Niilo Koponen: Teacher and member of Alaska’s House of Reps

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Niilo Koponen was an elementary school teacher and principal from Alaska who also served in his state’s House of Representatives. Photo credit: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Many capable educators are also excellent politicians. This is true of Niilo Koponen, an elementary school teacher and principal from Alaska who also served in his state’s House of Representatives.

Niilo was born on March 6, 1928 in the Bronx section of New York City, New York, Following his graduation from the High School of Music and Art in 1945, he attended Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. There he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Social Administration and Sociology in 1952. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Education and Anthropology from the University of Alaska in 1957, and he also studied anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science in London, England. Niilo completed the requirements for his Ph.D. in Educational Administration from Harvard University in 1966.

Niilo and his wife moved to Fairbanks in 1952. The couple homesteaded 160 acres and raised a family of five children. For some time, Niilo worked as a surveyor and an electrician, but later he accepted a position an an elementary school teacher at University Park Elementary in the North Star Borough School District located in Fairbanks. He taught fifth and sixth grades from 1957 to 1962. Eventually Niilo became the principal of the school. He also taught night school and extended day courses in anthropology, sociology, Arctic Peoples, and Arctic Natives at the University of Alaska. He also served as a grants administrator for the school district and consultant for other projects, including the development of village high schools, director for Greater Fairbanks Head Start, and a labor investigator for the Alaska Human Rights Commission.

All his life, Niilo was committed to service to others and the improvement of his community. In 1948, Niilo volunteered at a Quaker work camp in Finland helping World War II refugees from Soviet occupation. In 1982, Niilo was elected on the Democratic ticket to represent the 21st District in the Alaska House of Representatives . He served five terms there, from 1983 to 1992.

This Chalkboard Champion passed away on December 3, 2013, in Fairbanks, Alaska. He was 85 years old.  To read more about him, see this obituary published by the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.