FAIRBANKS, Alaska — What started as a summer job in Denali National Park turned into a life's work for a Montana native now making a difference in Alaska's justice system.
Jeff May, an associate professor of justice at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, grew up in Bozeman before heading to college in Idaho, where he met his future wife.
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"We were both in college. She wanted to come to Alaska and work, and I wanted to get married," May said.
"It was going to originally just be a summer job in Denali National Park. We thought that sounded really fun. I was a whitewater rafting guide, and she was a park ranger in Denali Park, and we had the time of our life. And so one summer grew into five years and two kids ..."
May went to college at UAF and then returned to Montana to earn his law degree at the University of Montana in Missoula. He has since built a career in Alaska centered on education and community justice.
"We teach students that want to go into some kind of justice profession, whether it be the corrections, become corrections officers or probation officers or police officers or future lawyers," May said. "I have really grown to love teaching students and get them excited about their future careers."
Beyond the classroom, May supports restorative justice programs before trial and has served village communities across Alaska as a magistrate judge — work that meant flying to Fort Yukon, which is on the Yukon River by the Arctic Circle, and Galena, a small village about 350 miles west of Fairbanks.
"It's not every day you fly to a courthouse and you sleep in a sleeping bag and a pad on the floor, and you spend a couple of days there, and then you come on back and do it again in a couple of weeks," May said. "And I really loved it."
A significant part of his work focuses on empowering indigenous peoples and ensuring rural communities have a voice in their own justice systems.
"I spend a lot of time at a desk, but my heart is away from the desk. ... I love to try to help make sure that the communities feel like they have a stake in their own justice system," May said.
Alaska's vast wilderness has also shaped his life outside of work.
"Obviously this is an outdoor paradise," May said. "I mean, most of this state is roadless and is accessible only by air or boat, and so you don't have to go too far to step into a real adventure here in Alaska."
