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Award-Winning Arctic Insights

The College of Liberal Arts is proud to congratulate two outstanding graduate students whose research has earned them top recognition from the UAF Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). Varpu Lotvonen and Joseph Ransdell-Green have been awarded the CTL Outstanding Dissertation and CTL Outstanding Thesis awards, respectively—honors that speak to their deep scholarship, community engagement, and commitment to knowledge that bridges disciplines, places, and peoples.

Varpu Lotvonen, Ph.D., Anthropology, was honored for her dissertation, “Ballad of the Laablaaqs: The Relational Worlds of Sámi Reindeer Herders in Alaska.” Her work traces the transnational journeys of Sámi people—Indigenous to Sápmi in Northern Europe—who arrived in Alaska in the late 1800s as expert reindeer herders. Lotvonen explores how these herders adapted to new ecological and social environments while maintaining cultural ties to their homeland, forming enduring relational spaces that stretch between Alaska and Sápmi. Her research is both a historical and contemporary reflection, uncovering how Sámi heritage continues to resonate today, especially among descendant communities engaging through platforms like social media.

Joseph Ransdell-Green, M.A., Arctic and Northern Studies, was recognized for his thesis, “Collective Action in Marine Mammal Co-Management: Relationships as Tools of Cooperation.” Ransdell-Green’s thesis explores the dynamics of Indigenous and governmental collaboration in the co-management of marine mammal resources—an area deeply connected to environmental stewardship, cultural sovereignty, and policy in the North.

The Center for Teaching and Learning serves as a collaborative hub for interdisciplinary learning and innovation at UAF. Bringing together students, faculty, and staff, CTL fosters intellectual growth through inclusive, inquiry-driven education. Each year, it recognizes exemplary graduate research that pushes academic boundaries while remaining rooted in real-world relevance and collaborative ethos.

Lotvonen’s work emerged from the UAF Department of Anthropology, a hub of Arctic-focused, community-based research with strong commitments to social justice, Indigenous knowledge systems, and decolonial scholarship. The department is known for producing research that not only spans global contexts but remains deeply grounded in Alaska’s unique cultural and ecological landscapes.

Ransdell-Green’s thesis represents the excellence fostered within the Arctic and Northern Studies program, an interdisciplinary graduate program that allows students to explore the complexities of life in the North—from geopolitics and climate change to Indigenous governance and cultural resilience. The program serves as an incubator for cross-disciplinary thinking about the Arctic’s past, present, and future.

These awards are more than academic milestones—they reflect the power of research to illuminate hidden histories, build bridges across cultures, and strengthen our understanding of the North as both a place and a shared responsibility. With work rooted in real-world relationships and deeply informed by the communities they engage, Lotvonen and Ransdell-Green remind us that scholarship, at its best, doesn’t just sit on a shelf—it moves, connects, and transforms.