Begin forwarded message:

From: University of Alaska Fairbanks <UAF-distribution>
Date: December 10, 2013 at 18:45:22 EST
To: <UAFnews-l>
Subject: [UAFNews-L] Pitney to speak about Olympic torch experience
Reply-To: <newsroom>

Pitney to speak about Olympic torch experience

Marmian Grimes, 907-474-7902, mlgrimes

The University of Alaska Fairbanks will host a free public lecture "Olympic Spirit and Arctic Cooperation at the North Pole," Tuesday, Dec. 17, at 7 p.m. in the Murie Building auditorium.

UAF vice chancellor and Olympic gold medalist Pat Pitney will talk about her experience as part of the XXII Olympic Winter Games torch relay.

In October, Pitney spent 10 days on board a Russian icebreaker, traveling from Murmansk, Russia to the North Pole with representatives from the eight arctic nations: Russia, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Canada, United States, Iceland and Denmark. In addition to promoting the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, the North Pole torch run leg highlighted cooperation among the arctic nations. During the journey, participants delivered lectures that highlighted various northern and arctic issues.

In addition to her position at UAF, Pitney serves as vice president of UArctic, a cooperative network of northern- and arctic-focused universities, colleges, research institutes and organizations. She won a gold medal at the 1984 Olympics and was recently inducted into USA Shooting’s Hall of Fame.