I LOVE UAA: Cindy and Dave Schraer

Retired physicians and career-long Alaskans Cindy and Dave Schraer have seized opportunities in the last few years to enroll in classes not typically offered in a medical school education. Russian. Art. Geology. Ceramics. "We both come from a background of heavily left-brained activity in the medical field," says Dave, who's been enjoying some right-brain indulgence in art and ceramics classes and bringing some of it home. "We've got some sculptures and we use some of the pottery. And we've got some watercolors on the walls," he says. Cindy credits their daughter with the framing and display of all Dave's art and sculptures and says they tracked the slow arrival of spring this year as the snow melted to reveal Dave's outdoor sculptures.

Cindy's interests don't have the same displayable projects (unless she wants to think about framing some of her academic papers), but geology classes have led her to a greater understanding of some of her fossils. However, the first classes she pursued at UAA were Russian classes. As a female in med school during an era where it wasn't uncommon to be told she didn't belong in the business and would have to work harder than anyone to succeed and overcome that "estrogenic fog," Cindy says, "I didn't really have a chance to cover anything more than the bare basics in humanities and arts, so coming into the Russian program to study literature and social conditions and history and to do that in the language it was written in was a really wonderful experience." And for the last few years she's followed her passion for Earth history and paleontology into a series of geology classes. "I took classes to help me understand my fossil collection better and found the whole thing was really interesting," she says. So interesting she just may end up with a degree in it.  Perhaps they'll reserve some wall space for it next to one of Dave's watercolors.

Dave and Cindy contribute to UAA in ways that extend beyond their individual classes, as well. As scholarship donors, they enable other students to pursue their educational goals with a little less financial worry. They've also worked to share their professional knowledge by developing community health aide curriculum in diabetes education for the University of Alaska. And they're willing to share something else of great value: the wisdom they've gained being 20 to 30 years farther down the career/life path than some of their fellow students. Cindy laughs and says, "We could be the grandparents of some of our fellow students." Dave says he is inspired by students' incredible energy. "Basically, I enjoy UAA because it puts me in contact with students, who are truly a gas. And I think that I and Cindy can add something to their lives, be it only by age perspective sometimes." Cindy sees it as a reciprocal relationship, offering her time and focus and class notes in exchange for some help from students with the high tech components of classes.

Both Cindy and Dave built their medical careers in Alaska, beginning in Barrow, where they met and married. Partly responsible for recruiting Dave to work in Barrow, where she was already practicing in 1975, Cindy refers to Dave, who arrived on Jan. 3, 1976, as "my mail order husband." Two years to the day after Dave's arrival, they were married on Jan. 3 (dedicated Alaskans will note that this is Alaska Statehood Day), 1978. "We called it a frigid romance. The sun never rose on our wedding day," Dave says. Though they moved to Anchorage later that same year, health in rural Alaska continues to be a concern for them. Cindy still works in medicine on a part-time basis with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, doing epidemiological work.

Both Cindy and Dave love that UAA makes it possible for students of all ages to come together in the classroom or art studio. "I think a lot of people don't realize how accessible classes are to non-traditional college students. That's one of the things I appreciate about this university. As a little old lady, I've been able to come in and get educated in things I never had the opportunity to work in before," Cindy says. "I'm proud of UAA for having been so generous and accepting of older people." It seems the UAA community is truly the beneficiary here.