The Tanana Valley Campus received a three- year $1.99 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to strengthen training in Interior Alaska's energy, construction, mining and power generation industries.

The grant involves a partnership of five community groups, including TVC, the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District, Alaska Job Center, Operating Engineers Local 302 and Interior Alaska Regional Council. It will enable TVC to train workers for jobs in high-growth, high-demand industries, including process technology, automotive technology, diesel/heavy equipment and drafting/CADD technologies.

"This proposal succeeded because of our community partnerships," says TVC Director Rick Caulfield. "Business, labor, government and TVC worked to identify the need, create innovative workforce training strategies and develop measurable goals."

TVC had wide support from businesses such as BP, Golden Valley Electric Association, Seekins Ford, NAPA Auto Parts and Gene's Chrysler Center.

The grant will allow workers to complete workforce development programs in a compressed, nine-month format so students can quickly put their job skills to work.

"We want to produce qualified graduates as quickly as possible so that they can move into the workforce," Caulfield says. "With expanding employment in construction, mining, tourism and possibly gas line development, the time is right to expand the pool of skilled workers."

Fairbanks Memorial Hospital is an active partner in helping the Tanana Valley Campus expand its allied health programs, providing grants and clinical space for the TVC/UAA radiologic technology program. TVC's allied health programs, which include medical assistant, dental assistant, phlebotomy, medical/dental receptionist and health care reimbursement, were created to help meet the high-demand employment needs of the health care industry.

The Interior-Aleutians Campus works with the Interior Regional Housing Authority and the Tanacross Village Council to provide construction trades technology courses to students in eight villages. Thanks to a grant from Housing and Urban Development's Alaska Native-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities program, students get both classroom and paid, hands-on training on construction projects in or near their home villages, reducing costs and improving retention. Students who complete the course work receive college credit and certification by the National Center for Construction Education and Research; some continue as employees of the program's partner agencies.

The Alaska Process Industry Careers Consortium is an industry-led workforce non-profit that works closely with the process technology program at the Tanana Valley Campus, as well as other University of Alaska campuses. TVC offers a two-year associate of applied science degree in process technology. The joint efforts of APICC and the university are helping meet the workforce needs of the Alaska processing industry, which includes oil and gas production, transportation and refining, mining, and power generation.

The Cold Climate Housing Research Center offers a pioneering collaboration between private industry and university research. CCHRC's Research Test Facility, housed on UAF's Fairbanks campus, will allow university researchers to work cooperatively with private industry on construction issues in cold regions. Some of the past and proposed UAF-affiliated projects include:

• Constructing rainwater catchments for safe drinking water
• Testing and improving new wastewater treatment processes
• Improving indoor air quality in homes
• Developing an energy and sustainability extension program in rural Alaska

Every summer, middle and high school students work with university faculty and staff and get hands-on experience in the sciences, engineering and other select disciplines. Since it began in 2001, some 400 students from Alaska and the Lower 48 states have completed the Alaska Summer Research Academy on the Fairbanks campus. ASRA is offered by the College of Natural Science and Mathematics in cooperation with other schools and institutes on the UAF campus and through industry partnerships, including the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, Golden Valley Electric Association, National Park Service, Denali Institute and Denali Foundation.

Flint Hills Resources is a valuable corporate partner that supports UAF scholarship and research in a variety of ways. In addition to applying for the recently endowed Flint Hills Resources Scholarship, students can seek needs-based fee and tuition grants, take advantage of a range of internships from accounting to engineering, and benefit from funds that support undergraduate and faculty research projects. Other Flint Hills Resources donations have gone to the Nanook athletics teams and the UA Museum of the North's earth sciences laboratory and school tour programs.

The partnership between UAF and the Fairbanks Symphony Association is a collaborative effort that has enhanced the educational mission of the university and the cultural life of the community for nearly half a century. UAF offers financial and logistical support to the symphony--including a home in the C.W. Davis Concert Hall--while the symphony provides formal training and performance experience to students in the College of Liberal Arts' music department. Together with UAF, the Fairbanks Symphony Association shares its musical artistry with Alaskans throughout the state through its youth programs, touring productions and season performances.