Elaine Hill Sunde, Unexpected Careers in — Alaska!

Elaine Hill Sunde, 2020

When my colleagues and I completed graduate school we discovered that the world was not clamoring for all these newly-minted English professors. Consequently, I turned away from the academic path and took an appointment as the Public Information Officer for the Forest Service, assigned to Alaska’s Tongass National Forest.(Below)

I gathered my family (by now three children) and we moved to an island in the North Pacific. This Kansas girl found herself rattling around in float planes, conducting meetings with Tlingit village leaders, and writing environmental impact statements to inform Congress as it enacted new wilderness areas.

 

After some years and many adventures, I accepted a position as Information Officer with the Alaska State Legislature. I had to deal with fewer brown bears but the politicians presented their share of challenges too!

And finally, after living in Alaska for 12 years I finally attained my original goal: an appointment as Assistant Professor of English at the University of Alaska. However, I was in the classroom only a few years when I was asked to become Campus Director at the University of Alaska Southeast.

My next chapter was retirement and a dozen years of life in a motorhome. I’ll save that story for another day, along with an explanation of how I landed here, in New York’s Adirondacks.