Michael Sfraga

Roles: Panelist

Dr. Mike Sfraga is the Director of the Polar Initiative at the Woodrow Wilson Center. Sfraga is a geographer with a focus on the geography of Arctic landscapes, Arctic policy, and the impacts and implications of a changing climate on the social and political regimes in the Arctic. Sfraga previously served as Vice Chancellor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), faculty member, department chair, and Associate Dean in the UAF School of Natural Resources and Extension.

Sfraga served as Co-Lead Scholar for the inaugural Fulbright Arctic Initiative 2015-2017; a complementary program to the U.S. Chairmanship of the Arctic Council. Sfraga serves as Co-Director of the University of the Arctic’s Institute for Arctic Policy, and is Affiliate Faculty, International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.  Sfraga serves as Chairman of the Institute of the North, University of the Arctic’s Head of Delegation to the Arctic Council, member of the Governor’s Alaska Arctic Policy Committee, and Alaska Arctic Council Host Committee.

Sfraga holds a Ph.D. in Northern Studies and Geography from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.