July272010

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THENORTHERNLIGHT JULY 27, 2010

NEWS

UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE

UA College Savings:

02

Cuts in fees make saving a cinch

FEATURES

06

Kensington Gold Mine: China to buy half of gold produced

WWW.THENORTHERNLIGHT.ORG

A&E

13

Face painting:

Local artist finds her niche

Allied Health Sciences Building to open Fall 2011

LoGAN TUTTLE/TNL

The Allied Health Sciences Building currently being constructed will allow all health science programs to be under one roof. It is located across the street from the Wells Fargo Sports Complex and is set to open Fall 2011.

The $46 million building seeks to better prepare health science students for the workforce with updated facilities By Shana Roberson

Special to The Northern Light

Take a look across the street from the Wells Fargo Sports Complex to see the beginning of a $46 million addition to UAA. The Department of Health Sciences is eagerly awaiting the opening of their new building, set for Fall 2011. The hefty price tag was funded by state appropriation. The project seems to have dual agendas. Not only is the Department of Health Sciences in need of better facilities, but also health care jobs continue to grow each year, even in today’s economy. The new building is part of a long term, four building plan that will co-locate all health science programs across the street. The first building will house the Allied

Health program, the nursing program and the WWAMI program, which is a clinical medical education program that stretches across five states. Chancellor Fran Ulmer believes the building will be “the beginning of what I believe will be a very important piece of how the University of Alaska serves Alaskans training our health care workers and making certain that Alaskans have the kind of quality health care that our home grown Alaskans can deliver.” According to faculty, one of the most promising parts of the design is the simulation center on the second floor. It will mimic that of a critical care room and bring students from different disciplines together to participate in scenarios with each other as part of their coursework. Vice Provost of Health Programs Jan

Harris has high hopes for the collaboration. “I’m really looking forward to having all the programs in the building and having the opportunity to get together and work together,” Harris said. “I think it will be a great space for that kind of thing.” Harris notes that simulations occur right now, but usually on a demonstration or single program basis. The new building will provide numerous new opportunities. “Students will practice responding to a particular patient crisis and students from a number of programs will be able to do that together,” Harris said. “The programs that are housed there as well as others on campus can come together and learn to take care of patients and to communicate with each other successfully so they are better prepared when they go to the workplace.” In addition to the many laboratories and

Chancellor holds listening session for Gulf recovery By Jerzy Shedlock The Northern Light

Ten minutes to 5 p.m. on a Wednesday, the lounge in the Student Union at UAA was full of unoccupied chairs as a handful of people awaited UAA Chancellor Fran Ulmer’s arrival. As time edged closer to the hour a handful of additional people filled the room. Fran Ulmer invited Anchorage residents to the Student Union on Wednesday July 7 to hold a listening session for Gulf of Mexico oil spill recovery and response ideas. Ulmer was recently named one of seven members to serve on the newly formed national commission tasked with determining the causes of the oil spill and how to avoid similar disasters in the future. A little over 30 people came to the session in which the chancellor did not answer questions, but instead simply listened to people’s ideas as how to approach the ongoing catastrophe. Speakers were initially limited to five minutes to offer information, but those that had more to say were given a second turn because of the

small number of speakers. The attendees of the listening session consisted of a small group concerned citizens with actual ideas to give the chancellor, a slightly larger group of reporters both independent of and affiliated with the university, and was rounded off by a few UAA students. There were no state legislators present. Ideas expressed to Ulmer ranged from remaining skeptical of the news reports coming out of the Gulf to considering the harmful consequences of chemical dispersion, a nonmechanical method for removing oil from water currently being used to clean the spill. The first person to speak before the chancellor was Dave Harbour. Harbour, a retired Alaska regulator and former member of the Natural Gas Committee of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), urged Ulmer to accrue evidence and recommend solutions grounded on evidence, not on emotional reactions. Harbour emphasized the importance of SEE LISTEN PAGE 03

simulation rooms, Chancellor Ulmer adds to the list a state of the art visual virtual lab. The final design does not come until later stages of the construction and details on the virtual lab are disclosed minimally, according to Facilities and Planning. The second phase of the building, which is not currently funded, would take the simulation center even further to include specialty programs as well as partners from around the community. “Our goal is to have it be a really good partnership. There are some networks being developed by people who are interested in simulation out in the community in various settings, primarily hospitals, as well as the health educational programs,” Harris said. For now the focus remains on getting the first phase of construction complete to open the doors in Fall 2011.

Disc golf courses offer fun for players of all skill levels

TAyLoR HALL/TNL

Greg Jones, sophomore film major, throws a disc to hole three at Kincaid, one of five disc golf courses within Anchorage. Anchorage Disc Golf Association maintains the city’s disc golf courses and are currently working on revamping the Westchester course. SEE FROLF PAGE 05


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