Published Mar 14, 2023

What’s in a name? For the council given the responsibility of safeguarding Alaska’s Indigenous languages, a name change could reflect a broader purpose.

Under legislation pending in the state House, House Bill 26, the Alaska Native Language Preservation and Advisory Council would be renamed to sometime more general: the Alaska Native Language Council.

It might seem a simple change, but it’s meaningful, said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Andi Story, D-Juneau, one of two legislators who are non-voting members of the council.

The shortened name “better reflects the broad and vital work the council does,” Story said on Monday during a hearing of the House Tribal Affairs Special Committee.

In a committee hearing last Wednesday, X̱’unei Lance Twitchell, the council’s chair, gave a more detailed explanation of the desired name change.

“Preservation is a term that is important to the work that we do, but it only involves documenting the language so we can hold onto the knowledge and the ability of current speakers,” said Twitchell, who is an author and a professor of Alaska Native languages at the University of Alaska Southeast. “Revitalization is also what we do, which involves, in my mind, two things: one, protecting the speakers that you have while creating new ones, and two, ensuring that our languages are languages of power and use. Reclamation is also what we do, which is making sure that our languages are used in a wide variety of social and physical spaces.”

Published Mar 13, 2023 by Nolin Ainsworth

The University of Alaska Fairbanks was busy last week racking up national titles.

The school’s rifle and cross-country skiing teams both won National College Athletics Association titles in the past week.

The UAF rifle team’s title won its 11th national championship in program history — and their first since 2008 — on Saturday. UAF outpaced second-place Texas Christian University by just 12 points with a score of 4729 to 4717. Kentucky rounded out the top-3 with a score of 4713.

At the NCAA Skiing Championships, held in Lake Placid, New York, sophomore Joe Davies on Thursday won the 10-kilometer freestyle race with a time of 22 minutes, 33.2 seconds.

Like the rifle program, it was the Nanooks’ first individual champion in over 10 years. Davies, a Canadian member of the team, got faster as the race went along, taking the lead by a near 20-second margin at the halfway point.

Published Mar 13, 2023 by Staff

The cycling of carbon through the environment is an essential part of life on the planet. Understanding the various sources and reservoirs of carbon is a major focus of Earth science research.

Not all particulate organic matter is created equal Carbon from soils that gets washed downstream is more likely to be buried in the ocean than the carbon produced within a river. That carbon is more likely to stay floating in the ocean, be eaten by organisms there and eventually breathed out as carbon dioxide.

“It’s like the difference between a french fry and a stem of broccoli,” said lead author Megan Behnke, a former FSU doctoral student who is now a researcher at the University of Alaska, Southeast. “That broccoli is going to stay in storage in your freezer, but the french fry is much more likely to get eaten.”

That means a small increase in a river’s biomass could be equivalent to a larger increase in organic material coming from the land. If the carbon in that organic matter moves to the atmosphere, it would affect the rate of carbon cycling and associated climate change in the Arctic.

“I always get excited as a scientist or a researcher when we find new things, and this study found something new in the way that these big Arctic rivers work and how they export carbon to the ocean,” Spencer said. “We have to understand the modern carbon cycle if we’re really going to begin to understand and predict how it’s going to change. This is really relevant for the Arctic at the rate that it’s warming and due to the vast carbon stores that it holds.”

The study was an international endeavor involving researchers from ten different institutions.

Published Mar 13, 2023 by Marianne Lindsey

When Kyle H. put on his uniform as a full-fledged aircraft technician last year, it was thanks to a lot of grit, determination and encouragement from his coworkers—and a new company benefit called the Maintenance Technician Development Program.

Kyle, a Tsimshian and Tlingit Native from Metlakatla, Alaska, joined Alaska Airlines as a ramp service agent in Juneau, Alaska when he was just 20 years old. As a track runner and admitted bookworm in high school, the pace of the job appealed to him. He dove right in and took on more responsibility, filling in as lead, working in the warehouse and qualifying as a departure coordinator.

But he wanted more.

Encouraged by his coworkers, he transferred to Fairbanks to start classes at the University of Alaska Fairbanks to obtain his airframe & powerplant (A&P) license and become an aircraft mechanic, while simultaneously working at the station.

There are now six employees enrolled in the program, and we’re hoping for more. Alaska Airlines has partnerships with Alaska Fairbanks and the University of Alaska Anchorage. Company Maintenance & Engineering leaders and our recruitment team often speak with classes to encourage students to join the external version of the program.

“I was lucky to receive the development program’s reimbursements after my schooling. The company also helped me move to Anchorage,” he said.

Our Maintenance Technician Development Program is geared towards individuals who want to gain the skills needed to become an aircraft maintenance technician.

Aspiring aircraft technicians who enroll in our program will receive up to $12,300 in stipend assistance and have mentorship opportunities with a certified A&P aircraft maintenance technician. After completing the program and meeting all qualifications, you’ll be given a contingent job offer and assigned to a new hire class date with Horizon Air.