Dr. Royce Fitts is a holistic and clinical psychotherapist, a licensed marriage and family therapist, a certified dream worker, and a liberal theologian with a doctorate in ministry. He is the author of The Geography of the Soul: Dreams, Reality and the Journey of a Lifetime, which blends memoir, political and social consciousness, and spiritual wisdom and explores relationships between physical and spiritual landscapes, personal and collective histories, and night-time dreams and how they weave together to reveal and heal the wounds of our lifetime. Originally from western Nebraska, he earned a Doctor of Ministry Degree in Pastoral Care and Counseling from Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis in 1992, was a Clinical Fellow in the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, and is ordained and certified as a Dream Work Minister and Facilitator through the Marin Institute for Projective Dream Works. He is in Alaska for a year on special assignment at JBER as a Military and Family Life Counselor.

Slides (there are just 2) - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/d2kdpl30s9weqg099gsdc/RoyceForum.pdf?rlkey=vz4ci52jxpx6xph5gjqrdv981&dl=0

Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent for Alaska Public Media. She covers the state's congressional delegation, public lands, and resource development policy from the nation's capital and Anchorage. She has worked at Alaska Public Media since 2013. She previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News and started her career at the Homer News. She graduated from West Anchorage High School and the University of Washington. She has a master's in journalism from the University of Missouri. In addition to her news stories, Liz writes a fortnightly newsletter called Alaska At-Large. Outside of work, Liz is an avid baker of bread. She likes hiking and skiing, exploring historical sites around D.C., and visiting her little house in Anchorage.

Contact Liz by email at lruskin@alaskapublic.org.

Alaska At-Large newsletter sign-up - https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/e89fZVl/AKAtLarge

Brad Hillwig is an award-winning filmmaker, journalist, and communications professional driven by the art of innovative storytelling. During a career in Alaska media that spans more than two decades, Brad has developed and produced television shows for U.S. cable networks, created brand-defining commercial campaigns, and directed documentaries in some of Alaska's most remote places. In 2021, Brad launched Greatland Studios, a startup production company built around authentic, community-based documentary storytelling. Using an immersive, cinematic style, Brad's films range from independent documentaries to brand-funded content that defies traditional marketing. At the core of his work is a simple mission: to tell purpose-driven stories that capture unique aspects of the human experience. Brad holds an MBA from UAA (2010), where he now serves as the 2024/25 Atwood Chair of Journalism.

Slides - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/8n6fkowdrp2pbkqa55wqm/Atwood-Presentation-DECK-AUUF-March-2025.pdf?rlkey=cnjw13plwexp55kd9jo50pnoj&dl=0

The PDF contains short video clips embedded on pages 4, 10, 14, 17, and 24. To start the videos, you must click on those pages.

Meg Parsons was born and raised in Berkeley, California, in the 50s-60s. She enjoyed what the city and state provided for education and uprearing. She received a BA from Humboldt State College. She left the wet weather and logging industry of the Pacific Northwest to come to Alaska for the summer in 1975, ended up in Homer, and is still smitten with the beauty and spirit of Alaska after fifty years. She joined Friends of AK National Wildlife Refuges (NWR) while attending the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival in Homer in 2016. Since then, Meg has done volunteer work at Tetlin NWR and Izembek NWR, and on the Friends Outreach Committee, participated in the Friends 2024 Discovery Trip rafting the Kisalarik River in Yukon Delta NWR, and rafted the North Fork of the Marsh River bird-watching and hiking in the Arctic NWR.

Poppy Benson is Vice President for Outreach for Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges. She has been involved in Friends for all 20 years, first as a refuge employee coordinating with Friends and after retirement from the Fish & Wildlife Service as a Friends Board member. Prior to her 2014 retirement, she was the supervisory park ranger for the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge based in Homer, founding the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival and developing the Islands & Ocean Refuge Visitor Center. She also taught a two-semester class on Alaska's wildlife refuges for Anchorage OLÉ! (Opportunities for Lifelong Education) and lobbied in Washington for increased funding for refuges. Poppy has a degree in Forest Recreation from the University of Minnesota, where she was raised. She moved to Alaska 40 years ago after working in natural resources in Minnesota, Oregon, and Nevada. She lives in Homer and loves camping, boating of all kinds, from kayaks to liveaboards, skiing, fishing, birding, and hiking.

