UAF Names Engineering Building for the Late Joseph Usibelli

“We know firsthand how beneficial the university is to the people, businesses, and communities of Alaska,” he says.

Joe Senior and his wife, Peggy Shumaker, directed their philanthropy toward UAF, creating the Emil Usibelli Distinguished Teaching, Research, and Service Awards and four endowed scholarships that support fifteen students each year. In addition, support from the Usibelli family and Usibelli Coal Mine helped UAF complete construction of the engineering building, finish expansion of the University of Alaska Museum of the North, and launch a campaign to renovate the museum’s Gallery of Alaska.

“Joe Usibelli’s philanthropic impact on the University of Alaska Fairbanks spans the disciplines,” says UAF Chancellor Dan White. “In particular, the three hallmark faculty awards given each year are made possible by the Usibellis’ generosity and their desire for a rich educational environment and overall faculty excellence.”

During its centennial year in 2017, UAF—originally established as the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines—honored the Usibelli family as one of three philanthropists of the century.

The Joseph E. Usibelli Engineering Learning and Innovation Building opened for classes in January 2018. It added 130,000 square feet of new space, including a high-bay lab, nine teaching labs, nine research labs, two maker spaces, several new classrooms, and offices for the Alaska Center for Energy and Power.

The building was designed to the silver standard set by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program and, since opening, has outperformed those measures, saving the university approximately 30 percent in energy costs compared to other similar buildings. The building also contains sensors that allow real-time monitoring during high wind or seismic events, a first for a building in Interior Alaska and one of only a few such buildings in the state.