From the Editor

That Groundhog Day effect can be seen in the last few years of Spirit magazine, with issues themed reactionarily around preparedness, gratitude and recovery. More recent issues have begun peeking ahead at what’s next and a new day. But for this issue, I want to go further, to be future forward.

So for this issue of Spirit, we’ve spoken to UAA alumni leading the charge in some of the world’s trailblazing companies and industries, like sociology alumnus Brandon Walker and journalism alumnus Todd Walker (no relation), who work at Meta (formerly Facebook) and Amazon, respectively.

Meet clinical psychology alumna Jennifer Pierce and fire service administration alumnus Michael Riley, who lead Anchorage’s Mobile Crisis Team — one of the first programs of its kind in the country to meet patients where they are to offer mental health emergency services.

As far as what’s happening on campus at your Hometown U, Chancellor Parnell provides an update on the UAA 2025 strategic plan and the university’s exciting decision to offer resident tuition to UAA attendees.

Lastly, even though this issue of Spirit is focused on the future, your Alumni Relations team and I always appreciate hearing about any developments in your lives — developments that we may reshare in future (no pun intended) issues of the magazine in the Class Notes section. So please don’t hesitate to reach out!

With Green and Gold Spirit,