Arliss Sturgulewski
Jane Arliss Sturgulewski
1927 –
Achievement in Politics and Public Policy
Jane Arliss Wright, a sister and her brothers, one her twin, were raised in Pleasant Valley, Wash., by their father and an aunt and uncle after their mother died when Arliss was about 10 years old. Her father, like many of the day, felt an education for women was a waste as they would just get married, so she put herself through the University of Washington, earning a B.A. in Economics and Business in 1949. Arliss came to Anchorage in April 1952 for a two-week visit with her pioneer family, but found work as a bookkeeper and stayed. She met and married Bernard “Sturg” Sturgulewski, a University of Alaska Fairbanks civil engineer. They had a son, Roe. On December 2, 1968, Arliss’ husband died in a Wien Airlines plane crash near Pedro Bay.
Joining the League of Women Voters in 1959 whetted Arliss’ appetite for civic issues, public policy and politics. Her first appointment was to the City of Anchorage Board of Examiners and Appeals in November 1965. In 1968 she was appointed to the Greater Anchorage Area Borough Planning and Zoning Commission, and served for seven years. She was elected to the Anchorage Charter Commission in 1975. Arliss served on the Anchorage Assembly from 1976 to 1978. She was elected to four terms as a Republican to the Alaska State Senate beginning in 1978, serving on every Senate standing committee until 1992 when she chose not to run. In 1986 Arliss was the first Alaska woman to receive her party’s nomination for governor. She ran with the classic slogan “Let’s just call her Governor.” She ran again in 1990.
Her leadership won her appointments in the national and international arenas. She was chair of the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education (WICHE), an advisor to the International North Pacific Fisheries Commission, and member of the Alaska Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Arliss has served on countless non-profit boards, especially those dealing with public policy and educational issues. Among them are Sheldon Jackson College, Anchorage YWCA and Anchorage Community YMCA, Challenger Learning Center, Alaska Children’s Services, and National Republican Coalition for Choice, She is a trustee of the University of Alaska Foundation along with numerous advisory committees for the university. She serves as an advisor to the school of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and Alaska Sea Grant. She served on the National Task Force on Aquaculture sponsored by the Pew Trust and Woods Hole Science Center. Some of the private boards of directors she has served on are Denali Drilling, Inc., Alaska Pacific Bank, Great Alaska Catalog, Inc. and Alaska Forest Creations.
Arliss has been honored as an Anchorage YWCA Woman of Achievement, and received the ATHENA Award and Congregation Beth Sholom’s Shining Lights Award.
Don Gilman, a businessman and state senator for the Kenai Peninsula said, “Arliss is hardworking, intelligent, and honest. She really was the one who carried the ball on inflation-proofing the Permanent Fund.” George Sullivan, former mayor of Anchorage, said, “She is strong and direct, tough as nails, and is a person of absolute integrity. She’s very knowledgeable on concerns facing Alaska.”
In a memo to friend Vic Fischer, she wrote that she, as a state senator, is most proud of sponsoring legislation to form the ARDORS, regional development organizations, to address economic development, coordinate private and public resources and provide assistance in local economic infrastructure. Her second proudest accomplishment was playing a role in the re-write of the municipal code. Upon its passage, Arliss said, “how lucky I have been to travel throughout the state and to learn about its diverse peoples and issues.” Arliss thinks her most challenging and rewarding work was spent on Permanent Fund issues. She got the needed votes in the legislature to inflation proof the fund.