Joseph R. Kan served as the Dean of the Graduate School from 1994 to 2003 when he retired from UAF after 31 years on the faculty and administration.

UAF is currently ranked as the Doctoral-II University in the Carnegie classification. The goal is to advance UAF to the Research-I University status by the year 2010.

The Graduate Dean is responsible for graduate studies in 38 Master's and 14 Doctoral programs at UAF. He also provides the leadership in working with faculty of all disciplines to enhance the quality and productivity of the UAF interdisciplinary graduate program, which is designed to meet an individual student's academic interests beyond the offerings of departmental programs. The graduate dean also leads the fundraising campaign for the Graduate Research Fund that provides financial support to graduate students' research activities.

Dr. Kan joined the UAF faculty in 1972 as an assistant professor of physics, on a joint appointment with the Geophysical Institute and the Physics Department. He was promoted to full professor in 1981. His research interests include space physics and solar physics. His teaching includes sophomore physics, electricity and magnetism, mechanics at the undergraduate level, space physics and plasma physics at the graduate level.

In addition to teaching and researching, Dr. Kan served a variety of administrative posts at UAF. These include serving as the Head of the Space Physics and Atmospheric Science Program in 1977-80, Associate Director for Research of the Geophysical Institute in 1991-95, Dean of the UAF Graduate School from 1994 to 2003, Interim Director of the UAF Rasmuson Library in 1995-96, and Interim Dean of the School of Education in 1998-99.

Emeritus Professor and Dean of UAF, July 2003.