Interim Dean Steve Sparrow to retire in June

Steve Sparrow came to University of Alaska Fairbanks in the
mid-1970s as a research technician for a professor he describes as the “predecessor
to the predecessor” of SNRE soil scientist Mingchu Zhang.

After earning a doctorate at the University of Minnesota, he
returned to UAF in May 1981 as an agronomist for what was then known as the
School of Agriculture and Land Resources Management.

Sparrow retires June 30 after 34 years as an agronomist, eight
years as an associate dean of the School of Natural Resources and Agricultural
Sciences and, for the last three years, interim dean of the school and interim
director of the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station.

Sparrow’s primary research included forage crops, biomass
crops and soil management.  He researched
the effect of different levels of tillage on erosion and potential crops that that
were feasible to grow as biomass, particularly the ones grown successfully elsewhere,
such as willows, poplars and grasses.

He has taught or team taught many university classes,
including undergraduate courses such as soil biology, soil management and Perspectives
in Natural Resource Management and a graduate level soil microbiology course.
As an administrator, he continued to teach, most recently a soil biology course
in 2014.

Darlene masiak worked with Sparrow as his research technician
for 27 years before retiring two years ago.

“He was a great boss,” she said. “He was generally right by
your side working when you did fieldwork in the summers and labwork during the
winters.”

Usually he was easygoing. Masiak only saw him lose his
temper when he was dealing with machines, particularly a recalcitrant copier.
After a few incidents of lively verbiage, a 2-by-4 soon rested on the copier
for Steve to use for “repairs.”)

Darlene says Sparrow was always supportive of students and
their research. She points out that the two research technicians who preceded
her were Joan Braddock and Larry Hinzman, who went on to earn doctorates.
Braddock serves now as the interim dean of the School of Fisheries and Ocean
Sciences. Hinzman is currently the UAF interim vice chancellor for research.

Sparrow says he’s come full circle with the merger of the
school and Extension­, because the dean of the school and the Extension director
used to share a suite in the Arctic Health Research Building — the same suite
where his office is now.

He is proud of the merger, which has been considered or
attempted at least two and maybe three times previously.

“We certainly got the merger up and running,” he said.

He believes it makes sense since the school and Extension
are mandated to report together to the National Institute of Food and
Agriculture and both entities share similar interests.

Asked about his retirement plans, Sparrow joked, “I’m going
to buy a TV.” Apparently, the household did not upgrade after the television
signal went digital.

Other retirement plans include pursuing some of his hobbies,
including fly tying, fly fishing and woodworking.  Only half of the Sparrow family intends to
retire. His wife, Elena Sparrow, will continue working for SNRE as a research
professor and outreach education coordinator. Eventually, they may consider a
move to the Portland, Oregon, area to be closer to their two adult children,
although that is still very much undecided.

The School of Natural Resources and Extension will celebrate
Steve Sparrow’s time at the university with a retirement potluck event from 4 to
7 p.m. June 26 at the Georgeson Botanical Garden Pavilion.