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For Immediate Release
Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011

The University of Alaska Board of Regents will hold a rare joint meeting with the Anchorage School Board when it gathers on the University of Alaska Anchorage campus this week.

The two-day meeting will be Thursday and Friday, Dec. 8-9, in Room 107 of the Lee Gorsuch Commons at Ů�źϼ�A. Over lunch Friday, regents and Anchorage School Board members will discuss a number of issues of importance to both boards, including Ů�źϼ� enrollment trends of Anchorage School District graduates; the success of Anchorage K-12 students who continue into post-secondary education and workforce training at Ů�źϼ�; and current collaborations between the Ů�źϼ� System and Anchorage School District.

"We both serve Alaska students at different levels along their educational path, so forging stronger partnerships between our two boards makes good sense," said Ů�źϼ� President Pat Gamble, who with Anchorage School District Superintendent Carol Comeau, a Ů�źϼ�A alumna, will open the joint meeting. "I hope this is the first of more sessions in the future."

The board agenda has a variety of matters up for action, including renaming the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Fisheries Industrial Technology Center in Kodiak the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center. Formal project approval for the renovation of Beatrice McDonald Hall at Ů�źϼ�A will be up before the board as well. Lars Kullerud, president of The University of the Arctic, a cooperative network of northern colleges and universities dedicated to education and research important to the Circumpolar North, will make a presentation to the board.

Board members will hear reports on the proposed veterinary medicine 2+2 program at Ů�źϼ�F, workforce development, student services, engineering needs, online education and teacher training. The University of Alaska Southeast will update the board on its plan to suspend admissions into its Master of Business Administration program and phase out the degree over the next several years. The decision came after a detailed program review at Ů�źϼ�S.

A resolution of appreciation for former Ů�źϼ� Vice President for Finance Joe Trubacz, who recently left Alaska for a similar job in Colorado, and resolution in memory of higher education champion Alvin Okeson, founder of Mat-Su College who passed away in October, will both be up before the board. In addition, Ů�źϼ�A will showcase its “I am Ů�źϼ�A” campaign, which highlights the best of Ů�źϼ�A through its diverse students, quality faculty and staff and successful alumni.

Public testimony will be taken at 10 a.m. on both Thursday and Friday.

For a complete look at the board agenda, go to .

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For information contact Kate Ripley, 907/450-8102 or 907/388-3506.

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