Slides - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/86t3wmlzt9b1d51wdba5s/Friends-outreach-presentation-2025-big-screen-for-presentation.pdf?rlkey=6addrvetuebkfds8p5o2o7hz3&dl=0

Kachemak Shorebird Festival - https://kachemakshorebird.org/

Dr. Jack Hickel is the Board President of the Alaska Health Project South Sudan. Jack was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska. He has an MD degree and is board-certified with the American Board of Family Medicine. Jack has a Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Diploma from the Republic of South Africa. He worked in Eswatini, Africa, for 16 years, from 1982 to 1997. While there, he was the Chief Medical Officer of a large urban hospital and a small rural hospital and, at various times, was also the medical director of 16 rural clinics. Dr. Hickel worked with Alaska Natives from 2000 to 2024. In 2008 he co-founded the Alaska Sudan Medical Project, now called the Alaska Health Project South Sudan, which delivers hope and health to Old Fangak and other desperate villages along the Nile River, and helps to save countless lives by building a new health center, a tuberculosis clinic, providing clean water, and establishing small farms.

Slides - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/9xme6n5icbr0fxlgdhyfm/Jack-Hickel-Cruise-2024.pdf?rlkey=yq5bfmg6r2dpjhksla7har8iw&dl=0

Slides 32-38, 40, 43, and 45 contain links to videos. The video does not auto-play. You have to click on the slide.

Molly Southworth is an endocrinologist, retired from the Alaska Tribal Health System, a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and Adjunct Professor of Medical Education at the University of Alaska Anchorage / WWAMI. She is also the Past Regent of the American College of Physicians. Molly graduated from Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, and as an undergraduate, she studied music and chemistry at Oberlin College. She served as principal harpist for the Anchorage Symphony for 11 years. Molly is married to Bret Haering, and they have three adult children, Russell, Don, and Celia, who grew up in the AUUF RE Program.

Slides - https://www.dropbox.com/s/fevd5079lqjtgao/Obeslty%20%26%20Health%20in%20Our%20Community%20AUUF%201.pdf?dl=0

Venus of Willendorf - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_of_Willendorf

Dove commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U

Dove Self Esteem Project - https://www.dove.com/us/en/dove-self-esteem-project.html

Suzanne LaFrance was elected as the mayor of Anchorage in 2024. Before becoming mayor, she represented South Anchorage on the Anchorage Assembly from 2017 to 2023. She served as Assembly Chair from 2021 to 2023, was Chair of the Assembly's Budget and Finance Committee, and Co-Chair of its Health Policy Committee. She also served on the board of the Alaska Municipal League. She is a 25-year Anchorage resident with 25 years of private sector experience, managing budgets, projects, and people. LaFrance grew up in Palmer and is a proud graduate of Alaska's public schools. After graduating from Palmer High School, she earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Portland and her masters from Purdue University. LaFrance has also volunteered with Great Alaska Schools Anchorage and the Rabbit Creek Elementary PTA and has led local scout troops. She and her husband, David Hemstreet, have three children, all students in the Anchorage School District. They enjoy outdoor activities and sports.

Slides - https://www.dropbox.com/s/zqndrc6zyy8ob08/LaFrance%20Slides--AUFF%20Sunday.pdf?dl=0

Mike Huelsman is a community activist and advocate. He came to Alaska as a VISTA Volunteer in 1966, served in the combat infantry on the DMZ in Korea, and then worked as a commercial fisherman, carpenter, and laborer in Alaska until he found permanent work. He helped prisoners leaving jail with finding work and housing while working for the Division of Corrections. He was a grants administrator and helped develop and manage alcohol, drug, and mental health programs in Anchorage. As an Ombudsman Assistant, he investigated citizen complaints and made recommendations to improve government. He was a political finance campaign investigator for the Alaska Public Offices Commission and a public health planner and researcher for the Municipal Health Department. He was also the Artistic Director of Out North Theater. A frequent traveler, Mike lived in Russia for two months a year between 2014 and 2019 and lived in Ukraine in October and November 2024, volunteering in a rural

Mike's slides - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/a8mkxuux77u1l80fnipux/20250223_0900.mp3?rlkey=b3ksolxqz4rjeu82v9lsi6ohb&dl=0

Note that the second to last slide is an art piece that depicts the resistance.

George Bryson on Stewardship - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/6z6uhuwih12nv9bvpf2qj/05_February23_GBrysonVersion2.mov?rlkey=lbe95aq2n3tewb1r7gu8p7d7r&dl=0