Published Aug 31, 2023 by KCAW News

The University of Alaska Southeast welding program is growing. Assistant Professor of Welding Luke Gibes joined KCAW’s Brooke Schafer to discuss new equipment, welding competitions, and how students can sign up for fall 2023 courses.

Classes start September 12, 2023 and run until mid-December.

Published Aug 31, 2023

Jules is Dakhl’aweidí (Eagle/Killer Whale Clan), from the Deisleen Ḵwáan (Teslin people). She herself started learning her language four years ago. She says she was in a dark place at the time. Working with what she calls her speakers — Bessie Cooley, Sam Johnston, Lance Twitchell, Tim Hall and her mother, Connie Jules — changed her life.

“It brought me closer to elders and community and family,” she says. “It was like medicine to me, learning my language.”

Now, Jules feels a more solid sense of identity. She feels more resilient. She’s stronger, physically and mentally. She was surprised what a difference the experience made in her life, even though she’d previously seen the power language can have.

Since then, it’s played into Jules’ role as a teacher at the Yukon Native Language Centre. It influenced her decision to attend the University of Alaska Southeast, where she’s doing a specialized bachelor of arts in Indigenous studies with an emphasis on Alaskan native languages. She’s combined that with a minor in outdoor adventure studies, which she says is a natural fit with her language and Indigenous studies. Being out on the land, connecting and moving your body, and touching the earth. That’s the kind of classroom she feels comfortable in, she says.

It also impacted her decision to incorporate Tlingit language learning into her yoga instruction after she completed yoga teacher training in Bali.

Published Aug 31, 2023 by Alex Bengel

This summer, the University of Alaska Fairbanks Police Department added a furry new recruit to their ranks.

His name is Yogi, and this K-9 unit is trained to sniff out potential explosive devices, a unique trait in the community. According to his handler Officer Jill Copeland, “When I started doing my research on explosive dogs in Alaska, there are none besides military in Interior Alaska.”

Yogi is 16 months old. “He is still a puppy, basically,” said Copeland.

At around one year old, Yogi began learning to identify odors associated with explosive devices.

Published Aug 31, 2023 by https://www.kyuk.org/people/sunni-bean

Many didn’t want to go looking for Nunalleq, "the old village." Tradition says not to mess with artifacts because they carry energy. But in 2007, more and more artifacts were washing up on the shores. Climate change was accelerating erosion and permafrost melt. This was revealing ancient history, but also causing it to rot away.

Warren Jones, the CEO of the Qanirtuuq village corporation, sent pictures of the finds to archeologist Dr. Rick Knecht, then a professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Together they located the site. Warren, and other Elders on the corporation's board, had to rally the village to support its excavation.

“We were always told don't touch these old sites,” said Jones. “So I had to convince the main Elders back then for about two years or so. We need to do this. We need to tell our kids where we're coming from, where we came from. As my late grandfather used to tell me, don't ever forget where you came from.”

They got the support they needed, and it took a village to carry out the dig. It wasn’t until years later that the village got running water. And over five years ago, Jones found a surplus building. It became the museum. The Nunalleq Museum now has the largest collection of Yup’ik artifacts in the world.