Dr. Marie Gardner

If ever there was a quote to apply to an educator, it would be for Dr. Marie Gardner, the Director for Mat-Su College (MSC) as she has been working to further education opportunities at MSC. “Education is the foundation of opportunity.'' -- Oprah Winfrey

“The slogan for MSC is ‘Opportunities Start Here and those opportunities for most people traditionally means a degree. That doesn’t work for everyone, but we offer (occupation endorsement) certificates and we have associate’s degrees that feed into a Bachelors,” Gardner said.

She took on the role 16 months ago after Dr. Talis Colberg announced that he was stepping down, and has herself continued learning about MSC, the Mat-Su, and providing opportunities to enhance learning for the community.

“The last year has been a year of learning. I knew that I was going to have to learn a lot about the university system, UAA’s policies, etc.,” says Dr. Gardner. “In a broader sense, this role means helping lead Mat-Su College into the future and providing the opportunities that are needed for residents of the Mat-Su Valley to get either traditional college education or career technical education.”

Dr. Gardner, who has been involved in education for over three decades in the lower 48, recognizes that education here in the Mat-Su is not a one-size-fits-all, that higher education looks different for everyone, and for some that means pursuing Career Technical Education (CTE).

Several programs offered at MSC are geared to prepare students to enter the workforce immediately after graduation, including Emergency Medical Technician, Paramedic Tech, Nursing, and Computer Systems and Network Technology.

“We’re trying to increase what we offer on the CTE side,” she said, explaining the soon the school will be adding a plumbing section to Refrigeration and Heating Program (also known as HVAC).

“Essentially, students could go through the R & H program and go to work in the HVAC industry and this subset of classes would allow you to become a commercial journeyman for plumbing.”

Dr. Gardner says they are also looking to add a Ground Flight School. The University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) offers several Aviation programs and Ground School is often the first step in those programs, which would allow students continue in the UAA system.

“Bringing that to the Mat-Su Valley here to the MSC is in the works.”

Another new program that MSC recently launched is the Veterinary Tech program, which Dr. Gardner says overlaps traditional college programs and CTE as the first cohort of students works through the program.

“We’re learning a lot about the processes with this, and the faculty are a fabulous job running the classes.” Dr. Gardner says they are also preparing for the accreditation visit for the program, even though it is a year away.

Another avenue of education she is looking to add to MSC is providing community education opportunities, something she says the college has not done a lot of in the past.

“Adults might not want to take 4-credit classes, but may want to take a weekend workshop or a 2-hour class on something that they’re interested in learning. So we are trying to create a community education program.”

While Dr. Gardner acknowledges she is the Director, she says the work MSC is doing is because of the faculty, employees and students.

“This college, we have wonderful faculty, great employees across the board, and we have students who want to be here,