UAF Fairbanks Tall Timbers Series 2024: An Evening with Greg Hill

The Fairbanks Tall Timber Series honors those who have served the Fairbanks community well. Join veteran newsman Robert Hannon as he interviews Greg Hill. Greg Hill wasn’t looking for a job in June 1990 but applied to run the Fairbanks North Star Borough’s public libraries at the urging of his mom, who was volunteering for the Alaska State Parks and learned of the opening in Fairbanks. By the end of August, he and his family arrived from Texas (and have been glad they escaped ever since). Greg met his wife in college, went to graduate school in Comparative International Relations, and worked at the U.S. State Dept. and at the Texas Legislature, where he was befriended by the director of the Legislative Reference Library and encouraged to obtain a master’s in library science degree at the University of Texas. There, he learned about the noble principles of public libraries and found his true professional passion. After directing two Texas libraries, Greg ran the FNSB libraries for 23 years. In retirement, he has continued the award-winning Guys Read Gals Read program he created in 2006 to encourage pleasure reading among 4th-grade students, the age at which most American students stop reading for fun. He was president of the Alaska Library Association twice but had more fun singing professionally in Austin with an acapella doo-wop group for 40 years (and counting).