UAF to honor graduate award winners, student speaker, outstanding students

UAF to honor graduate award winners, student speaker, outstanding students

The University of Alaska Fairbanks will honor its 2026 outstanding undergraduate degree recipients and commencement speaker at a ceremony on Friday, May 1.

Matia Wartes will receive the Marion Frances Boswell Memorial Award, which recognizes an outstanding bachelor's degree candidate. Kendall Wills will receive the Joel Wiegert Award, given to an outstanding associate degree candidate. Elizabeth Giudice will receive the Gray S. Tilly Memorial Award, recognizing an outstanding nontraditional graduating candidate. Paradise Porter will give the commencement address.

Matia Wartes

Wartes will receive a Bachelor of Arts, double-majoring in linguistics and anthropology with a minor in Iñupiaq. She began her college studies at age 15 through the Alaska Advantage dual enrollment program.

At UAF, she founded the Pre-Law Club, the Iñupiaq Language Club and the Linguistics Society. She has been a member of the Pavva Iñupiaq Dancers for 15 years, and her undergraduate capstone research documented multilingual worship practices at the Utqiaġvik Presbyterian Church.

Wartes has served as the lead academic coach in the Student Success Center for three years, and she was instrumental in developing the Focus Forward Academic Recovery program.

She plans to pursue a master's degree in anthropology with a focus on museum studies.

Kendall Wills

Kendall Wills will receive an Associate of Arts degree and has earned a welding certificate from the Community and Technical College. She began her college education through North Star College during her senior year at West Valley High School, and she participated in UAF's Emerging Scholars Academy.

While in school, Wills gained hands-on construction experience operating heavy machinery and developing skills in welding and mechanical work. She also obtained her commercial driver's license and spent winters driving semitrucks while completing online coursework.

Wills intends to pursue a career in welding.

Elizabeth Giudice

Giudice will receive Bachelor of Arts degrees in social work and justice, with a focus on how marginalized communities interact with the law and legal systems.

Her first attempt at higher education - as a 16-year-old runaway - ended after her first semester. She reenrolled at UAF more than a decade later, while working as a library director. During college, she has been employed as a case manager in behavioral health and HIV programs. She currently serves as president of the NAMI Juneau board of directors.

At UAF, Giudice was vice president of the Organization of Student Social Work.

She is developing a research proposal on discriminatory housing practices affecting LGBTQ+ inmates in the U.S. prison system and has been accepted to the University of Chicago's Crown School of Social Work.

Paradise Porter

Porter will receive Bachelor of Arts degrees in Japanese studies and social work, both magna cum laude.

She has served as president of the Organization of Student Social Workers, the Japan Alaska Club and Students for Disability Advocacy. She worked as a student assistant at UAF's Disability Services throughout her academic career, except during her junior year, when she studied abroad at Hokkaido University of Education in Japan.

Porter has served on the board of directors for the Alaska chapter of the National Association of Social Workers and as a student fellow for the 2026 undergraduate conference for social work education.

She will pursue a master's in social work at Washington University in St. Louis, concentrating in international social and economic development, with a specialization in policy.

Wartes, Wills, Giudice and Porter will be among those honored at UAF's 2026 Gold Ceremony, which will be at 5:30 p.m. Friday, May 1, at the Davis Concert Hall. More information about the ceremony and other 2026 commencement events is available at www.uaf.edu/commence.

Outstanding students

In addition to the outstanding graduate awards, UAF schools and colleges have named their outstanding students for the 2025-2026 academic year. Students are selected for a variety of accomplishments, including exceptional academic achievement, leadership and contributions to their field or community. Following is a list of those students.

