Alaskans, stand up and save our university

I’ve learned over my years - from my youth growing up in the Interior, to my time in the Army, and through my lifetime owning and operating businesses in Fairbanks and across Alaska - that it takes a team to get things done and, with the right team, anything is possible.

The University of Alaska has the right team.

Since 1917, the university has been about building a community, building a state and building a future for Alaskans. For more than a century, it has produced the doctors, teachers, engineers, entrepreneurs, scientists, mechanics, chefs, farmers, white- and blue-collar managers of all stripes, as well as hundreds of other trained professionals who have lived in, worked in and built Alaska. And it has been a part of creating some of Alaska’s most successful leaders. These are individuals you knew and know, or know of their contributions to Alaska. They are people such as Jay Hammond, Grace Schaible, Earl Beistline, Joe Usibelli Sr., and so many more.

If we look at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in my hometown, the educational opportunities at — and career opportunities flowing from — UAF are as impressive as they are extensive. They range from mining to music, from anthropology to accounting, from biomedical to business management, from rural development to rocket science, offering educational and occupational certificates and associate’s degrees to baccalaureate, graduate and doctoral degrees. All this creates knowledgeable Alaskans helping to build and lead a strong state.

Again, taking a look at just UAF, in the fall of 2018, campus enrollment was 8,300. The freshman class was 750. Of that, a full 696 were from Alaska. Their average high-school GPA was 3.4. That same year, UAF graduated students with 1,350 degrees - degrees in business, government, science, technology and so on. If historic averages hold true, 70% of those graduates will stay in Alaska – and, building their lives in Alaska, they will contribute to Alaska’s future.

Like that 93% of the 2018 UAF freshman class, I was born in Alaska. And like that 70% of UA grads, I built my home and family, raising my children in Alaska. My hope is that my grandchildren will live, work and play in Alaska. What I know is that I would like them be able to do – I want them to have the same chances at opportunity and success that I did. But for that to happen, Alaska needs a strong university system. And today, that system is at risk.

The governor’s budget, as presented, would reduce current university funding by $134 million – in a single year, a whopping 41% cut in state funding! This reduction is on top of budget reductions which, starting in 2015, have equaled $76 million cumulatively.

Right now, Alaska has a world-class university offering world-class programs addressing real-world problems, including significant issues in the Arctic. UAF is recognized as America’s leading Arctic research university.

I believe strongly in a strong, statewide University of Alaska system, and I would like our communities to come together as a team to make sure we keep one. I cannot tell you how many company presidents and business owners say they rely on the university to produce the graduates they can hire as employees, managers and, eventually, successors. That’s not to mention the parents and grandparents who, like me, are looking forward to the honor of having their local university (for many, their own alma mater) provide advanced education to their children, their grandchildren and generations to come.

A decade ago, when there was a chance of losing our local Air Force base, the community of Fairbanks came together to save Eielson – came together as one team and saved Eielson from base closure. Today, it’s time to come together as one statewide team to save our university.

Please go to www.facebook.com/SupportingUA/ and join with other UA supporters in our communities to encourage our legislators and administration to support the investment our University of Alaska system needs to continue its role in providing a quality in-state education for Alaskans.

Alaska – its culture, its businesses, its quality of life, its people - is as strong as it is today because of our university. If we’ll all stand strong for UA, Alaska, our university and Alaskans will be even stronger tomorrow.

Jim Dodson is the president and CEO of the Fairbanks Economic Development Corp. He is a proud graduate of the University of Alaska.

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