Portfolio

“Nancy Tarnai has undertaken a role in developing a tremendous amount of support for the School of Natural Resources and Extension through her work in public relations and social media.  She does an excellent job in advertising events like the Forest Sports Festival to the community. She also plays a key role in helping to organize events that are tied to specific research and outreach programs.” –John Yarie, Professor

 

“Nancy Tarnai has consistently shown herself to be hardworking, collegial, knowledgeable and willing to be helpful. Her expertise in written communication has been an important asset to the school. She goes out of her way to collect information about what faculty and staff are doing in order to be sure that she can publicize our accomplishments through several forms of media. Her determination and skill with her blog and other outlets have helped us to transmit the often esoteric work we do to a fairly broad audience.”—Julie Lurman Jolie, Associate Professor

 

“Nancy is an excellent communicator, both as a journalist and in talking with faculty, staff, students and the general public. She is the Voice of Alaska Agriculture… She always has a positive can-do attitude for every task that is assigned for her.” –Bob  Van Veldhuizen, Agronomy Research Technician/Teaching Assistant

 

“Nancy Tarnai has served the school in so many positive ways. As a public information officer, she was tireless in her efforts to get the word out on what our students, faculty and staff are doing. She has been a critical asset to the school and Experiment Station in letting people know what it is that we do and our accomplishments. Her presence at school events, taking pictures and interviewing people is a given and something that all of us have relied upon. She has gone the extra mile in publicizing our achievements through use of social media such as blogging.”—Joshua Greenberg, Professor

 

“I relied on Nancy’s professionalism and superior writing skills with each issue of our newsletter and other publications. Everything has always been returned in a timely manner with her critique and editing talents making each document more readable and enjoyable for everyone. Interviewing comes so naturally to Nancy, she makes you feel at ease and you know she is paying attention to what you are saying. Nancy’s talents are many and combined with her compassion and diligent work ethic, she is a candle that burns bright and lights the way for those around her.”—Kathleen Bucholz, Administrative Assistant

 

“Nancy is the most competent and energetic public information officer I have ever worked with. I have worked with major media outlets and top journalists such as the major TV networks, New York Times, Atlantic, USA Today, Scientific American Frontiers, PBS, NPR, BBC, etc. I can say that Nancy performed her analogous work near the level of many of these media people I worked with in those organizations. She had great story ideas and she followed through on them. Her commitment to the mission of SNRE comes through everything she has done, from the identification of important stories, original slant on the story, to the rapid and high quality completion of her work. She is a media professional operating at a very high level.”—Glenn Juday, Professor

 

“I can’t say enough good things about Nancy Tarnai’s work. I have the highest regard for her work. It is consistently high quality, interesting to read and thorough. Nancy has a talent for communicating with the public the importance of agriculture in Alaska. Whether it’s interviewing and writing about a farmer or the importance of research, she turns the topic into an exciting and unique read. She communicates well on a variety of platforms, including blogging, Facebook and the newspaper.”—Heidi Rader, UAF Cooperative Extension Service Agent

 

“Nancy worked tirelessly covering everything we did, whether it was during the day, the evening, on weekends, and in town or out. She was able to do an interview one hour and turn it into a well-written article the next. She is unrivaled in her ability to turn out lively, interesting articles quickly and thoroughly. Nancy is one of the most positive, upbeat people I have ever known. She was well-loved, respected and the consummate professional.”—Susan Todd, Associate Professor

 

“Nancy has proven herself to be thoughtful, honest to the core, hardworking and a gifted writer. I have always been impressed with how kind and selfless she is with everyone and how easily she can conduct an interview. (Her public speaking) was wonderful. It entertained, was informative and left us with the challenge that we could do more.”—Steve Seefeldt, UAF Cooperative Extension Service Agent

 

“Nancy is a good ambassador between the community and the school. She has been an asset to the school from the day she was hired.”—Lola Oliver, Forest Soils Lab Manager

 

“Nancy was in charge of the campus-wide food day. Nancy arranged for the food to be donated for this event by various farmers and producers around the state. She did not only make agreements for donations but in most cases also picked up the food and brought it to dining services to be prepared. Nancy was in charge of publicity, event arrangement, presentations and competitions. The event brought attention to where food is coming from and the importance of local food production and agriculture, and was well attended by faculty, staff and students.”—Meriam Karlsson, Professor

 

“When I mentioned I wanted to do a YouTube video, Nancy went to work setting up connections, simplifying the process for me, following the whole thing through to the finish, never letting it fall into the ‘I’m too busy’ basket. The video is great but it wouldn’t have happened without Nancy’s encouragement, persistence and professional promotion.”—Jan Rowell, Research Assistant Professor

 

“Aside from her guidance and kindness, I esteem Nancy for her dedication to the UAF community…I have witnessed her pervasively cheerful spirit and demure demeanor work tirelessly for the good of UAF and the greater Alaskan agricultural community for over four years.”—Azara Mohammadi, UAF alumna

 

“Nancy has haunted my every move. Every single event at the botanical garden, all my research, the students I have worked with as interns, the public outreach events…nothing gets by Nancy. And her stories are great. She has run the gamut of writing style whether it be hard core research or fun public events, and her writing makes us all look very good.”—Patricia S. Holloway, Professor