Published Jul 18, 2023 by Staff report

The Alaska Nanooks cross country team announced in a press release the hiring of Conrad Haber.

He joins Eliska Albrigtsen’s coaching staff as the assistant coach.

“We are excited to add Conrad to our endurance squad,” Albrigtsen said, “. . . Conrad stood out to us with his progressive and modern, science-based outlook on training, open mindset and extremely positive and friendly attitude.

Haber joins the Nanooks coaching staff after spending eight years at the Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia, Pa.

There he was the head coach of the boys and girls cross country teams as well as the head coach of the track & field team.

Published Jul 18, 2023 by La'shawn Donelson, Your Alaska Link

The need for pharmacists here in Alaska is growing. A day on the golf course will help some future pharmacists pay for school.

The annual Klouda Classic tournament at the Anchorage Golf Course drew a large crowd of participants to help fundraise for those pharmacy students in need, even in the rain.

Teresa Hall-Klouda is the owner of Bernie's Pharmacy. She aims to provide money to the University of Alaska and Idaho State University Doctor of Pharmacy Program.

"The funds that we raise stay right here in Alaska, helping our future pharmacists," Hall-Klouda said.

Published Jul 18, 2023

The expansion of the Port of Nome has left many residents with questions about how the region will change. The impending development project also offers an attractive case study for researchers who want to understand the impacts of increased cruise ship tourism in the Arctic.

“It’s hard to imagine several thousand cruise ship passengers on Front Street, but when the port gets built, they will come,” says Jim Powell, a researcher at the Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center at the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau.

Powell has been in Nome this summer along with several researchers from other institutions to gather data. They want to learn about community impacts—both positive and negative—from cruise ship tourism, infrastructure projects, shipping and climate change.

Rather than descending on the town separately and treading much of the same ground, the researchers established a Nome Research Consortium. The group involves five different universities and four different projects, some of which are funded by the National Science Foundation. The consortium is intended to help the researchers coordinate their field work, share information and reduce the burden on community members.

This work on Nome is only just beginning, and while the analysis will likely take months, if not years, to be published, the researchers can for now offer some lessons they’ve learned from other cities.

Published Jul 17, 2023 by Amy Vinlove, Carlee Simon and Tonia Dousay

Are you passionate about becoming a teacher but need help figuring out where to start? Look only as far as the University of Alaska system — visit Teach Alaska to explore options — which offers a range of pathways to help you become certified. With the introduction of the UA Teacher Internship Scholarship, pursuing your degree in education has never been more affordable.

The UA Teacher Internship Scholarship is part of the Alaska College of Education Consortium’s commitment to providing Alaskans with accessible routes to becoming teachers. Across the nation, teacher preparation programs and state policies are evolving to support aspiring teachers by offering financial compensation during their internships.

At the core of all UA initial licensure pathways is a supervised internship experience. However, many prospective teacher candidates need help when they realize that a full-time internship requires stepping down from their current job, full or part-time. Committing to a year of training means assuming the financial burden of tuition and fees, along with the absence of a salary and benefits. This quickly becomes an insurmountable obstacle.

The new internship scholarship program addresses both of these barriers. In its inaugural year, the program awarded $1.3 million to 75 Alaska teacher candidates within their final 30-60 credits of preparation. This includes undergraduates in initial licensure programs at UAA, UAF, or UAS, as well as graduate candidates who hold a bachelor’s degree in a field other than education and seek certification through a post-baccalaureate pathway. The scholarship application period for the 2024-25 school year will open in January.

Published Jul 17, 2023

About 20 years ago, Shoultz connected with Patricia Hollowell, a friend and researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks who was growing peonies in the botanical gardens there. She wanted to see if peonies — a flower that likes cold winters — could thrive in Alaska.

“Along the way, we realized that our peonies come into season when fresh-cut peonies aren’t available anywhere else in the world,” Shoultz said.

That seasonality is what makes Alaska’s peonies so special. Peonies in Alaska are usually ready to pick in early July — months later than other peony hubs and just in time for the mid-summer wedding season.

“So that was a niche, obviously,” Shoultz said.