University of Alaska Foundation

08/21/2026

The UA Foundation's Anchorage office is moving! Our new location and mailing address, effective August 31, will be:

1835 Bragaw Street, Suite 249
Anchorage, AK 99508

Should you have any questions or need assistance during the transition, please contact us at (907) 786-1111 or [email protected].

Conveniently located just one building over from the current office location, we look forward to welcoming you to the new space this fall.

08/20/2026

Meet Amber! As Executive Director of Advancement Operations at the UA Foundation, Amber leads the teams responsible for managing charitable gifts and funds and administering the UA scholarship system. She oversees the development of policies, processes and the systems that make giving and scholarship opportunities possible. The team’s work is ultimately about ensuring donors’ wishes are honored and their generosity makes the difference they intend.

Amber began working for the University of Alaska in 2004 as a Data Specialist in the UAA: University of Alaska Anchorage’s Advancement Office and moved to the UA Foundation in 2009. She met her husband while attending UAA and holds an associate’s degree from UAA and bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of Alaska Southeast.

Amber has lived all over as the daughter of two U.S. Air Force veterans, but has called Alaska home since 1997. Outside of work, Amber enjoys spending time with friends, camping, reading, puzzling, and most recently has been attempting to learn the ways of sourdough.

08/17/2026

Dr. Tonia Dousay is the dean of the UAA School of Education at UAA: University of Alaska Anchorage and a first-generation college graduate. The daughter of two U.S. Navy veterans, she grew up understanding the value of service and hard-won opportunity, values that still shape how she leads today. UAA is part of her professional legacy and the School of Education is her home.

“I'd known for years I needed to prepare a will, but I struggled to pin down concretely what kind of lasting impact I could actually leave,” said Dousay. “Naming UAA as a beneficiary of my estate is my way of helping sustain that work and making sure we have the resources to keep fulfilling this mission long after I'm gone.”

More than ten years of daydreaming and putting it off became something real in a single afternoon after utilizing the free tools provided by the UA Foundation. It removed the intimidation factor of "estate planning" for Dousay and made the difference between good intentions and an actual plan.

It’s Make-A-Will Month, join Dean Dousay and turn your intentions into a plan. Contact the UA Foundation for free tools and resources.

We can’t thank you enough, Dean Dousay, for including UAA in your will.

08/14/2026

Meet Emily! As Executive Director of Transformational Gifts, she has the honor to work shoulder to shoulder with generous donors as they align their passions with supporting opportunities at the University of Alaska. Emily works closely with development colleagues at each university (UAA: University of Alaska Anchorage, University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of Alaska Southeast) as donors often wish to make a transformational impact at more than one university.

Born and raised in Paxson, Emily is a 3rd generation Alaskan who grew up off of the Denali Highway dog mushing, cross-country skiing, attending a one-room school house and living life to the fullest in rural Alaska. As a young adult, she lived in Japan for two years, first as an exchange student in an intensive language program via UAF, then as the Coordinator of International Relations for the Consulate General of Japan. A proud two-time UAF alum ('97, '08), Emily's career at UA began at the University of Alaska Museum of the North in 2003. Her path led her to serve as UAF’s Director of Development and Alumni Relations, before she moved over to the UA Foundation in a principal gifts role.

Emily loves to spend time with her husband, former Nanook hockey player, Erik Drygas, and their two girls. As a family, they prioritize time at their cabin near Denali National Park. Emily is an avid hiker, berry picker and cross country skier, spending any minute she can in community and in the mountains.

08/14/2026

What an incredible centennial gift from the UAF Alumni Association - thank you! And, congratulations on 100 years - that is a tremendous milestone.

A Gift to Celebrate 100 Years! 🎉💯

To celebrate its 100th anniversary, the UAF Alumni Association has selected the Walt and Marita Babula Planetarium as the recipient of its $100,000 centennial gift!

This extraordinary investment will help to expand educational programming and connect visitors from around the world with space science, Alaska's stories, and groundbreaking research happening at UAF.

Thank you to the UAF Alumni Association for investing in the future of UAF students and the community! Congrats on 100 years!

More Info: www.uaf.edu/news/100000-planetarium-gift-celebrates-alumni-association-centennial.php


📷: Rhonda Widener, UAF Alumni Association Board President with Pat Druckenmiller, UA Museum of the North Director

08/13/2026

It is exciting to see the progress being made on the Alaska Leaders Archive at the UAA: University of Alaska Anchorage/APU Consortium Library. Recently, members of the UAA Alumni Association Board of Directors got a chance to tour the Archive and see the space coming together.

The Alaska Leaders Archive is a powerful reminder of what partnership can achieve. Through collaboration with The Ted Stevens Foundation, we’re preserving and sharing the legacies of Alaska’s most influential leaders while inspiring the next generation to follow in their footsteps. This important work is made possible thanks to generous supporters like ConocoPhillips Alaska.

08/13/2026

Welcome Emanuel Thomas, who joins the University of Alaska Foundation as an administrative assistant. In this role, he will coordinate executive meetings and organizational initiatives, support senior leadership and staff across the UA Foundation, and help ensure the smooth day-to-day operations that advance philanthropy for the University of Alaska system and its students.

Thomas comes to the UA Foundation from the Alaska Military Youth Academy, a 22-week voluntary, tuition-free residential program that helps at-risk youth ages 16-18 develop the skills and confidence to succeed academically, professionally and personally.

Thomas served 10 years in the U.S. Coast Guard as a yeoman, where he supported military leadership through personnel administration, executive coordination and problem-solving. His experience managing complex administrative operations and serving diverse stakeholders prepared him well for this role at the UA Foundation.

08/12/2026

Scholarships help reduce financial barriers and make educational goals attainable. Thank you to all of UA's donors who change students’ lives through their generosity!

The 2025-2026 academic year saw over $500,000 awarded in University of Alaska Southeast student scholarship funds!

Every scholarship represents more ground-breaking research, more discovery, more transformation, and more students graduating with certificates and degrees.

These scholarships were made possible by the continued generosity of our University of Alaska Southeast community and alumni.

08/12/2026

August is National Make-A-Will Month. This month, the Gift Planning Blog post addresses four questions:

1) What is a will?
2) How do I begin?
3) What does a will do?
4) What type of gifts can I make?

If you are curious about the answers to any of these questions, visit alaska.giftplans.org/index.php?cID=66, or reach out to the UA Foundation for additional information and resources.

08/10/2026

Please join us in welcoming Gwendolyn Gruenig, who has joined the University of Alaska Foundation as chief data and analytics officer. In this role, she leads the UA Foundation's enterprise data, analytics and advancement information services functions. Serving as a key member of the UA Foundation's senior leadership team, Gruenig’s responsibilities include shaping how data and analytics support fundraising success, donor engagement and institutional impact across the UA system.

A lifelong Alaskan and proud UAF alumna, Gruenig brings more than two decades of leadership in data strategy, analytics and institutional research to the UA Foundation. She most recently served as director of data analysis and institutional research for the University of Alaska system, where she led statewide data strategy, governance, analytics, policy analysis and reporting in support of the Board of Regents, system leadership and Alaska's students.

She is a former UAF adjunct faculty member in the statistics department, and previously owned a private data science consulting practice serving researchers, businesses and nonprofits across Alaska. Gruenig holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in psychology and statistics.