Friday Focus: RCNE on the move

March 24, 2023

— By Charlene Stern, vice chancellor for rural, community and Native education

Since assuming the role of Vice Chancellor of Rural, Community and Native Education in January 2021, my team has been busy planning, adapting, and evolving. RCNE is unique within the University of Alaska structure which can make it challenging for some to understand our full scope. Since 2017, the RCNE unit has officially housed the Community and Technical College and the College of Rural and Community Development as two distinct colleges. Prior to that change, the unit was formerly known as the College of Rural Alaska which included many of the programs that served UAF’s community college mission. RCNE has continued to grow and expand in recent years and so this week’s Friday Focus is dedicated to sharing some of the notable highlights.

Center for One Health Research joins CRCD
Over the past 15 years, UAF has operated a Center for One Health Research as a partnership between the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and the Office of the Vice Chancellor of Research. COHR seeks to engage participants from UAF, Alaska and the circumpolar North to collaborate on building research programs to address the large, multifocal issues facing these regions. This year, the research and educational outreach components of COHR will transition from the Office of the Vice Chancellor of Research to CRCD. Center for One Health Research and CRCD have much in common as evidenced most recently by a shared interest in the themes of the 2023 One Health Conference which took place Feb. 28-March 1 in Fairbanks. Approximately 350 attendees from over 200 countries participated in the conference which explored issues related to themes of food security, sovereignty, and holistic health among others.

CRCD considering a name change
Since the addition of the Alaska Native Language Center and the Center for Cross-Cultural Studies in 2021, CRCD now offers the full spectrum of degree offerings from occupational endorsements to the largest (and the fastest growing) Ph.D. program in the UA system. With all of these exciting changes comes an opportunity to reassess our college’s name. In October 2022, I appointed a committee of six individuals from across CRCD’s rural campuses and departments to guide the process of soliciting feedback and recommending a name change for the college. The committee is reviewing feedback from surveys and is formulating a recommendation which they tentatively plan to put forward to the UA Board of Regents for approval in May. Stay tuned! 

RCNE is adding a new associate vice chancellor!
Given the above changes and the growth of RCNE, I am pleased to announce the addition of a much-needed associate vice chancellor position for RCNE which will help to support the operations of the unit, oversee the build-out of research capacity given the recent addition of COHR to CRCD, and serve as a lead for the Alaska Native Success Initiative at UAF. After a competitive recruitment, Jessica Black was selected for the position and will begin on March 26, 2023. Black has a demonstrated record of excellence in research and scholarly activities which makes her an ideal candidate for the associate vice chancellor position for RCNE. 

This year is already proving to be an exciting time for RCNE and we are looking forward to continuing to share more updates in the near future.