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APU's "Top Secret" Rock Star
Eric Redding plays keyboard and percussion for Pamyua (pronounced BUM-you-ah). The Alaska Native musical group who performs a wide variety of music--everything from traditional Inuit and Yup'ik Eskimo dance, story telling and music to Funk, Rhythm and Blues, Hip Hop and Rap. Pamyua received the 2003 Native American Music Award (NAMMY) for Record of the Year for their third album Caught in the Act. Eric has been playing with the group for 2½ years and was the keyboard player on the winning album. Eric has performed concerts with Pamyua all over the U.S., Alaska, and Canada. The group is scheduled to perform at the New Orleans Jazz Festival in late April. Eric is also, we are very lucky to say, our instructor of music here at APU. He teaches keyboard, guitar, percussion and voice. He has been teaching here for seven years. Eric says, "Teaching and playing music at APU has truly fulfilled me as a person, and turning students on to the joys of music continues to reaffirm my decision to be a music teacher." Not only does Eric play with Pamyua he also performs with his own funk band "Top Secret" and plays keyboard gigs around Anchorage. Eric wrote the following many years ago. "Things that I want to be: a 'rock star,' on the Olympic Fencing Team, a sponsored snowboarder, a downhill mountain bike racer, a "first ascent" guy on some peak, a guest artist/clinician at a jazz festival thousands of miles away, an author, lazy, a movie star, an inspiring teacher, and a seeker of truth." He is a rock star, far from lazy, an excellent teacher and is now getting the opportunity to play at a world renowned Jazz festival; we'll have to wait and see if he succeeds with the rest, but the odds are good. |
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We are Pleased to Announce the appointment
of Dr. Marilyn Barry as Alaska Pacific
University's new Academic Dean
Dr. Marilyn Barry served as Director of Writing and Chair of the Liberal Studies Department until this past year. She is now the new Academic Dean at Alaska Pacific University. A nationwide search was conducted to find a new dean, while Marilyn served as the Interim. She did such a fantastic job in her six months as Interim Dean that Dr. North decided to offer Marilyn the job, permanently. Marilyn has said, "This is a dream job! In a way, it's a capstone experience that calls on everything I've learned throughout my life, my own 'senior project'. It's a challenging opportunity to bring together skills gained in raising teenagers with those experiences garnered from twenty-five years in higher education. I feel humbled and honored, both, to be entrusted with the oversight of the academic life of this extraordinary university." APU: it's family!
Marilyn has mingled careers as an academic and as a parent throughout her adult life. She received her B.A. from San Diego State College and her Masters Degree from Mills College. After her son was born, she taught writing and literature at Chico State University before going on to work on her Doctorate from the University of Oregon, during which time her two daughters were born. She returned to teaching, new degree in hand, when her youngest was ready for school, teaching in both California and Washington before arriving at APU in 1993.Marilyn is a gifted teacher and writer and an active musician. The children in her life these days are her eight grandchildren.