Bio: As a life-long Alaskan, my early years include pre-statehood childhood on a remote homestead. In the 1950s attended elementary school in south-central Alaska, some of which included homestead home-schooling. Much of our food at that time came from hunting and gardening. I was the family hunter and fisherman and I filled the freezer and smoke house every Fall. I attended three high schools: up-state New York, Alaska and a "prep" school in Victoria, B.C., Canada. I served four years in the U.S. Navy as a radio and electronic communications specialist, mostly in S.E. Asia, including Vietnam. I have B.A. in Social Psychology (1973) and M.A. in Speech Communications and Human Services (1976). My post-Graduate academic training is perpetual and includes therapeutic counselling, cross-cultural relations, vocational rehabilitation, economics, forensics and life-care planning. After Graduate School I worked eight years as a counsellor and administrator for the State of Alaska. I entered private practice in 1988 as a vocational, rehabilitation and forensics consultant, mediator, and trainer. In addition to travelling throughout Alaska with knowledge of Alaskan peoples, cultures, lifestyles and values, I have visited most of North America, parts of Northern Europe, and selected locations of South and Far East Asia. I am fluent in American Sign Language (ASL) and since 1979 have been on the adjunct faculty of the University of Alaska in both the Language and Speech Communications Departments.

I am interested in foreign languages and international cultures. I have a working but rough knowledge of French and German and a repertoire of conversational phrases, not fluency (!), in Tagalog, Japanese, Korean and Spanish. With my wife Laura and three daughters (ages 24, 18 and 13), I enjoy traditional Alaskan outdoor activities, especially in the "bush" in "off-the-tourist-map" areas. Since the arrival of modern groceries, I do not hunt big game any longer: for me such activity is for food, not sport, and no longer necessary. I still enjoy fishing. My hobbies, and interests include writing stories and poetry, performing parlour magic and mime, photography, juggling, sculpture, charcoal and pastel illustration, problem and puzzle solving, philosophy and epistemology, reading, travel, encouraging children's curiosity, and promoting the scientific method.

Rotary involvement: I joined Rotary in 1988 and became immediately involved with Youth Exchange. I sometimes say, "Youth Exchange made me a Rotarian." I am Past President (2005 Centennial President) of Anchorage Rotary, the largest Rotary Club (300 members) of the largest District (11 time zones, from the Russian Ural Mountains, all of Alaska, and the Canadian Yukon) in the World. At the District level I have served on the Polio Plus Committee, Youth Exchange Inbound Coordinator, and the Group Study Exchange Committee. I hope to lead a GSE team in the foreseeable future. Locally, I was the Anchorage area inaugural chair (2002 - 2004) for the first two years of the "Pillars of America" speaker series (an Alaskan program for youth developed by the Juneau-Gastineau Club) when it became a central project initiated by a prior Anchorage Rotary president. The annual "Pillars" project, upon which steering committee I still serve, is unique, in that we have joined in partnership with all of the area Rotary clubs in producing this wonderful series. In February 2007, with two my older daughters, I participated in a Polio NID in Chandigarh and Uttar Pradesh, India. I have attended 15 District Conferences and three International R.I. conferences: Osaka, Japan; Malmo-Copenhagen, Sweden/Denmark, and Chicago, Ill, USA. I am a member of ROTI and ITHF and am a multiple Paul Harris Fellow. I periodically give Rotary Club talks on "How a Life Long Alaskan Became a Rotarian."

Club Achievements: Anchorage Rotary was chartered in 1947 and has a long and distinguished Rotary history. In addition to close association and relationships with other area clubs (there are nine in a 60 mile radius of Anchorage), Anchorage Rotary has been both a leader, and a partner when others lead, in community projects for 60 years. We have actively chartered clubs in Russia and Alaska, sponsored Matching grants for Rotodent in Africa and sanitary facilities and clean water in Central America and India, strongly supported Polio Plus and have contributed, primarily through the results of our annual "Foundation Event," approximately $100,000 per year to the Paul Harris Foundation. While, I am proud of all of these achievements, the club project of which I am most proud is the "Anchorage Light Speed Planet Walk" our centennial project, initiated when I was president-elect and then carried out over the succeeding two years. I developed a video of this project which can be viewed here: homepage.mac.com/deisher/iMovieTheater155.html This video does not portray two additional exciting aspects of the planet walk:

1. Initiated by the succeeding president and his board following my year, a marvellous Kiosk has been installed at the sun station which includes three video screens:
   • a description of the planet walk and it's development (I produced the 3 min video on that screen);
   • a presentation of Alaska Native stories related to the sun; and,
   • an interactive internet link with the NASA and JPL web sites for up-to-the-minute information on astronomy. The Planet Walk website can be found here: http://www.anchorageplanetwalk.org/
2. Beginning this fall Anchorage Rotary is promoting an annual "Planet Walk Run" to encourage an incorporation of the Planet Walk into the fabric of Anchorage community life. The distance from the Solar Station to the Pluto Station is about sixteen kilometres. The run will emphasize Community and family participation, youth activities, science, health, exercise and culture. To date the total amount of funds and in kind services raised on behalf of the Planet Walk is approximately $650,000. Annual contributions from the run will increase this amount.

Something of your personal life - hobbies etc. Most of my hobbies and interests are listed somewhere above. Items not listed include the playing of the strategic game Go (iGo in Japan, Baduk in Korea, and WeiChi in China) in which I am strictly an amateur ranked at 4 or 5 kyu. I am a perpetual photographer. I both love people and enjoy my own company. I read and write almost continuously, except when I'm doing one of the other above-mentioned activities. I love a good joke and laugh a lot, with one exception: jokes made at the expense or derision of others. I especially like language based humour.