College of Liberal Arts
Whether investigating sociopolitical change, exploring cultural identity, or producing award-winning creative work, CLA graduate students are expanding what scholarship looks like in the 21st century. Through sustained research, public engagement, and artistic expression, they take on complex questions that shape how we understand ourselves, our communities, and our world.
These projects emerge from a rich culture of faculty mentorship, departmental support, and opportunities to share research on national and international platforms. From literary journals to coauthored publications, thesis defenses to conference presentations, CLA students are making their mark within and beyond academia.
Graduate students in UAF’s Creative Writing MFA program serve at the heart of Permafrost, guiding the magazine’s editorial vision from conception to publication. Each issue grants students invaluable, hands-on experience in literary publishing. This results in a journal rooted in curiosity and creative rigor, where each poem, story, essay, or piece of visual art is meticulously curated, with only the strongest, most resonant work accepted.
As faculty advisor Jaclyn Bergamino notes, “the competition to be in Permafrost is intense.” For Issue 46 alone, students combed through over 1,000 submissions from writers across the U.S. and over twenty countries, a testament to its far-reaching reputation and impact.
In addition to its annual print and online issues, Permafrost hosts the prestigious Permafrost Book Prize, which rotates each year among poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. The prize features a highly competitive selection process, awarding publication and a $1,000 honorarium to one outstanding manuscript. This rigorous standard positions Permafrost not only as a launchpad for emerging voices but also as a literary benchmark—a journal where publication is both a meaningful achievement and a mark of distinction.
Being a part of Permafrost for all three years of my graduate studies has shown me how valuable we are as a literary magazine, serving as a potent reminder to the Lower 48 that there is vibrant literary work being done here and that there is a group of people committed to the creative world here in Fairbanks, Alaska.Manuel A. Melendez, Permafrost Editor in Chief 2024-2025
In MoHagani vs. King Salmon, PhD Anthropology student MoHagani Magnetek blends poetic memoir and storytelling, exploring identity, resilience, and personal transformation through the rhythms and symbolism of the Alaskan environment.
Matt Jardin, MA in Professional Communication, investigates cultural authenticity in animation, analyzing how audiences respond to Studio Ghibli’s use of non-Asian voice actors for Asian characters in English-language adaptations.
Short story Spit-Shine by Rachel Blume, MFA Creative Writing student, earned national acclaim as a finalist for the AWP Intro Awards, showcasing her strong narrative voice, emotional nuance, and emerging literary talent.
Varpu Lotvonen, PhD Anthropology, traces Sámi reindeer herders’ transnational journeys to Alaska in her award-winning dissertation, revealing enduring cultural identity and community ties through a decolonial anthropological lens.
In his MA Applied Linguistics thesis, John Odudele explores how race and native speakerism shape the lived experiences of Black African English teachers in Turkey, revealing how raciolinguistic ideologies create systemic barriers.
Through his photo series 504-907, Miles B. Jordan, MFA Art (photography) student, examines identity and geography with nuance and grit. His work was featured in Oxford American and presented at the national SPE photography conference.
Marissa Kildow, MA Professional Communication, compares true crime podcasts by Indigenous and non-Indigenous hosts, analyzing narrative frameworks and how Indigenous storytelling disrupts dominant cultural assumptions.
PhD Anthropology student Courtney Clough advances forensic science in her award-supported dissertation, studying how enamel proteins endure under heat and what this means for paleoproteomics, bioarchaeology, and forensic applications.
Joseph Ransdell-Green, MA Arctic & Northern Studies, explores Indigenous-government cooperation in marine mammal co-management, revealing how relationships, trust, and cultural sovereignty shape effective environmental policy.
For even more graduate student-led research and creative projects from across the College of Liberal Arts, visit individual departmental/program pages to dive deeper into the breadth of graduate scholarship.
