create UAA's environmental studies program and he currently teaches natural resource economics and economic development.

Visit Dr. Colt's web page.

Scott Goldsmith directed ISER from 2001 to February 2005 and has been on the faculty at ISER since 1975. His special interests are fiscal policy, regional economies, and energy demand in Alaska. His projections of economic growth for Alaska are widely used in the public and private sectors. Dr. Goldsmith also teaches regional economics, business cycles.

Visit Dr. Goldsmith's web page

Gunnar Knapp is internationally recognized for his research on Alaska’s salmon industry and other commercial fisheries. He was also among the first UAA faculty members to build working relationships with scholars and students from the Russian Far East. Dr. Knapp teaches courses on resource economics and Alaska’s economy.
Visit Dr. Knapp's web page.

Matt Berman’s work over the past 15 years has focused on Alaska resources and institutions, particularly in the petroleum and fishing industries. He has a special interest in issues affecting rural communities. Dr. Berman teaches applied and petroleum economics and industrial organization.
Visit Dr. Berman's web page.

Sharman Haley has been researching social science and public policy issues at ISER since 1994. Her special research interests are rural community development, natural resources, and tax policy. Dr. Haley teaches research methods, policy analysis, and program evaluation.
Visit Dr. Haley's web page.

Diane Hirshberg, Associate Professor of Education Policy
PhD in Education, UCLA, 2001. Master of Public Administration, Columbia University, 1990
B.A. from UC Berkeley, Peace & Conflict Studies & Slavic Languages and Literature, 1987

Diane Hirshberg holds a joint appointment with the College of Education. Her research interests include education policy analysis, focusing on Alaska Native education and issues affecting minorities. She also studies school improvement initiatives. Dr. Hirshberg teaches a course on the politics of education.
Visit Dr. Hirshberg's web page.

Lance Howe, Assistant Professor of Economics
Ph.D., Economics, University of Southern California, 2002 . M.A., Economics, Central Michigan University, 1996 . B.S., Economics/Political Economy, Liberty University, 1993

Lance Howe came to ISER in 2002, after earning his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Southern California. He is currently looking at rural economic issues and at how settlement patterns in rural Alaska changed during the 1990s. Dr. Howe teaches economic development and principles of macroeconomics.
Visit Dr. Howe's web page.

Stephanie Martin is one of the newest members of ISER's faculty. She is currently working on two projects related to migration in the
Arctic--looking at the importance of family ties and social support in
people's migration choices and at gender differences in migration. She is also working on a study of recidivism among convicted felons in Alaska--analyzing the effect of longer prison sentences and other
factors on the likelihood that people will commit new crimes after
release from prison.

Marie Lowe, Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Ph.D., Applied Anthropology, Columbia University, 2006. 
MA, Anthropology and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2000.  BS, Economics, Lehigh University, 1991.

Marie Lowe joined ISER in 2006 after completing her doctorate in Applied Anthropology at Columbia University. Dr. Lowe is interested in ethnohistory, human-environment relationships and studies of social change.  Her current research concerns the sociocultural impacts of restricted access fisheries management on Alaska’s coastal communities.

Victor Fischer was ISER’s first director, and he has studied and taken part in Alaska government and politics for over 50 years. He was a territorial legislator, a delegate to Alaska’s constitutional convention, and later a state senator. He is currently engaged in state policy, local government, and Alaska-Russia issues. Click here for more information on Vic's honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

James Edwin, Assistant Professor of Evaluation and Public Policy
PhD, Education (Evaluation Focus), Purdue University
M.S., Sociology (Medical Sociology Focus), Purdue University
M.S., Agricultural Economics (Policy Impact Focus), Purdue University
B.S., Agriculture, University of Sierra Leone

 James Edwin joined ISER in 2007. His research interests are impact assessment and program evaluation, focusing on education, health, and social programs. Before coming to ISER he worked as a regional economist, a government planning and projects officer, and as a consultant for needs assessment and program evaluation. He has taught from the elementary school to the university level, and he is especially interested in teaching research methods, impact assessment, and program evaluation.

Colin T. West, Visiting Professor
PhD, Anthropology, University of Arizona, 2006
B.A., Anthropology, University of Chicago,1993

Colin West is a NOAA Climate and Global Change Post-doc Fellow. He studies the relationships between climate change and livelihoods in rural Alaskan Native communities.

Mary Ellen Gordian, Associate Professor of Environmental Health
B.S., Agriculture, University of California, Riverside
Doctor of Medicine, Indiana University Medical School
Master of Public Health, University of Washington Seattle

Mary Ellen Gordian is new to ISER this year. She was previously medical officer for the Municipality of Anchorage and then at the Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies doing research on health effects of air pollution. Her interest is in environmental health and health-care policy.

Virgene Hanna designs and directs surveys to collect primary data on public policy issues. She also directs the Kids Count Alaska program, a multi-year project reporting on the health and safety of Alaska children.

Alexandra Hill’s current work is primarily in education, including evaluation of programs and research on policy. But she has wide research experience on other subjects; she manages projects, develops computer models, designs survey samples. and helps write reports. She also serves as a guest lecturer in UAA classes, teaching students how to use spreadsheets for statistical analysis. 

Rosyland Frazier is a research associate with broad experience in public health and education issues. She is a former executive director of the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center and has worked at other community health centers and within a health maintenance organization; and directed programs in reproductive health and maternal and child health. Her current research includes an ongoing evaluation of an exchange program for urban and rural students; and health care costs and coverage issues . Her major research interests are health services delivery, health policy, and ethnic and cross-cultural issues.

Suzanne Sharp brings her expertise in Alaska Native studies to various projects; she also contributes to the Alaskool Web site, the Internet’s largest collection of materials on Alaska Native history, language, and culture.

