ÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ

For Immediate Release
Friday, April 3, 2009

The University of ÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ Board of Regents will meet at Prince William Sound Community College next Wednesday and Thursday, April 8 & 9.

Topping the agenda are several new academic programs that require board approval before they can go forward, including:

• Graduate certificates in three programs at the University of ÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ Anchorage---counselor education; environmental regulation and permitting; and earthquake engineering;
• A certificate in allied health--pre-nursing qualifications at the University of ÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ Fairbanks;
• And a Ph.D. in indigenous studies at ÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ. Several ÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ Native organizations and many individuals provided input as this program was developed. One of its goals is to help reverse the shortage of ÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ Natives with advanced degrees; another is to advance knowledge and scholarship on subjects important to ÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ Native people and communities.

Board members also will review several projects in different stages of planning or construction. Up for consideration will be:

• Schematic design approval for pilings replacement and upgrades at the Northwest Campus in Nome;
• Formal project approval of the proposed energy technology building on the ÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ campus;
• Formal project approval of renovations of science classrooms at the UAA campus;
• And several informational items, including possible federal stimulus funding for the Toolik Field Station north of Fairbanks, operated by ÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ's Institute of Arctic Biology under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. Several hundred national and international researchers, as well as UA researchers and students, use the station each year. The NSF has allocated approximately $5 million in stimulus funding toward facility improvements.

Board members will attend a reception, take a campus tour and have lunch with the college's community advisory board. Each April, the board meets at a rural or community college within the 16-campus UA system. Public testimony will be taken both days; at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday and 8 a.m. Thursday.

This meeting will be the last for Student Regent William Andrews, whose two-year term expires at the end of May. A resolution of appreciation for Andrews is expected to pass unanimously.

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For more information, call Kate Ripley at 907/450-8102.