Alumni Spotlight: Glenn Boledovich

Glenn Boledovich
B.A. Journalism and Public Communications '93
Hometown: Berkley, Michigan
Fun Fact: Once played guitar with his band on a Dutch Harbor pier for visiting British dignitaries.

It's probably safe to say that not many Washington, D.C., lawyers can list "cannery worker" on their resume, but working a slime line in Dutch Harbor was where Glenn Boledovich, now chief of policy for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Ocean Service, first earned an ocean-dependent living.

"I was 19 and broke living in Seattle when someone suggested I look into cannery jobs," says Glenn Boledovich. So he headed down to the wharf and got hired on at a Dutch Harbor cannery in Unalaska.

"Everything was uphill from there," he says. Cannery work entrenched Glenn in the everyday life of Dutch Harbor and soon he began working as a journalist. He wrote for Unalaska's first newspaper and co-hosted a local television show, experiences that would serve him well a few years later as a student in UAA's Journalism and Public Communications (JPC) program.

Dutch Harbor was also where Glenn made his first foray into policy-making. He was elected to the city council in 1985. That sealed it — his enduring interest in ocean science and policy was piqued and after 10 years in Unalaska he decided to head to Anchorage for college.

At UAA Glenn was able to take classes from both Robert Rhodes and James Atwater, two of JPC's Atwood Chair of Journalism professors, while continuing to explore his passion for politics and policy in classes with political science professors.

"I had my path," he says. "I was focused."

His senior year he was tapped to be editor-in-chief of The Northern Light, and also worked as a reporter for The Anchorage Times and for Dean Fosdick at Anchorage's Associated Press desk.

Glenn was also named the Harry S. Truman Scholar during his junior year. Political Science Professor James Muller encouraged him to apply for the prestigious award.  "They weren't really crazy about a journalism major applying for a public service scholarship," Glenn recalls, "But my time on the city council, extensive studies in political science at UAA, and other civic activities helped. I also nailed the interview."

It was the encouragement he needed to tip his post-UAA plans in favor of law school rather than journalism school.

"I wanted to do the things I was doing in Unalaska/Dutch Harbor, especially ocean and fisheries policy, on a bigger level," Glenn says. So he sought out a law program with an eye toward ocean and coastal issues. University of Oregon had a specialty that fit.

Glenn's journalism credentials came in handy once more when he assumed the post of editor for the law journal at U of O.

He was first introduced to his longtime employer, NOAA, through a Sea Grant fellowship that sent him to D.C. in 1995. One year later, NOAA snapped him up as a full-fledged federal employee.

The National Ocean Service, where Glenn is now the chief of policy, planning and analysis, provides, among many other roles, scientific support to the Coast Guard in their response to emergencies like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Glenn was part of the "war room" response among the feds and led the development of new policy.

He was also heavily involved in drafting legislation and coordinating efforts leading to the creation of a national commission on ocean policy. The law creating the commission was passed by Congress toward the end of the Clinton administration. Glenn served as NOAA's liaison to the commission.

So what does he do to take his mind off of Capitol Hill? He actually wrote a song about it, "The Three Gs." Golf, Gardening and Guitar. Living in Virginia, he gets to experience something many Alaskans miss: a full, flowery spring. He just enjoyed watching his first rose bloom.

Notably absent from his list of hobbies is fishing, but 10 years in Dutch Harbor can fill a man with a lifetime of fish memories. Glenn will never forget the salty little fishing port where he first waded into politics, but he's glad life smells a little rosier these days.