Mary Killorin does policy analyses in fiscal, education, environmental, and other areas, as well as conducting feasibility studies for proposed policies or projects. Her special interest is establishing working relationships between researchers and communities. She also coordinates conferences, organizes focus groups, and holds community meetings.

Patricia DeRoche is responsible for hiring, training, and overseeing the work of interviewers who conduct ISER surveys. She also collects and analyzes data and helps prepare reports on a variety of public policy topics.

Meghan Wilson came to ISER in 2006 and does a wide range of research, including compiling and analyzing data and helping build large datasets for socioeconomic, natural resources, and fiscal studies. Her master's thesis examined how to improve collaboration and trust between communities and government agencies that make decisions affecting local residents and the environment.

Meredith Curry, Research Associate
Master of Education, University of Alaska Anchorage, 2005
B.A., Liberal Studies, California State University Sacramento, 1999

Meredith’s current work focuses on education research and program evaluation.  She is serving as an internal evaluator with UAA’s College of Education for the federally funded Teacher Quality Enhancement grant, Alaska Educational Innovations Network.  Before joining ISER in August 2007, Meredith taught students in elementary schools in both Alaska and California.  Meredith’s master’s thesis examined the experience of mentoring as professional development for K-12 educators.

Nick Szymoniak, Research Associate
B.A., Economics, University of Alaska Anchorage, 2006

Nick Szymoniak joined ISER in 2007 one year after graduating from the UAA economics program. His focus is on Alaskan energy markets and statistics but also researches a wide range of topics including regional economies, resource development and environmental economics.

Linda Leask is responsible for producing ISER’s publication series and overseeing its Web sites. She determines content, writes, and edits publications and insures that ISER’s research results are broadly disseminated to the press, the general public, and policymakers. As a research associate, she also collects, analyzes, and reports data for public policy studies.

Clemencia Merrill designs ISER reports and publications, as well as graphics for everything from business cards to conference programs.

James S. Kerr, Systems Analyst
B.S., Economics, University of Oregon, 1978 . A.A., Business Administration, University of Alaska, 1976

Jim Kerr is ISER’s systems analyst, as well as technology director for the Alaskool Web site, which is the Internet’s largest repository of materials on Alaska Native history, culture, and language. He specializes in technology systems analysis, system administration, programming, and Web site administration for ISER staff and visiting scholars. He designs systems to link ISER’s diverse network of computers, peripherals, and software.

Click here to visit his site.

Marcia Trudgen is responsible for financial reporting and planning for all ISER grants and contracts—which in a typical year amount to more than $4 million. She oversees proposal development; monitors university, state, and federal policies governing contracts and grants; and insures that ISER staff meet all required budgeting, procurement, and other procedures. She also supervises ISER’s administrative staff.

Linda Grant, Fiscal Manager

Linda Grant helps maintain administrative and finance systems at ISER, working with the business manager to track grants and contracts. She processes transactions, maintains files, coordinates travel, and prepares special financial reports.

Nancy Hill provides support services that include directing calls and maintaining project files, insuring that office equipment is working, handling the mail, and tracking staff schedules.

Donna Prator provides a wide range of support for both research and
administrative staff. She also does interviewing and other work for
ISER research projects. Before coming to ISER, she was a high-school teacher in Alaska schools.

Fran Ulmer was named interim chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage in May 2007. She was ISER's director from 2005 until becoming chancellor. From 1994 to 2002 she was lieutenant governor of Alaska, and before that she served in the Alaska Legislature and as mayor of Juneau. She is knowledgeable about a broad range of Alaska public policy issues and continues to take an interest in ISER research.

Visit the Web site of the chancellor's office or her personal Web site.

Bradford Tuck was on the faculty of the University of Alaska Anchorage
for more than 20 years and was also dean of the School of Business and Public Affairs (now the College of Business and Public Policy) for
several years. Before that he was on the faculty of Alaska Pacific
University in Anchorage. He has a long association with ISER and today
does a variety of economic analyses for ISER.

Jack Kruse was ISER's director from 1994 to 1997 and before that he was on the ISER faculty for nearly 20 years. He designed many major ISER surveys and analyzed the data collected for a wide range of research studies. Today he still works closely with ISER and is a principal investigator for the Survey of Living Conditions in the Arctic, a
multi-national project collecting and analyzing data on indigenous
people around the Arctic. He is also an adjunct professor of research at
the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

E. Lee Gorsuch, Chancellor Emeritus
M.S., Community Development , University of Missouri; 1969; B.A., Economics, University of Missouri , 1964

Lee Gorsuch was chancellor of UAA from 1994 to 2004 . Before that he was ISER's director from 1976 to 1994, as well as dean of the School of Public Affairs from 1986 to 1994. He continues to work with ISER on education and other topics. He currently serves as President of City University in Bellevue, Washington.

G.Williamson McDiarmid, Boeing Chair in Teacher Education
Ed.D., Administration, Planning, and Social Policy, Harvard Graduate School of Education, 1984 . B.A., American Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1969

Dr. McDiarmid is Boeing Chair of Education Policy at the University of Washington. He formerly was ISER's director and he continues to collaborate on research projects with ISER and UAA's College of Education. He has spent much of his career studying ways of making teachers more effective.

Arlon Tussing has been affiliated with ISER since the 1960s. He is an
economic and policy analyst specializing in energy, public utilities,
the environment, natural resources, regional economic development, and corporate and government finance. From 1971 to 1976 he was chief economist for the U.S. Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs (now Committee on Energy and Natural Resources) and from 1967 to 1970 he was staff economist for the Federal Field Committee for Development Planning in Alaska.