UAA Kenai Peninsula College will hold its Strategic Direction listening sessions on the Kenai River Campus in Soldotna April 17. Students will meet from 10:45 a.m. – 12 p.m.; staff from 1 – 2 p.m.; and faculty from 3 – 4 p.m.

UAA KPC Kachemak Bay Campus will conduct its Strategic Direction listening sessions in Homer on April 18. Students meet from 12 – 1:15 p.m.; staff meet from 2 - 3 p.m.; and faculty meet from 4 – 5 p.m.

Last week the Strategic Direction team conducted listening sessions at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Here are some of the comments that came out of those listening sessions:

•  We have to increase our ability to attract more Alaskan high school students. Many students don’t know what UAA has to offer them. This is a real campus, a real community. Alaska students need to know that they don’t have to leave Alaska to find a real university experience.

•  Serious work needs to be done in pre K-12. Right now the number of students entering UAA with some kind of education gap is staggering, especially in reading and math. Faculty members at UAA are spending more time getting students prepared to take the courses they should be taking when they arrive on campus. 

•  The UAA School of Allied Health is a great example of how a partnership that was built out of necessity has rapidly grown into a statewide health education model. It’s an example that should be considered in other high demand education programs. If the model works, use it.

•  Why can’t there be one academic calendar that is shared by all three universities?

• I would like to see University of Alaska alums have the opportunity to compete for university positions internally.

You Can Answer the listening session questions online! All you have to do is click here , to be a part of “Shaping Alaska’s Future 2017”!