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Investing in rural Alaska with new delivery model

Sept. 17, 2026

— By Bryan Uher, interim vice chancellor of rural, community and Native education

There is nothing quite like the energy of the first few weeks of a new school year. As we gather to launch another impactful year, I’m delighted to introduce a change designed entirely to support current and future students across the state.

First, some context: As the interim vice chancellor of rural, community and Native education, I get to support not only UAF’s College of Indigenous Studies and the Community and Technical College, but also UAF’s rural campuses across the state. These include our Bristol Bay Campus in Dillingham, Chukchi Campus in Kotzebue, Kuskokwim Campus in Bethel, and Northwest Campus in Nome.

Because our rural campuses are under the College of Indigenous Studies, right now we can only offer courses, certificates and degrees from that specific college. At the same time, distance education is becoming more popular as internet access to rural communities improves. So, if a student near one of our rural campuses wants to learn something or major in a subject CIS doesn’t offer, it makes sense that they’d enroll in another college or university.

Unfortunately, we have seen enrollment at our rural campuses steadily decline for the past several years. Our campuses support every student who is interested in pursuing higher education in our UA system. Due to our structure, students from outside our campus-specific courses are not tracked or attributed to our campus’ evaluation metric.

In direct response to these requests and to help boost enrollment across the UA system, we are launching a new delivery model that allows us to offer classes from UAF, UAA and UAS at our Bristol Bay Campus this spring.

This fall, UAF leaders will continue gathering community feedback on which courses to prioritize for the spring 2027 semester. So far, we’ve heard there is great interest in the community in courses in welding, construction, and sustainable energy; learning how to repair Toyo stoves, boilers, and small engines; maritime technology; business; and Alaska Native knowledge systems, such as tribal governance and traditional arts, led by elders and culture bearers.

More information about the new delivery model, plus a class feedback form, is available on our website.

Momentum is building behind this expansion throughout the UA system and across the state. I hope you’ll join me in ushering in this transition and welcoming more students from the Bristol Bay region to UAF, UAA and UAS.