Davin Holen

As the Alaska Sea Grant Coastal Community Resilience Specialist, Davin Holen is dedicated to providing expertise, research, and extension services that enhance the culture and well-being of coastal communities across Alaska. Davin works collaboratively with the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy at UAF’s International Arctic Research Center. As a Sea Grant liaison, Davin is supported by and draws on resources from NOAA and the National Sea Grant program. Community resilience activities are highlighted on the Adapt Alaska website hosted by Alaska Sea Grant.

Expertise

Davin facilitates workshops and other activities related to coastal resilience addressing monitoring, mitigation, and adaptation to local stressors from climatic and ocean changes. Before joining Alaska Sea Grant, Davin spent 15 years at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, conducting social-science research and managing the subsistence program in Southern Alaska. Davin works in rural communities from the Arctic to Southeast Alaska, providing data and decision support tools for communities to make informed decisions about adapting to future climate and environmental scenarios. Davin has also been an adjunct professor of anthropology since 2003 at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA), where he continues to teach as an assistant professor. Davin, a lifelong Alaskan from the Susitna Valley, graduated from UAA with a degree in history, then spent two years in Mali, West Africa, conducting natural resource management development work in the Peace Corps. Davin next returned to UAA to earn an M.A. in applied cultural anthropology, the first graduate of this degree program. Davin received a Ph.D. in anthropology from UAF in 2017. His dissertation, as well as current work, examines societal and economic factors intertwined with climatic and environmental changes influencing subsistence economies important for culture in Alaskan communities.

Service

• National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Math, Gulf Health and Resilience Board, member
• Prince William Sound Regional Citizens Advisory Council, Scientific Advisory Committee, chair
• North Pacific Fisheries Management Council, Bering Sea Fishery Ecosystem Plan Team, member
• Alaska Sustainable Salmon Fund Statewide Science Panel, member

Affiliations

• Collaborative Faculty, Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy, International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks
• Department of Anthropology, University of Alaska Anchorage
• International Arctic Social Sciences Association
• Society for Applied Anthropology, fellow
• Alaska Anthropological Association

Current Project Websites

• Adapt Alaska adaptalaska.org
• Pursuing Opportunities for Long-Term Arctic Resilience for Infrastructure and Society arcticpolaris.org
• People on the Move in a Changing Climate www.pemocc.org