"We would like to celebrate Paul Reichardt's contribution to the
circumpolar academic community," said Outi Snellman, UArctic director of administration. "He has shown both vision and persistence in his unwavering support for UArctic."

Reichardt was present for the original discussion about possible
collaboration between higher education institutions in the North during a meeting held at UAF in the late 1990s. The result of those discussions would be a "circumpolar academy, a university in the North, for the North, by the North." On June 12 2001, UArctic celebrated its launch with 200 people gathered in Rovaniemi, Finland. From there UArctic grew quickly and the "university without walls" graduated its first students in June 2006.

"I enjoyed having placed a small role, honored by this recognition
and wish them the best as UArctic moves forward," said Reichardt.

At the conference, Snellman presented Reichardt with a gift of a
ceramic arctic bird.