UA President: University has turned a corner on funding

University of Alaska Interim President Pat Pitney told students and faculty Thursday there were plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the future of the state’s university system.

“We are starting in a much better place,” Pitney said in a virtual forum. “We are re-creating ourselves. We are smaller, there’s no doubt. That smaller core is what we can build on.”

At the meeting, students were able to ask questions of Pitney and administrators of the three universities. Top of mind for students were COVID-19 mitigation rules, expansion of programs and general stability for the system.

The university system is coming out of a three-year budget reduction of over $70 million enacted by Gov. Mike Dunleavy starting in 2019. That process saw the reduction of a number of courses and programs across the system. At one point consolidation of the three universities into one statewide school was considered. But Pitney said at the meeting she stood behind the system’s three-university model and said the diversity of campuses was one of UA’s strengths.

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