College of Business and Security Management

• Accounting student of the year: Gwen Helms
• Applied management: Tara Fagan, Jim Wolverton, Keldrick Kearse
• Business administration (undergraduate): Alexander Malinowski, Lassi Lehti
• Business administration (graduate): Joshua Mattachione, Ralph Sinnok
• Economics: Wyatt Carr
• Emergency management: Emily Smith
• Homeland security: Mary Shier
• Master of Healthcare Management and Leadership graduate student: Rebekah Mills

College of Engineering and Mines

• Aerospace engineering: Alexander Armstrong
• Civil engineering: Andrew Zachry
• Computer engineering: Brandon Kallenback
• Computer science: Jenae Matson
• Electrical engineering: Nadezhda Finley
• Geological engineering: Katherine Cecil
• Mechanical engineering: Wyatt Richards
• Mining engineering: Nick Gray
• Petroleum engineering: Undrakhbayar Boldbaatar

College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences

• Outstanding graduate student: Lauren Yancy
• Outstanding undergraduate student: Dorka Dancsok

College of Liberal Arts

• Anthropology: Emily Owens, Jackson Magie, Matia Wartes
• Arctic and Northern studies: Tommy Taylor (B.A.), Molly Minick (M.A.)
• Art: Zurianne Encarnacion-Carpio (B.A.), Francie Eufemio (B.A.), Ayona-Reily Dixon (B.F.A.), Amy Edler (M.F.A.)
• Communication: Nikkia Jordan (B.A.), Matt Jardin (M.A.)
• English: Colin Warren
• Global languages and literatures: Irina Koval (Russian), Iza Lepkowski (Spanish)
• History: Madeline Ashlock (graduating senior), Brittney Straughn
• Journalism: Lizzy Hahn
• Justice: Jazz Creviston (B.A.), Mary Grubbs (M.A.)
• Linguistics: Ivy Daly, Stacey Goodwin
• Music: Cody Webb (outstanding music student), Adrian Ducat (outstanding freshman), Olivia Buzby (outstanding graduating senior)
• Philosophy: Alexis Rodriguez
• Political science: Alan Nunn (pre-law), Olivia Ryan (political science), Mateo Fernandez Serra (political science)
• Psychology: Cirrus Jones, Sophia Wilcox, Natalie Milburn
• Social work: Paradise Porter
• Theater and film: Zorissa James (outstanding graduating film and performing arts minor), Deyanira Van Acker (outstanding graduating senior, theater concentration), JB Brown (outstanding graduating senior, film concentration), Seamus Knight (outstanding film and performing arts student)
• Women, gender and sexuality studies: Jay Clark, Lydia Hodgson, Kylie Spanos

College of Natural Science and Mathematics

• Biological sciences: Amelia Wagner-Jones
• Chemistry and biochemistry: Gabriel Gray
• Geosciences: Teegan Silva
• Mathematics: Sonja Truffer
• Natural resources and environment: Thea Person
• Physics: Aedan Mckee
• Wildlife biology: Dorothy Sherer

Outstanding teaching assistant and course assistant award recipients:

• Physics: Athul Jose (TA)
• Biology and wildlife: Jessica Richert (TA)
• Chemistry and biochemistry: Dale Baurick (TA), Kaylee Griffin (TA), Mars Brennan (CA)

Chemistry and biochemistry departmental awards:

• Chemistry freshman award: Abigail Crowell
• Graduate in biochemistry: Lahra Weber
• Graduate in environmental chemistry: Paige Kehoe
• Undergraduate in biochemistry: Hannah Hausmann
• Undergraduate in environmental chemistry: Ainsley Sauer

American Chemical Society awards:

• Undergraduate in physical chemistry: Sydney Wade
• Undergraduate in organic chemistry: John Cook
• Undergraduate in inorganic chemistry: Gabriel Gray
• Undergraduate in analytical chemistry: Jeffrey Patackas
• Undergraduate in environmental chemistry: Iva Thomason

School of Education

• Elementary education: Lacy Reuter
• Secondary education: Beatrice Turley, Maggie House, Parker Stone
• Special education: Angela Graves, Amber Bennett, Rose Vining
• School counseling: Olivia Webster Villa
• Clinical mental health counseling: Kennedy Atlee

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