Alaska Immigration Justice Project's Portraits

Stephanie Novak, Artist Stephanie Novak is a Student at the University of Alaska Anchorage currently pursuing two degrees: a Bachelors of Arts in Anthropology, and a Bachelors of Fine Arts with emphases in printmaking and drawing. Born in Oakland, California, she moved to Anchorage at the age of 5, under the impression that she was going to live in an igloo, eat snow, and mush huskies. The unfortunate reality was that these activities had fallen out of fashion prior to her arrival, except for the eating snow part. She is the mother of a wonderful boy named Darian, who is testament that the procrastination apple does not fall far from the tree. She has won Best of Watercolor for 2010 and 2011 Student Juried Shows, and has been selected by professors for several invitational shows, all at the Student Union Gallery.

Stephanie is currently president of UAA’s Print Club; some of her drawings adorn UAA’s Art Department website as student example, and she has been published in UAA’s Understory 2010. Her portfolio: www.snnovak.daportfolio.com.

Dianah Ojwanga, Author Dianah was born in Kenya many years ago or so it seems to a mother who was a businesswoman turned farmer, and a father who worked as a sales executive. She has two great brothers and four wonderful sisters. She first dreamed about coming to America at the age of 13. At 23, the opportunity finally came. As a Presentation Editor working for Kenya’s most prestigious privately-owned television station at the time, she had a great job and a thriving career ahead of her. However, Dianah quit her job and started a small fundraising campaign to collect funds and embark on a journey to America. On arrival, she settled in Beckley, a small town in the State of West Virginia.

Dianah attended Mountain State University, a small private institution where she graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies, with a concentration in Communication Studies. She moved to Alaska nearly five years ago to seek employment and save up money to go to law school. Unfortunately, Dianah’s dreams of going to law school were thwarted by circumstances beyond her control. She enrolled at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) to pursue a master’s degree. After 2 years of fulltime studies and part-time employment as the Dean’s Office Student Assistant at the College of Education (COE), Dianah completed her thesis in December, 2010 and graduated with a Master of Public Administration (MPA) with two emphasis areas; Public Management and Health Administration. Dianah’s aspirations of becoming a lawyer someday soon still remain strong.

Lee Post, Editor Lee Post grew up in Palmer and is a proud resident of Spenard. He has spent his career working with youth, starting off as a social worker, then the past ten years as a Juvenile Probation Officer. Lee is also a freelance illustrator and cartoonist, who had a comic strip, “Your Square Life” published in the Anchorage Press for six years, and since that ended, has published several children’s books and had his work shown in several galleries in Anchorage and Wasilla. His illustrations and latest work can be seen at yoursquarelife.blogspot.com.