By: Corinne Smith, Alaska Beacon
The University of Alaska president appointed Cheryl Siemers to the permanent role as University of Alaska Anchorage chancellor, following ten months serving as interim chancellor, the university announced on Wednesday.
UA President Pat Pitney appointed Siemers to the interim role last May after former Alaska governor Sean Parnell retired, and then extended her tenure in October. Pitney said the decision followed an extensive hiring process, and after reviewing the four finalists and community and stakeholder feedback, decided to extend Siemer’s interim term to provide “needed certainty and consistency at the leadership level.”
Siemers will step into the permanent chancellor role on March 8. UAA serves an estimated 12,000 students on the Anchorage campus, at the Kenai Peninsula College, Kodiak College, Matanuska-Susitna College and Prince William Sound College.
“She’s been embraced by the UAA community, and it’s clear that her continued leadership will provide critical institutional stability and forward momentum,” Pitney said in a statement with the announcement on Wednesday.
“Cheryl has been a steady hand at the wheel for UAA; her commitment to the institution, community partnership, leading enrollment growth, and enthusiastic support for UAA’s dual mission vocational and workforce training make her the ideal person to continue leading UA’s largest institution,” Pitney said.
A spokesperson for the university said that Siemers’ salary information as chancellor was not immediately available on Wednesday.
Siemers thanked the university for its confidence in her leadership.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to continue to serve our students, faculty, staff and university community,” Siemers said in a statement on Wednesday. “Stepping into the permanent role now offers the opportunity to extend continuity with a long-term strategic focus to ensure that the progress we’ve made together accelerates forward.”
Prior to the UAA interim chancellor position, Siemers 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.
