New director begins at UA Museum of the North
Published Wednesday, October 21, 2009
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FAIRBANKS — Three weeks since arriving from the warmth of New Zealand, Carol Diebel, the new director of the University of Alaska Museum of the North, said she hasn’t noticed Alaska’s cold.
“It’s warmer than the thermometer says it is. It’s the warmth of the community,” she said.
On Tuesday evening, the Fairbanks community formally welcomed Diebel at a two-hour reception in the museum.
Diebel said her change of job created “my year of winter.” She left her position as director of natural environment at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington at the end of the Southern Hemisphere’s winter to take the museum directorship here this month.
A native Californian, Diebel has a bachelor’s degree from Humboldt State University and a doctorate in biological oceanography from MIT-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
She spent much of her academic career in New Zealand. She began as a post-doctoral researcher, later served as curator of Marine Biology Collections at the Auckland War Memorial Museum and eventually took a museum directorship in Wellington.
At Te Papa, Diebel led the museum’s natural history research, curatorial and collections team and helped oversee development, exhibits and research.
Diebel replaced Aldona Jonaitis, who has served as director since 1993.
Diebel also will serve as a professor of marine biology in the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences.
Diebel said she accepted the directorship not so much because Alaska was the destination but because of her interest in the multi-faceted Museum of the North.
“My decision to come here was tipped by the feeling of the community here,” Diebel said. “It was kind of a heart and mind decision.”
The view of the Alaska Range from her office window is a bonus.
“I can’t complain,” she said.
Community Discussion
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Welcome!
yep coudn't find a qualified alakan or even an american had to hire a person from newzeland. way to go university, i am thinking we the alaskan people need to take control of our university back from the professors who are running it. might start by asking the president to resign and then fire every other professor or just close it for a year.
"..she hasn't noticed the cold." ???
It hasn't gotten cold yet. I think this is the warmest Fall we've had since 2004.
'A native Californian'....pretty sure that's American...
None the less....
Welcome to Fairbanks. Good to hear so far your relocation has been filled with the warmth of the community.
The ship wreck on the hill has a new captain form California via New whats land........ sigh
Maybe she can do something with this museum that has been squandered. At present its not worth the gas to go there.
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....anyone is an improvement over the last director
Hopefully she can reach out to the real community of this borough and not just the University community and tourist.
Hopefully she can come up with better exhibits than the current farce: "The Last Polar Bear" *sigh* I can't think of a happier daydream... all those cute little harmless fluffy cuddly polar bears are so unfortunate and unlucky to have their homes melting away, we should have included a provision in the porkulus bill to provide for low-seal density housing so Mr. and Mrs. Killing machine can have an igloo all to themselves to raise more killing machines.
There are times I wonder why people still watch soap operas when the global warming crowd provide enough melodrama for the world to stew in.
The last good exhibit that the museum presented was based on life in the Interior. It was unbiased, factually based, and presented in a manner that encouraged the visitors to explore their surroundings.
Anyways, welcome to Alaska Carol. May you enjoy your time here and by all means, please open the Museum's horizons beyond the closed world of the college campus.
Sincerely, one Museum of the North member.
What they wouldn't/couldn't hire an ALASKAN? No one in Alaska was qualified for this position? Does anyone actually believe that B.S.!!
Just an other example of UAF's reverse discrimination against Alaskans!
If you're an Alaskan, you're not good enough to work there, UNLESS YOU ARE AN EX-POLITICIAN, then you are a "sure hire" at UAF or UAA!
@mcgillagorilla: Uh, what?
A native Californian is an American.
Ask the president to resign and fire every other professor?
Close UAF for a year?
Again. What?
Being an unemployed Alaskan with a home in this community it appalls me that UAF hired from outside. There are many Alaskans in this community trying to find work in order to support their family, and I'm sure there were qualified Alaskans, but their brilliant H.R. department screened them out.
If one has ever tried applying for a job with UAF one cannot speak to the person who has authority to hire. Instead, one has apply through their website, wait a few months, have their H.R. screen you out, and then not even contact you about being rejected.
FREE DARFUR...you and I actually agree on this one. Too many times it was the old director just working within her comfort zone and not getting out into the "real" Fairbanks community. We can only hope that the new director with new ideas can utilize the entire community rather than just the segment interested in the arts, university or tourists.
It's not my intent to offend anybody, but to present a contrasting viewpoint to the one that seems to be most forcefully expressed in these comments. As a matter of practicality, I fail to see what's so appalling about Diebel being hired for this job. Does the "hire an Alaskan" camp realize that what you're asking for is a kind of affirmative action for Alaskans?
The university would be short-sighted (at best) to make it their top priority to hire somebody just because they're from Alaska. Their top priority is to hire the absolute best person from the largest possible candidate pool, someone with a Ph.D. in a relevant discipline, a solid track record of research and publication, and proven experience in curation, management, and public relations. If the applicant who best meets the qualifications happens to be an Alaskan, that's who the university hires. If she happens to be a native Californian who's most recently been making significant contributions at an important museum in New Zealand, that's who the university hires. This situation could be construed as some kind of fiasco if there were an Alaskan who applied for the job and was clearly better qualified than Dr. Diebel. If you're aware of such an applicant, please share what you know. Otherwise, the "hire an Alaskan" argument holds no water.
As for mcgillagorilla's dream of a takeover of the university, that kind of thing has been tried before in places like China, the Soviet Union, and Ethiopia. Things didn't go over well in any of those places; is that really what you want for UAF?
AKresident said "If one has ever tried applying for a job with UAF one cannot speak to the person who has authority to hire. Instead, one has apply through their website, wait a few months, have their H.R. screen you out, and then not even contact you about being rejected."
It is not only UAF that uses that process many other businesses in Fairbanks (and elsewhere) use that process.
sisu,
In my department alone there are three faculty who were raised in Fairbanks and went to the K-12 schools. A dean of mine who recently retired also was born & raise in the interior. Another dean who I am very familiar with was born and raised in Alaska. I went to high school back in the 60's with my assistant provost. My brother and I were born in Fairbanks and both hold faculty positions at UAF. Nearly all of these Fairbanks-raised folks had to compete against national searches and the fact that we were successful sort of indicates that descrimination against Alaskan's by UAF doesn't really exist.
There is a lot of quality to be found from our school system including students from the UA system. Even with that said, often times the best candidate comes from outside the State. Let's strive for the best candidate regardless of where they are from. Don't you agree?
So...there are a lot of unemployed museum curators living on the streets in Anchorage and Fairbanks, are there?
Good luck Dr. Diebel. Knowing my fellow citizens here this will likely be a case study of "watch what you wish for...you may actually get it." But I hope not.
And you have a lot of work to do. When I think of the MOTN I think "yawn."
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