Media Advisory

TO:                     News Editors and PSA Directors

FROM:                UAF Rural Human Services Project

SUBJECT:           UAF Rural Human Services Certificate Ceremony

LOCATION:         A Taste of Alaska Lodge

DATE & TIME:     1:30 p.m. on Oct. 11, 1996

The first graduates of a new, two-year rural human services program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks will be honored in a ceremony this Friday, Oct. 11.

Seventeen students will receive certificates to provide mental health and substance abuse counseling and prevention services within the context of Native culture and tradition.

Created in 1993, the program is sponsored by UAF, the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, and regional Native health corporations. The award-winning 30-credit program is offered through UAF's College of Rural Alaska Interior-Aleutians Campus and includes four, three-week sessions of focused classroom work.

Keynote speaker for the completion ceremony will be Vivian Johnson from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp. and a council member for the Rural Human Services Program. Officiating will be the program's instructor coordinator, Janet Schichnes.

A reception will follow the ceremony, which is being held at A Taste of Alaska Lodge, located at 4 mile Chena Hot Springs Road on Eberhardt Road.

FOR MORE INFORMATION contact: Instructor Coordinator, Janet Schichnes, (907) 474-5440, or Jillian Swope, University Relations, (907) 474-7778.

JCS/10-8-96/97-021ma