JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - The University of Alaska’s board of regents is considering whether to consolidate the school’s education programs into one college based in Fairbanks, a move that has drawn criticism from the university’s Juneau campus.
The board is expected to decide sometime this week on what university President Jim Johnsen has called a cost-saving measure, The Juneau Empire reported (https://bit.ly/2fghis2).
The consolidation is intended at providing “a sharper focus on the state’s needs for more Alaska-prepared teachers and education leaders and a greater accountability for meeting those needs,” Johnsen said in a statement.
Under the proposed single system-wide college of education, one dean would replace the three within the university system.
The advisory council for University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau passed a resolution Monday expressing “overwhelming disagreement” with Johnsen’s plan.
“The Council is alarmed at the dissonance between the state objective (identifying programs that are ’core to each university’s strengths in meeting state needs’) and UAS’ elimination as a lead university in teacher education, one of its most visible and viable programs,” the resolution said.
Juneau Mayor Ken Koelsch has also opposed the change, arguing that centralizing education programs in Fairbanks could hurt UAS.
“We are concerned about the long-term viability of UAS if one of its most important programs is not administered here in Juneau,” Koelsch said in a letter to regents asking them to reject Johnsen’s proposal.
UAS graduated 656 students last spring, with about 25 percent of those students coming from the university’s School of Education.
The board of regents will decide before the weekend whether the proposed consolidation should go forward.
If regents agree, a plan would probably be presented to the board before the start of the next school year.
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Information from: Juneau (Alaska) Empire, https://www.juneauempire.com
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