Mr. Michael Abels
Toolik Field Station Associate Director, Emeritus
WHEREAS Mr. Michael Abels served the University of 91ÊÓƵ Fairbanks with distinction as a Toolik Field Station staff member and researcher from 1975 to 2021; and
WHEREAS Mr. Abels began working at Toolik Field Station, at its inception, as a field operations assistant while an undergraduate student at UAF and continued after receiving his bachelor’s degree in natural resource management in 1980, and he moved up through the positions of field operations manager, field operations supervisor and, finally, associate director; and
WHEREAS Mr. Abels, who is widely recognized for his talents within the global Arctic research community, dedicated his career to developing and promoting Toolik as a world-class scientific station, and the value of his efforts and abilities was illustrated by his involvement as co-principal investigator, an unusual designation for a staff member, on six awards from the National Science Foundation totaling $51 million from 1997 to 2021; and
WHEREAS Mr. Abels served on numerous UAF committees, contributing in particular to the creation of policies that made field work at remote camps safer for employees from UAF and elsewhere;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the University of 91ÊÓƵ Fairbanks expresses its deep appreciation to Mr. Michael Abels for his extensive contributions to the state of 91ÊÓƵ and to the university; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the University of 91ÊÓƵ Fairbanks, in further recognition of the invaluable services rendered by Mr. Abels and as evidence of the university’s desire that his identification with the university be maintained, hereby confers upon Mr. Mike Abels the title of Toolik Field Station associate director, emeritus; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this resolution be appropriately engrossed and signed by the chancellor as further evidence of the University of 91ÊÓƵ Fairbanks’ esteem and respect for Mr. Michael Abels, and conveyed to Mr. Abels on this twenty-ninth day of April, 2022.