Celebrate 2017 TRiO Day

January 31, 2017

University Relations

Photo by Victoria Smith. Students attend a panel during the TRiO Day celebration at the Wood Center multilevel lounge on Feb. 19, 2016.
Photo by Victoria Smith. Students attend a panel during the TRiO Day celebration at the Wood Center multilevel lounge on Feb. 19, 2016.


The staff and students of UAF’s TRiO programs invite the UAF and Fairbanks community to the annual celebration of National TRiO Day on Thursday, Feb. 16, from noon to 2 p.m. in the Wood Center multilevel lounge.

At UAF's TRiO Day celebration, you can:


  • Learn about UAF’s TRiO programs (Student Support Services and Upward Bound).

  • Enjoy a moderated panel highlighting university support of under-resourced populations.

  • Meet TRiO students and alumni and learn about their successes.

  • Celebrate champions of TRiO students and programs.

  • Understand how the state of TRiO impacts us all.


A desert reception will follow.

TRiO Day was an established in 1986 by congressional resolution and is meant to focus the nation's "attention on the needs of disadvantaged young people and adults aspiring to improve their lives, to the necessary investment if they are to become contributing citizens of the country, and to the talent which will be wasted if that investment is not made." TRIO Day has been proclaimed a National Day of Service.

TRiO programs were established as three federally funded college access programs that encouraged higher education for low-income students as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty. They were the first national college access and retention programs to address the serious social and cultural barriers to education in America. The Upward Bound Classic program, established at UAF in 1966, was one of the first in the country. The original three TRiO programs grew to eight over time, but the name TRiO has stuck. For more than 40 years, the federally funded TRIO programs have been helping students from low-income families complete high school and be the first in their families to enroll in and graduate from college.

TRIO programs provide academic tutoring, personal counseling, mentoring, financial guidance and other supports necessary for educational access and retention. TRIO programs provide direct support services for students and relevant training for directors and staff.