University of Alaska plans strategy for federal budget cuts - JEFF RICHARDSON, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

When Carla Beam prepared a report on the so-called "fiscal cliff" for the University of Alaska Board of Regents in December, she found unexpected inspiration in a Looney Tunes clip. Wile E. Coyote's legs would keep churning in the old cartoons, whether he was running off a ledge or still had the ground beneath him. Today it looks like a good metaphor for UA, which will need to work harder to claim its share from a shrinking pool of federal dollars. Beam, the vice president of university relations, said sequestration hasn't brought a cliff as much as a "changed environment" for federal agencies. The funding pie still remains, but amid an ongoing stalemate in Congress about spending, it'll almost certainly be smaller than it used to be. To combat the loss of federal dollars, Beam said, UA plans to study how it can be more competitive as grants become scarcer. http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/82c7b4227c41473d87a5e69e776dbfcb/AK--UA-Federal-Budget-Cuts