Tag: UAA

New Surgical Technology Program Helps Meet Industry Need

Surgical techs Curtis Phelps, left, and Kristi Brooks pose for a photo in an operating room at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, Alaska on Wednesday, April 5, 2017. Brooks is the director of UAA’s surgical technology program. (Photo by Phil Hall / University of Alaska Anchorage)

When Jerica Masangcay was a young girl, she would watch as caregivers took care of her grandmother, who suffered from pressure ulcers caused by obesity, thyroid problems and diabetes.

“They made her feel loved, dressed her many wounds with the most delicate touch, made sure she was comfortable and that her dignity was always a priority,” Masangcay recounted. “From then, I always knew it was in my future to be able to provide excellent, compassionate care to those in need.”

Masangcay found work assisting elderly patients and, later, helping patients at Providence Transitional Care Center. She then helped patients who received open-heart surgery, stents and pacemakers before working in Providence’s emergency room.

“I first became interested in surgery, and becoming a surgical tech, after I had numerous patients who were post-coronary artery bypass graft,” she said. “I always wondered how the surgeon was able to take one artery or vein and attach it to another part of the heart, to make that heart pump and work as if it were brand new.”

Masangcay considered going to nursing school, or becoming a radiologist, but what she really wanted was a career that would enable her to see surgeries up close and in person, rather than just seeing them online.

Read the full article here.

Source: New surgical technology program helps meet industry need – Alaska Business Monthly

ANSEP Summer Bridge

Incoming UAA Freshman Augustine Hamner and ANSEP COO Mike Bourdukofsky visit with Morning Line host Danny Preston. Credit Koahnic Broadcast Corporation

Recent East High School graduate Augustine Hamner spent her summer in an extraordinarily productive way – taking an advanced math course and working for a major corporation.

This was all part of Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program’s Summer Bridge component, which is the most recent step she’s taken with ANSEP to prepare her for college.

Augustine has been actively involved with ANSEP since the 8th grade. The confident & well-spoken incoming college freshman reminisced about building her own computer so many years ago, and plans to major in Mechanical Engineering when she starts courses in a couple of weeks at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

This summer, she got hands-on experience interning for BP. Augustine says she worked within an Integrity Management team of six chemical engineers, helping analyze corrosion data from pipeline inspection and maintenance devices called a Pigging Barrel and a Smart Pig. She also managed to squeeze in Calculus II, completing the course in just five weeks.

ANSEP Chief Operating Officer Mike Bourdukofsky says that through ANSEP, 26 high school graduates like Augustine had the opportunity to take a college math or science course while gaining career experience through paid STEM field internships.

Listen to the interview here.

Source: As Heard on Morning Line: ANSEP Summer Bridge | knba

At Alaska Middle College School Students an Earn a High School Diploma and Associate’s Degree at the Same Time

Zavier Alers, standing near center in a blue T-shirt, leads an icebreaker exercise for students of Alaska Middle College School on Aug. 21, 2017. (Marc Lester / Alaska Dispatch News)

Monday marked the first day of school for tens of thousands of Anchorage students and the first day of the school district’s latest program: the Alaska Middle College School, where students can earn an associate’s degree and high school diploma at the same time, at no cost to them.

About 140 Anchorage high school juniors and seniors have enrolled in the middle college and on Monday morning, they split into five classrooms at the University of Alaska Anchorage Chugiak-Eagle River Campus to meet one another and attend lessons on how college works.

“There’s a lot more independence in your future,” Teacher David Maker told one group of teenagers. “You’re not going to have the amount of babysitting you’ve had the past two years.”

For the remainder of the week, the high school students will attend “boot camp” classes before they’re thrust into UAA lectures with university students.

“They’re university students, they have a university ID badge,” said Anchorage School District Superintendent Deena Bishop. “We’re not turning the university into high school, high school is stepping up the game.”

While the middle college students will attend regular university-level classes, they will also have access to two high school teachers who will hold “support seminars” in the building to review material, said Kathy Moffitt, ASD’s administrative projects director.

Read the full article here.

Source: At Alaska Middle College School, students can earn a high school diploma and associate’s degree at the same time – Alaska Dispatch News

College of Engineering Adds K-12 Coordinator

UAA’s College of Engineering has hired its first ever K-12 Coordinator, Vicki Nechodomu. She’ll serve as the chief liaison between the engineering college and K-12 educators in surrounding school districts, including those with more rural constituents.

Her job is to spend time with teachers to learn what their needs are and how the university can help, said Fred Barlow, UAA’s dean of the College of Engineering

“We want to be a part of the solution,” Barlow said. “Sometimes what happens is K-12 and higher education end up pointing fingers at each other. We want to set that aside. We want to work together so that the quality of student outcomes increases. Vicki is part of our commitment.”

Read the full article here.

Source: College of Engineering adds K-12 Coordinator – The Cordova Times

UAA Mentorship Program Connects Classroom and Careers for Student-Workers

For some college students, campus jobs are convenient jobs, and not much else.

But by adding a dose of intentional reflection and career planning, the Alaska PEAK program at University of Alaska Anchorage seeks to change that opinion for the roughly 850 students who work on campus. Whether a student is a lab tech or library assistant, PEAK aims to turn on-campus employment into a high-impact area of student success.

PEAK, which stands for Purposeful Engagement Assessing Knowledge, connects the dots between academics and employment at UAA, while making students feel a stronger connection with the university. How do experiences in the classroom and time on the job relate? And how can that help the student after graduation?

“What Alaska PEAK has done is create a common language for how supervisors talk with students about their learning experiences,” explained Whitney Brown, assessment and strategic projects director for the Office of Student Affairs. She launched PEAK in 2015, along with Ryan-Jasen Henne, director of Residence Life. Though the program is young, it’s already generating attention. The pair has presented PEAK at student affairs conferences in Anchorage, Orlando and Portland, Ore., as well as through national webinars.

Modeled after a similar program at University of Iowa, the program is deceptively simple. Supervisors talk about the PEAK process, at minimum, twice each semester with their staff. Students, at most, reflect on a list of five questions before those conversations.

The program’s simplicity — two meetings, five questions — belies the efforts and considerations behind it.

Read the full article here.

Source: UAA Mentorship Program Connects Classroom and Careers for Student-Workers – The Cordova Times