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Dr. Courtney Carothers of UAF receives Emmeline Moore Prize

October 18, 2024

Courtney Carothers, Ph.D. of the University of Alaska Fairbanks received the Emmeline Moore Prize at the American Fisheries Society (AFS) 154th Annual Meeting in Honolulu, Hawai’i. AFS President Cecil Jennings and Past President April Croxton presented the award to the team at the opening plenary session of the conference.

The Emmeline Moore Prize recognizes the efforts of an individual Society member who has demonstrated exemplary service to the cause of equal opportunity of access to higher education in fisheries and/or professional development in any of the disciplines of fisheries science or management. The award is named for Emmeline Moore, the first female President of the Society, who served from 1927 to 1928. 

Dr. Carothers works tirelessly with a laser focus to elevate the role of Alaska Native People and their indigenous knowledge to fisheries policy. Trained as an environmental anthropologist, she admits to not knowing the depth of exclusion and marginalization of Alaska Native People until living in the community of Old Harbor on Kodiak Island, Alaska, as a Ph.D. student from the University of Washington. True to her character, Carothers internalized the lessons learned in Kodiak over a decade ago and has dedicated her career researching inequities in fisheries of Alaska and beyond.

She currently serves as the Principal Investigator of a National Science Foundation Research Traineeship graduate program award called Tamamta (a Yup’ik and Sugpiaq word meaning “all of us”), centered on elevating 14,000+ years of Indigenous stewardship and bridging Indigenous and Western sciences to transform graduate education and research in fisheries and marine sciences.

In addition, Carothers moderates, organizes, and provides support for events that elevate underrepresented voices and facilitate dialogues that help to acknowledge and find solutions to create more equitable management systems. As an example, Carothers recently led a dialogue on “Racial Equity in Fisheries” at the Alaska Chapter AFS Meeting. The level of care with which Dr. Carothers facilitated the difficult and necessary DEI conversations was inspiring.

Finally, as the volunteer chair of the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion committee in the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at University of Alaska Fairbanks, Carothers demonstrates her genuineness to not only “talk the talk but walk the walk.”

“It is her authenticity to work in the interest of Alaska Native People and Alaska’s fishery resources that allows her to transform her frustration of the on-going oppression to passion for action,” Past President Croxton said.