Regents to meet with Anchorage School Board Dec. 8-9

The University of Alaska Board of Regents will hold a rare joint meeting with the Anchorage School Board when it gathers on the University of Alaska Anchorage campus this week.

The two-day meeting will be Thursday and Friday, Dec. 8-9, in Room 107 of the Lee Gorsuch Commons at UAA. Over lunch Friday, regents and Anchorage School Board members will discuss a number of issues of importance to both boards, including UA enrollment trends of Anchorage School District graduates; the success of Anchorage K-12 students who continue into post-secondary education and workforce training at UA and current collaborations between the UA System and Anchorage School District.

"We both serve Alaska students at different levels along their educational path, so forging stronger partnerships between our two boards makes good sense," said UA President Pat Gamble, who with Anchorage School District Superintendent Carol Comeau, a UAA alumna, will open the joint meeting. "I hope this is the first of more sessions in the future."

The board agenda has a variety of matters up for action, including renaming the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Fisheries Industrial Technology Center in Kodiak the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center. Formal project approval for the renovation of Beatrice McDonald Hall at UAA will be up before the board as well. Lars Kullerud, president of The University of the Arctic, a cooperative network of northern colleges and universities dedicated to education and research important to the Circumpolar North, will make a presentation to the board.

Board members will hear reports on the proposed veterinary medicine 2+2 program at UAF, workforce development, student services, engineering needs, online education and teacher training. The University of Alaska Southeast will update the board on its plan to suspend admissions into its Master of Business Administration program and phase out the degree over the next several years. The decision came after a detailed program review at UAS.

A resolution of appreciation for former UA Vice President for Finance Joe Trubacz, who recently left Alaska for a similar job in Colorado, and resolution in memory of higher education champion Alvin Okeson, founder of Mat-Su College who passed away in October, will both be up before the board. In addition, UAA will showcase its "I am UAA" campaign, which highlights the best of UAA through its diverse students, quality faculty and staff and successful alumni.

Public testimony will be taken at 10 a.m. on both Thursday and Friday.

For a complete look at the board agenda, please visit the Board of Regents website.