ϳԹs and ϳԹes
is part of the ϳԹ and offers more than 40 one-year certificate and two-year associate degree programs in a variety of exciting fields. In addition, we offer a two-year Associate of Arts degree. This flexible liberal arts program can be designed for personal or professional development, and meets the academic requirements necessary to transfer to a four-year degree.
The ϳԹ of Indigenous Studies (CIS) geographically serves nearly two-thirds of the state, representing more than 160 primarily Alaska Native communities. The college is also the center for support and development of distance delivery of education throughout the university. The main office is located in the Brooks Building on the ϳԹ (UAF) campus.
The ϳԹ Bristol Bay ϳԹ (ϳԹ of Indigenous Studies) is committed to knowledge-based education of rural Alaskans. We affect social and economic change of the communities we serve by enriching the quality of life for our students through learning.
In 1971 the University of Alaska established a “rural education center” in Kotzebue. By 1978, the University of Alaska, Board of Regents had established Chukchi Community ϳԹ, which operated until 1987, when the newly named Chukchi ϳԹ became a branch of the ϳԹ (UAF).
Based in the community of Kotzebue, Chukchi ϳԹ serves eleven communities amid more than 36,000 square miles of spectacular mountain and tundra wilderness known as the Northwest Arctic Borough. No modern road system connects the villages to each other or to the outside world. The Northwest Arctic Borough population is 7,300, of which over 82 percent are I upiaq. The pursuit of a traditional way of life and subsisting off of the land are the driving forces behind most of the residents. At the same time, western higher education and the UAF are becoming increasingly crucial to the region’s future. Residents recognize the need of an appropriate balance between the increasing presence of western institutions and preserving I upiat traditions.
The Kuskokwim ϳԹ is located in a regional transportation and service center for an extended community of more than 46 Alaska Native villages. They are primarily Yup'ik/Cup'ik Eskimo villages with 56 tribes in a 57,000 square mile roadless area comparable to the state of Illinois. The area has a regional population of nearly 25,000 people. Bethel is a community of about 6,000 people 80 miles inland on the Kuskokwim River. The Kuskokwim ϳԹ offers academic, vocational and community interest courses, as well as courses leading to associate, baccalaureate and master's degrees.
Kuskokwim ϳԹ is the largest rural campus in the ϳԹ (UAF) system and is a branch campus of the ϳԹ of Indigenous Studies (CIS). The campus is physically located in Bethel, a regional hub community situated in Alaska's Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, about 400 miles west of Anchorage. The service area includes census districts with the highest rates of poverty, youthfulness, and lowest rates of full-time permanent employment in the state and nation (U.S. Census Bureau data). The region also holds one of the last indigenous cultures and societies resident in their homeland and still speaking a vital Native language - Central Yup'ik/Cup'ik Eskimo.
provides excellent opportunities for academic, vocational, and community education to the Bering Strait Region.
VISION
Northwest ϳԹ will provide programs to meet our students' personal and educational
goals and to contribute to the success of our communities.