Ronald Spatz, Dean
University Honors College
786-4361, afrms1@uaa.alaska.edu
Ronald Spatz is Dean of the University Honors College. He is a full professor of Creative Writing and Literary Arts and the founding and executive editor of Alaska Quarterly Review and founding editor and project director of the statewide web site LitSite Alaska. He has an MFA degree in Creative Writing from the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop.

Spatz is a literary editor, filmmaker and a writer. He has produced, directed, photographed, and edited a range of short subject and expressionist documentary films for children and adults. Many of these films have been broadcast on commercial and public television, selected for film festivals and conferences, and used in schools and colleges and several are currently in national distribution. His film, For the Love of Ben, was broadcast nationally on public television and was reviewed and recommended by Choice, Library Journal, Book Report, and Video Rating Guide for Libraries ("4 stars"). Additionally, For the Love of Ben was selected for presentation at the American Psychiatric Association as well as for both the American Psychological Association regional meeting in Los Angeles and its national meeting in Boston. Spatz's writing has appeared in a wide range of national literary journals and anthologies.  He is the recipient of individual artist fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Alaska State Council on the Arts. In total, Spatz has been the recipient of more than 45 individual and project grants.

Recognition for Spatz's work as the editor of Alaska Quarterly Review includes a Chancellor's Group Award for Excellence (in Research and Creative Activity), a Special Recognition Award for "offering literary excellence to Alaska and the world" from the Alaska Center for the Book, five major awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Governor's Award for the Arts--the State of Alaska's highest award in the Arts. LitSite Alaska has received a Chancellor's Award for Excellence and praise from local and international venues including The Chronicle of Higher Education, Education World, Stands for Education, School Library Journal, and The White House.

As a professor, Spatz has been the recipient of three university-wide teaching excellence awards (two Chancellor's Awards and a University of Alaska Anchorage Alumni Award), a Chancellor's Award and other awards and recognition for LitSite Alaska. The University of Alaska Board of Regents has also recognized him for outstanding leadership. In 1999, Spatz was honored with the University of Alaska's highest award, The Edith Bullock Prize for Excellence, presented by the University of Alaska Foundation.

Eric Murphy
Faculty Associate of Undergraduate Research
Chair, Undergraduate Research Task Force
786-1626, afesm@uaa.alaska.edu
Eric Murphy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences.  He received a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Washington State University and is currently the chair for UAA’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.  Dr. Murphy has research and teaching interests in three related areas: a) behavior analysis, including classical and operant conditioning, b) behavioral pharmacology, and c) behavioral neuroscience.  He and his undergraduate collaborators are currently studying the variables that regulate alcohol self-administration in laboratory rats.  Other research projects include identifying the brain mechanism(s) responsible for reflexive habituation and determining the extent that habituation is involved in modulating the effectiveness of repeatedly-presented reinforcers. Eric has a long standing interest in mentoring undergraduates in his laboratory and hopes to enhance undergraduate research campus wide.

LeeAnn Munk
Immediate Past Faculty Associate of Undergraduate Research
786-6895, aflm@uaa.alaska.edu
LeeAnn Munk is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Geological Science Department, College of Arts and Sciences.  She has a Ph.D. from Ohio State University and has been the recipient of grants from NSF, DOI and NPS to study the environmental geochemistry of metal contaminants in many Alaskan environments including Prince William Sound, Katmai National Park and the Anchorage Watershed.  Most recently, Dr. Munk was awarded an NSF EPSCoR Young Investigator First Award.  She enthusiastically includes undergraduates as integral members of her research teams and is striving to help develop a sustainable undergraduate research program at UAA.

Marian Mitchell
Assistant Dean of the University Honors College
786-1057, anmkm@uaa.alaska.edu
Marian Mitchell received a BA cum laude in English from UAA, an MA in English from University of Oregon where she studied women’s literature and taught freshman composition, and a Masters of Business Administration from UAA.  Marian has worked at UAA since 1992 in various administrative capacities, including in business services, financial systems and academic and multicultural student services.  She has been a member of the University Honors administrative team since 2001, first as its Assistant Director, then Associate Director, and now Assistant Dean.  In 2004, Marian received a Chancellor’s Award for Excellence for Outstanding Contributions to Students, as well as the University of Alaska President’s “Make Students Count” award for outstanding service to students.

Marian is also an accomplished cellist and has played with the University Sinfonia and the Anchorage Civic Orchestra.  She is currently a member of a chamber music group, The Chameleon Ensemble, and volunteers for the Anchorage Civic Orchestra.

Jill Taylor
Student Support Coordinator
786-1549, anjmg6@uaa.alaska.edu
Jill Taylor joined the University Honors College staff in January of 2007. She received a BA in Psychology from the University of Puget Sound in 1998. She worked in tourism in Alaska for a few years before earning her MS in College Student Services Administration from Oregon State University in 2004. She worked as a Study Abroad Advisor at Oregon State advising for programs in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.