University president gearing toward next boom

MAT-SU - The University of Alaska is preparing to change direction in an effort to keep up with the times.

University president Mark Hamilton spoke at the college last week, at an engagement planned by Mat-Su Colleges student government organization. At the event, he discussed the need for the university to change in order to keep up with the times.

The biggest change Hamilton spoke about was the need for people in various fields of expertise to return to the university in order to maintain a level of mastery in their position.

Previously, Hamilton said, highly skilled professions had a slow rate of change so slow that those with the skills could adapt and continue at a level of mastery.

Now, with the advent of computers and advancing technology, those skilled workers have the challenge or threat of being reduced to a level of apprenticeship if they dont keep abreast of the changes. Likewise, the universities, he said, must adapt and offer courses which would keep those skilled workers at a level of mastery.

Thats the need and its coming like a freight train, Hamilton said.

The university will be focusing more on producing skilled workers to meet the coming needs of the business community in Alaska, Hamilton said. He explained that Alaska is approaching the cusp of a second boom of production, similar to the pipeline boom in the late 1970s.

The possible Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) pipeline, in addition to talk of a railroad spur to Canada, mean Alaskas work force must be ready to meet those needs when they arise, or those jobs will go to workers from the Lower 48.

If you miss the boom, your next shot at it is a quarter of a century later, Hamilton said.

The state university, he said, has to be on top of the changing needs of its constituents. If not, it could be its downfall.

When the university is not seen as the mechanism of . . . development, he said, Its just another agency to be cut in the downtime.

Part of keeping abreast of the tide, Hamilton said, is insuring investment by the Legislature. To guarantee that investment, he explained, there must be a direct need.

Hamilton said if he receives programs which are driven by an apparent need and are presented in a package form outlining what the program needs in order to be implemented, he can effectively obtain funding for those programs at the legislative level. What it takes, he said, is a good idea.

Last year, I asked for $8.6 million in programs, Hamilton said. And the Legislature funded all of them. We have never been out of money, weve just been out of good ideas.

Hamilton is striving to come up with some good ideas to keep Alaskas high school graduates in the state as well. In the nations rankings of the number of high school students who attend college in-state, Alaska ranks last.

Every single institution could double its enrollment and they would just be average, Hamilton said.

Enrollment, he said, could drastically change the face of the Mat-Su College. Higher numbers could necessitate such things as residence halls and local four-year programs.

Thats something Mat-Su College director Stephen Sylvester is excited about. In a Thursday interview with the Frontiersman, he said the college is already working under spatial constraints which he is hoping to address by remodeling a portion of Snodgrass Hall.

Sylvester said enrollment at the college was up 2.3 percent over last years enrollment figures, and will likely continue to grow.

Hamilton is trying to help boost enrollment in all branches of the university.

One way to do so is through refilling the recruiting positions. Those positions, he said, were slashed when the university was forced to cut back in the late 1980s and 1990s.

He has also been instrumental in finding funding for the Alaska Scholars program which offers scholarships to Alaskas top students as an incentive to keep them in the state. Hamilton said students and their parents who have responded to the offer have had a similar response.

There has been one recurring theme, he said. [They say] I never even considered the University of Alaska, but when the scholarship thing came up, I had to take a closer look.

Getting more people to consider the university is one of Hamiltons goals. Getting people to recognize Mat-Su College is a portion of that. Hamilton said he was willing to do more for Mat-Su College, if the needs were presented to him.

There are needs at Mat-Su College that, if I were aware of them, I could fund them today, Hamilton said.

Photo: University of Alaska president Mark Hamilton discusses his plans for the future of the university at a recent Mat-Su College event sponsored by the colleges student government. From left are: Hamilton, Mat-Su student government vice president Finn Rye, Mat-Su College director Stephen Sylvester and student government president Aaron Summers.

Photo by RINDI WHITE/Frontiersman.