Newly strengthened partnerships connect UAA to Northwest

UAA recently announced two new initiatives that reinforce partnerships in the Pacific Northwest and allow Alaskans greater educational opportunities while minimizing their time away from the 49th state.

In late May, the UAA Justice Center unveiled its 3+3 program, a partnership with Willamette University's College of Law. The program lets interested UAA students complete law school a year earlier than before, gaining an extra year of earning power in the workforce and shedding a year of student fees. Additionally, the program requires an externship in Alaska to give students valuable law experience in their home state.

A few weeks later, WWAMI announced another big opportunity for UAA students. The University of Washington School of Medicine partnership program, in place at UAA since 1971, will initiate a major curriculum overhaul in 2015 thanks to the successful recommendations submitted by a UAA committee. The new curriculum also significantly expands the time Alaska students are able to stay in-state during medical school.

3+3 and WWAMI focus on two different professions, but both programs are built to benefit Alaskans looking for advanced degrees. These academic initiatives in the Northwest will provide expanded opportunities for residents and increased influence in their home state, without sacrificing any educational opportunities.

3+3 Program with Willamette University

The ties between UAA and Willamette run deep. Currently, 150 lawyers in the state hold J.D. degrees from Willamette-even U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski is a Willamette law graduate-and the recent 3+3 announcement finally made a long-standing relationship official.

"There are more graduates [in Alaska] from Willamette than any other single law school," explained legal studies professor Deb Periman, who also coordinates the legal studies program (and is another Alaska Willamette law graduate). "It's always had a really strong alumni base and a strong connection here."

Willamette University is a small private university in Salem, perfectly positioned across the street from the Oregon capitol building. The College of Law was established in 1883, making it both the oldest law school in the Pacific Northwest and an educational hub for the region (it's been deemed "Alaska's Law School" by some alumni in the North).

The official partnership follows a steady stream of recent support for UAA students. The dean of Willamette's College of Law has held mock law school classes on UAA's campus the past two semesters, giving Alaska students a taste of the program. Graduate admissions counselors from Willamette have likewise been a common sighting on UAA's campus. It's no surprise, then, UAA alumni have enrolled at Willamette for years.

The new program is designed so students can overlap two degrees from two universities and shave an entire year off of their education. Enrolled students must complete their general requirements and departmental curriculum at UAA before they enroll in law school, but all credits received in the first year of law school count as general requirements toward the student's last year at UAA.

"The great thing is, in terms of opportunity cost, not only does it get them out into the workforce earlier but it saves them that whole year of undergraduate tuition," Periman said. She cited the rising crush of student debt nationwide as a motivating factor for the program. Fortunately, the new dean at Willamette was looking to partner as well. "He reached out to us and it was the same time we were looking for ways to make graduate legal education more accessible for our students, so it was just fortuitous timing," Periman said.

The program is based on a similar 3+3 arrangement between Willamette and Oregon State University, but with one key Alaska difference. The UAA program requires students return to their home state to complete a semester-long externship in their final year. "It ensures these students who are leaving before they actually graduate are coming back into state and getting some experience, some contacts and some familiarity with Alaska law before they graduate," Periman explained.

The Justice Center is already seeing interest from incoming freshman this fall, but current students are also eligible. Students who've been on track in their first semesters at UAA can still make the transition to Salem after three years. And, despite the goals stated in the name '3+3,' the program is built to accommodate the timelines of all students. The program is structured on number of credits so, for example, students who planned to take six years as an undergraduate can still start law school after five.

Condensing four years into three takes focus and a solid academic plan, but the Justice Center faculty is ready to advise students from all departments and keep them on track. The program is open to all majors, and each cohort of students will stay connected as they progress through UAA. Likewise, Willamette professors will visit UAA during the year to hold events and meetings for their future students.

"The key piece of information is that it's open to all majors, not just legal studies, not just justice," Periman said.

Whatever their major and wherever they stand on the academic timeline, the efficient and cost-effective curriculum is open to all interested students. For years UAA alumni have headed south to Salem to start law school, and the 3+3 program will only see that number grow.

