FAIRBANKS -- The University of Alaska Fairbanks has received a grant to help boost the number of Alaska Natives pursuing doctoral degrees.
The $40,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is intended to help the university create a program to attract more Native students to advanced degree programs, university officials said.
The university also plans to create a new doctorate in education with an emphasis on indigenous studies, said Bernice Joseph, the university's vice chancellor for rural, community and Native education.
She said course work will focus on issues relevant to rural Alaska such as climate change, economic development and language preservation.
Since 1989, UAF has awarded 401 doctoral degrees, five of which have gone to Alaska Natives or American Indians.
Officials hope to have doctoral students graduate and then stay on as professors at UAF to encourage more Alaska Native students to pursue higher degrees, Joseph said.
About 19 percent of the student body is Alaska Native, compared to 3 percent of faculty.
"It's important for there to be role models that students can make a connection with," said Judyth Wier, UAF's associate vice chancellor for development.
Officials at the university will be working through the fall on coming up with a final proposal for the new Ph.D. program and will be asking the Mellon Foundation, based in New York, for further help implementing the new initiative.
UAF is the only campus within the statewide University of Alaska system that awards doctoral degrees.
