Student Government Column - October 2022

By Ashlyn Espinosa

Dear UAF,

Perhaps a prudent way to introduce this report is to give a brief overview of the governing structure of UAF and the UA system as a whole. 

At the very top of the university system is the president, Pat Pitney, and the Board of Regents (BOR). Each university campus (UAF, UAA, UAS) has their own chancellor who is responsible for their campus and reports to the president. The chancellor has a core council of sorts including the provost, multiple vice chancellors, administrative executives, and others. This council makes all major decisions for the university and receives feedback from the many leaders on campus. 

At UAF there is a shared governance model that allows for the  participation of three primary demographics in campus decisions; namely faculty, staff, and students. These three representative groups are the faculty senate, staff council, and student government. The vision for this system is that the three governing groups work together to advocate on the behalf of their constituents to the administration. 

My role as student body president is to make sure student voices are heard by the highest levels of government in our university, and to advocate for your wants and needs. In accordance with that role I attend most major meetings held by the administration, as well as those held by other governance groups. This system ensures that all representatives are working together in the most effective way possible to support the university community. 

Faculty Senate Update: I attended the meeting held by the faculty senate this past week. Chancellor White delivered some remarks on the budget process that will be submitted to the president and the Board of Regents for review in a few weeks. The increases in the budget are projected to be directed mostly towards faculty salaries this coming year, which may result in tighter research funding than in previous years. 

Provost Prakash gave an exciting report on the registration event that is set to rollout this semester. The event is designed to get students registering for classes early to prevent the last minute scramble that occurs when classes start. She also gave an update on the status of the transition process from Blackboard to Canvas learning systems, sharing that around 80% of faculty have already switched their virtual classrooms to Canvas. The remaining instructors are given until the end of spring semester 2024 to fully transition.

The staff council chair, Ronnie Houchin, gave an update from the staff side and encouraged a strong partnership between governance groups; and some exciting new legislation was introduced to create Earth System Science master’s and PhD programs. This would require some departments to transition and programs within them to become concentration areas under the new program. 

Finally, the faculty senate passed a resolution to support UNAC (United Academics) in their negotiations with UA. These negotiations have been ongoing for the past year with legal complaints lodged on both sides. One of the members of UNAC attended and gave an update on the negotiations stating that of the six grievances UNAC had against the university at this time last year, five have been settled and there is only one major sticking point that both sides are working toward resolving. 

Middle College Update: The Fairbanks North Star Borough (FNSB) School Board held a meeting this past week that the chancellor, provost, and a few others from UAF were invited to attend. 

The meeting was to discuss the potential expansion of the North Star Middle College program. This program started three years ago in the fall of 2020 with a cohort of 40 students (of which I was one). Its goal was to provide high school seniors with an opportunity to attend college and receive credits for both high school and college simultaneously. In addition, the education program was completely free to students and allowed them to take a mixture of classes at the university and at their home high school.

The program has seen a massive interest since its conception, and the university –in partnership with the school board– is looking to expand the program to make it available to more students. The current goal is to open the program up to juniors in addition to seniors next fall, and to increase enrollment capacity from 40 students to 125 students next year, and then to 175 students the following year. 

The university is confident that this program will continue to be a success and a huge advantage to enrolled students and our community.