The University of Alaska Foundation is proud to announce Mark Speece, Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Alaska Southeast, as the recipient of the Harold T. Caven Professorship.

The two-year professorship includes a $20,000 award. This award is intended to enable Speece to perform activities and projects designed to enhance the field of business and finance at UA beyond those associated with his faculty assignments. Speece's proposed activities include researching customer needs for small and medium enterprises as well as examining financial e-services for rural Alaska.

Speece received his bachelor's degree in Eastern studies from the University of Nebraska. He earned his master's degree and a PhD in Middle East economic geography from the University of Arizona. Speece also received a PhD in marketing from the University of Washington. He has been on staff at the University of Alaska Southeast since 2004.

This professorship was established in 1974 with a gift from Mrs. Loretta Caven, widow of Harold T. Caven. Dr. Caven was a longtime Alaskan who first came to the state in 1943. He served as a Director and as a Vice President of the First National Bank of Anchorage.