UA Board of Regents invite UAA education students to a special session to hear concerns, discuss solutions - Feb. 12, 2019

Update - Feb. 11, 2019:

The University of Alaska Board of Regents Listening Session is tomorrow, Feb. 12, 4-6 p.m. at the Wendy Williamson Auditorium. An important issue that will be discussed at this session is UAA School of Education accreditation.

https://www.facebook.com/UAAchancellor/videos/vb.218152312398299/324527551601620/?type=3&theater

I wanted to take this time to make you aware of one of the options the board is considering. I encourage you to attend tomorrow's listening session, and I hope to see you there.

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Original story - Jan. 24, 2019:

The University of Alaska's Board of Regents plans to meet with UAA education students on Feb. 12 to hear directly from them about their educational concerns. The board expressed its wish to meet with the students after hearing a briefing Jan. 18 from UA President Jim Johnsen and UAA Chancellor Cathy Sandeen on the factors that contributed to the loss of several programs' accreditation in UAA'S School of Education.

"Regents want to hear directly from students about their needs, and share with them some options that could assist students in the affected programs," said UA President Jim Johnsen.

"We need to ensure that the actions we ultimately will take are meaningful and address the needs of these students," said Board Chair John Davies.

The meeting is set for Tuesday, Feb. 12, 4-6 p.m. in the UAA Wendy Williamson Auditorium. Regents invite all students to attend to talk about their status, concerns and possible solutions. The board plans to consider a range of options to assist affected students at its regularly scheduled meeting on Feb. 28.

In an open apology to students, UA President Jim Johnsen said, "We dropped the ball on arguably the single most important responsibility we have, which is to provide students with high quality accredited programs. I personally apologize to students for this failure and breach of trust, and I will support the new team that Chancellor Sandeen has put together as we do everything possible to assist affected students."

Read Johnsen's personal apology letter to School of Ed students.

Johnsen will testify before the Senate Education Committee on Feb. 5. Hearing dates/topics can be found at 360north.org.

Other important Board of Regents meeting dates include:

Feb. 19 - The board will hold a statewide public call-in to hear from those around the state on this and other issues. (Call to testify at 1-866-726-0757 or listen to the livestream at kuacii.streamon.fm.)

Feb. 21 - The board's Academic and Student Affairs committee will meet to consider mid/long range options for the UAA School of Education. (Committee materials will be posted Feb. 14.)

Feb. 28 - The board will hold its regularly scheduled meeting and will consider the mid/long range options discussed at the Academic and Student Affairs Committee meeting.

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