Dr. Harcharek has lived and worked on the North Slope for more than 30 years.  He earned a Ph.D. in International and Development Education from the University of Pittsburgh in 1977. He served as a member of the Barrow City Council for fifteen years since 1993. Dr. Harcharek recently retired from the North Slope Borough as the Community and Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) Planner for the Department of Public Works.  

In his twenty-four years of employment with the North Slope Borough, Dr. Harcharek has served as North Slope Borough Senior Planner and Social Science Researcher, CIP and Economic Development Planner, Community Affairs Coordinator for the North Slope Borough Department of Public Safety, Director of the North Slope Higher Education Center (now known as Ilisagvik College), and Socio-cultural Scientist for the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management.  Prior to that, he served as Director of Technical Assistance for Upkeagvik Inupiat Corporation, and Dean of the Inupiat University of the Arctic.  

Currently, he also serves as the Commissioner at the Second Judicial District, Barrow, Alaska. He was appointed to the LBC on July 18, 2002 by Governor Knowles.  Governor Murkowski reappointed him to the LBC on March 24, 2004.  In April 2007, his fellow commissioners elected him vice chair of the commission.  On March 9, 2009, Governor Palin reappointed him to the commission. Dr. Harcharek served for three years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand and was also a Fulbright-Hays Professor of Multicultural Development in Thailand.  He has served as a member of numerous boards of directors, including the North Slope Borough Board of Education, the Alaska Association of School Boards, the Alaska School Activities Association and the Northern Justice Society.  His current term on the LBC ends January 31, 2014.

Image and article is derived from the State of Alaska website .