University of Alaska extends UAA interim chancellor

The University of Alaska Anchorage will extend interim chancellor Cheryl Siemers’ tenure through next summer, the university announced on Monday, and has concluded the hiring process for a full time chancellor for now.

University of Alaska President Pat Pitney appointed Siemers as interim chancellor in May of this year. Pitney announced that after reviewing four candidates for chancellor through a hiring search, as well as community and stakeholder feedback, she decided that extending Siemers’ appointment would “provide institutional stability.”

“I appreciate the hard work of all four finalist candidates to engage with and get to know our university community, and I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who participated in the search process and shared their perspectives,” President Pitney said in a statement with the announcement.

“Cheryl is uniquely positioned to continue advancing UAA’s priorities without pause, and I am pleased to share that she has agreed to extend her appointment. This decision ensures continuity and sustained progress as UAA continues to build on its strengths and pursue its strategic goals,” she said.

The four frontrunner candidates visited the campus in September and participated in candidate forums and engagement events. They were Diane Hirshberg, director of UAA Institute of Social and Economic Research; Aaron Dotson, UAA vice chancellor for research; Jennifer Capps, California Polytechnic University Humboldt provost and vice president of Academic Affairs; John Ballard, president of National Intelligence University.

Jonathon Taylor, UA director of communications, said by email Wednesday that all four candidates were qualified and generally received positive feedback from their campus visits. “However, the overwhelming consensus from the community and stakeholder feedback was that Interim Chancellor Siemers has been an excellent leader for UAA and that the stability maintained by keeping her in that role would be beneficial to the institution,” he said. “Given that and the lack of unified consensus in the stakeholder and community feedback behind any one of the four finalists, President Pitney opted to extend Interim Chancellor Siemers’ appointment, which she accepted.”

Siemers stepped into the interim chancellor role after former chancellor and former governor Sean Parnell announced his retirement after four years in January. She previously served as the director of UAA’s Kenai Peninsula College. She joined the college in 2002, and taught as an adjunct then full-time faculty member in the Department of English, then as assistant director before becoming director of the college. She holds a master’s in English from UAA and a Ph.D. in rhetoric and linguistics from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Siemers will continue as interim chancellor of UAA, overseeing the Anchorage campus, Kenai Peninsula College, Kodiak College, Matanuska-Susitna College, and Prince William Sound College, and a budget of roughly $333 million.

Taylor said the search for a chancellor has concluded for now, adding that “President Pitney will evaluate how she would like to proceed with the UAA Chancellor role on a longer-term basis in 2026 once the ongoing search for a permanent UAF Chancellor concludes.”

Mike Sfraga is currently serving as interim chancellor for the University of Alaska Fairbanks, as the search for a permanent chancellor continues there.