WWAMI partnership with University of Washington

Thanks to a sweeping curriculum change devised by Alaskans, "medical school" will no longer conjure images of massive textbooks and professors administering PowerPoint sedatives to auditoriums full of students. Members of WWAMI's 2015 entering class will be freed to spend drastically less time in classrooms and more time helping patients, solving health care problems as a team and learning clinical skills from physicians. And, Alaskans participating in WWAMI will have the option of staying here while completing their 87-week foundations phase.

The catalyst for transforming WWAMI's curriculum has occurred following more than 10 years of changes across U.S. medical schools, pushed in part by the Liaison Committee for Medical Education, the accreditation body for U.S. medical schools, mandating a shift away from the archaic practice of forcing U.S. medical students to sit through lectures and toward helping students access medical knowledge and experiences in more modern, efficient ways.

"This is the biggest curriculum change in WWAMI's 42-year history," said Dr. Jane Shelby, academic director of Alaska WWAMI.

Dr. Robert Furilla, Alaska WWAMI's associate director, said the goal was to reduce the number of hours instructors spend lecturing to students-keeping that time to one hour a day, maximum-and try to keep together like subjects.

"When you're dealing with the heart, you deal with the physiology, with the pathology, with the pharmacology all at one time," Furilla said. "This is different from the traditional system in which you had a physiology course, followed by a pathology course, followed by a pharmacology course. We wanted to break them into smaller pieces and deal with them completely so the student gets a good idea of what's going on with the heart-from how it works, to what goes wrong to how do you fix it-all in a continuous discussion before moving on to something else."

UW, in December, requested proposals to integrate the structure of the scientific-foundations phase of the curriculum. An Alaska WWAMI multidisciplinary committee convened for a brainstorming session and submitted one of the 38 proposals UW received. Members of the Alaska WWAMI committee included Dr. Shelby, Dr. Furilla, Dr. Cindy Knall, Dr. Tim Hinterberger, Dr. Megan Ritter, Dr. Meredith Lann, Jamie Elswick, Dr. Quentin Reuer and Dr. Tanya Leinicke.

"We met, we discussed, we filled up a huge whiteboard in the next room with our ideas and we started to fill in blocks based on everybody's expertise where we thought things should go," Shelby said.

UW officials winnowed the proposals to 13 and, after a January forum of presentations in Seattle, elected to implement Alaska's recommendations.

"We're proud of this," Shelby said.

Instead of four years of strictly medical school, the new WWAMI curriculum will offer three phases: a foundations phase, patient-care phase and an explore-and-focus phase.

Members of WWAMI's 2015 entering class will begin their foundations phase of medical school with four weeks of clinical immersion followed by blocks of content integrated with clinical experience. Students serve clerkships throughout each block of study, and two-week "intersessions" between blocks allow them to plan scholarly projects and study for board exams.

The students transition out of foundations phase into patient-care clerkships, and finish with an "explore and focus" phase before completing the program and beginning residency. The curriculum also includes a 12-week clinical block in Seattle, providing WWAMI students the experience of a major metro medical center. "That's a very important opportunity for students," Shelby said.

Shelby says the new curriculum helps students develop skills for lifelong learning by encouraging them to take material from a book, the web, video offerings WWAMI makes available and other resources. They learn to integrate the material and come to class prepared. "They don't need to be spoon-fed the material," she said. "They don't need a lecture. So class can be taking what they've learned and solving a problem with another team of students and taking it to the next level of learning-critical thinking and application of knowledge. Students often do much better because we're getting out of their way and letting them learn."

Since the summer session started, 3+3 and WWAMI have both added exciting, substantial and, above all, valuable benefits for UAA students. Both programs likewise feature an extensive commitment to Alaska without sacrificing the opportunities for advanced degrees for UAA students.

For more information on 3+3, please contact the Justice Center at (907) 786-1810.

For more information on WWAMI, please contact the Alaska WWAMI program at (907) 786-4789.