"Make it Monday" forum - Celebrating the America250: Alaska's Week of Dreams

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The Alaska visionaries who built the great state of Alaska were ordinary people who often achieved the extraordinary. The America250-Alaska celebration and commemoration is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to illuminate Alaska’s vast history and cultures, inform Americans about Alaska’s contribution to the nation’s past, involve all Alaskans in telling our state’s story, inspire current Alaskans, especially Alaska youth, by connecting them to our collective history, and invest in heritage programs that empower local communities, contemporary generations, and future trailblazers to dream big.

This presentation will introduce us to the seven-day history-filled Week of Dreams tour starting in Anchorage on Saturday, June 27.

Serving as co-commissioner for America250-Alaska, Dr. Katherine (Katie) Ringsmuth is spearheading Alaska’s Week of Dreams, the state’s marquee event celebrating the nation’s 250th birthday. As the Alaska State Historian and Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer, Dr. Ringsmuth represents the State of Alaska on a statewide coalition known as AKBaseball250, composed of cultural organizations, Tribal partners, educators, sports leaders, and tourism professionals planning the Week of Dreams. Besides project coordinator, she curated a nine-panel traveling exhibit and authored the America250-Alaska publication, Alaska’s Fields of Dreamers: America’s Pastime in the Far North. Additional America250 projects include nominating sport and outdoor recreation properties to the National Register of Historic Places, an Alaska baseball themed StoryMap, even an interview on ESPN SportsCenter.

Ringsmuth works in the Office of History and Archaeology (housed in the Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation in the Department of National Resources) where she oversees Alaska’s National Register program. She has authored five books, including Alaska Skyboys: Cowboy Pilots and the Myth of the Last Frontier, published several articles, including “Field of Dreamers: Baseball in Anchorage, Alaska,” and continues to teach Alaska History at the University of Alaska Anchorage. She has curated two major history exhibitions: Mug Up: The Language of Cannery Work at the Alaska State Museum and Home Field Advantage: Baseball in the Far North at the Anchorage Museum. She earned an M.A. in Northern Studies from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a Ph.D. in History from Washington State University. Ringsmuth lives in Eagle River, Alaska, with her husband, Eric. Her son Benjamin is pursuing a degree in sports business at Oregon State University and her youngest son, Thomas, is following his dreams at a soccer academy near Munich, Germany.
 

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