University Of Alaska Anchorage Research Articles

HOW GERONTOLOGY PROGRAMS ARE MEETING CHALLENGES IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Abstract Population aging means that gerontology education is increasingly relevant for all students, yet trends in higher education create existential challenges for many gerontology programs, who may not attract robust number of applicants or majors. In this symposium, educators from five different gerontology programs will share their programs’ particular challenges as well as a wide variety of strategies they have used to meet these challenges. The first presentation will show how recent losses at Ithaca College, including the Aging Studies major and independent department status, also come with opportunities for collaboration with health science and public health programs. The second presentation will describe the University of North Carolina at Wilmington’s approach of combining undergraduate and graduate programs to attract and retain students after being placed on a “low-productivity list” in the not-too-distant past. The third presentation will share how a new Occupational Endorsement Certificate at the University of Alaska Anchorage took the place of the deactivated gerontology minor. Colleagues from the University of Massachusetts Boston will describe their efforts to enhance diversity and grow program enrollment across undergraduate and graduate programs. Finally, the fifth presentation will describe how increased demand for general education courses as well as funding dependent on undergraduate major enrollment created challenges at the University of South Florida. This is a Directors of Aging Centers Interest Group Sponsored Symposium.

THE IMPACT OF A SERVICE-LEARNING COURSE ON UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT ATTITUDES TOWARD OLDER ADULTS

Abstract Undergraduate students often have little contact with older adults, which may result in a lack of interest regarding career options in gerontology or geriatric practice. To combat this problem, the University of Alaska Anchorage’s 300-level Public Health for an Aging Society course introduces students enrolled in the Health Sciences Bachelor’s program to a variety of gerontological concepts. This service-learning course engages public health and pre-clinical students in the community, providing valuable experience working with local senior agencies to provide a product or service. Students work in interdisciplinary teams and have a variety of community-based projects to select from as part of their coursework. Using the Geriatric Attitudes Scale at the start and end of the semester, this presentation reports on improved student perceptions of older adults as a result of this course. With a sample of 22 undergraduates at the beginning of the semester, scores were relatively high in agreement with positive statements about aging (i.e., “it is society’s responsibility to provide care for the elderly”). However, they also report agreement with less positive statements about aging, such as “taking a medical history from elder patients is frequently an ordeal” and “as people grow older, they become less organized and more confused.” At the conclusion of the 15-week course, students report lower agreement with these negative statements about aging as a result of their learning and hands-on experience.

Service learning: Justice for Fraud Victims Project

The benefits of experiential learning can be amplified when these endeavors are shared and implemented by others. This article highlights an example of experiential learning. The authors interviewed the Justice for Fraud Victims team at the University of Alaska Anchorage and found that this form of experiential learning has been beneficial for many stakeholders. Awareness of this experiential learning tool may result in more university faculty, police detectives, and fraud examiners joining the ranks of a commendable group of professionals who use their time and talents to help so many grateful people.

J.R.R. Tolkien: A Guide for the Perplexed by Toby Widdicombe

Reviewed by: J.R.R. Tolkien: A Guide for the Perplexed by Toby Widdicombe David Bratman J.R.R. Tolkien: A Guide for the Perplexed, by Toby Widdicombe. London; New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2020. ix, 194 pp. $22.95 (softcover). ISBN 978-1-350-09214-3. Though presented as a subtitle for the volume, "A Guide for the Perplexed" is actually the name of the series in which this book appeared. Bloomsbury has published several dozen short, introductory books under this heading, most of them in theology or philosophy, dealing either with concepts or important writers. A few are on literary subjects, either fields (modernist literature, science fiction) or authors. The 20th-century authors covered are otherwise canonical modernists (Eliot, Joyce, Kafka, Woolf), so to find Tolkien in their company is a notable mark of his growth in perceived literary status. Toby Widdicombe, English-raised and now a professor of English literature at the University of Alaska-Anchorage, is a scholar of eclectic interests whose books include an edition of Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida and an encyclopedia of Raymond Chandler. In teaching Tolkien's works in the classroom, he writes, he finds that his students have questions which suggest that what they need is an orientation to what Tolkien's works are and how they fit together: How are the pieces of Tolkien's legendarium related? How is Tolkien's legendarium connected to the rest of his output as a creative writer? How could one man produce academic and creative work that is so remarkably insightful and so varied? And how, finally, are the works published during Tolkien's lifetime connected to those that were published posthumously? (1) A book designed to answer these questions might begin as a runthrough of the volumes of Tolkien's creative work, both those of his [End Page 269] lifetime and those published posthumously, explaining what each contains and how they connect, before turning to broader and more underlying questions. But Widdicombe has not chosen to take this approach. Nor has he taken the traditional road for an introductory work on Tolkien of beginning with a summary of "On Fairy-stories" as an outline of Tolkien's theory of writing: a hazardous approach, as Tolkien did not write "On Fairy-stories" as a guide to his own fiction. In fact, Widdicombe hardly mentions "On Fairy-stories" at all, alluding to its concepts of sub-creation and eucatastrophe only in passing. Among earlier books on Tolkien, what Widdicombe's work most closely resembles is Hobbits, Elves, and Wizards by Michael N. Stanton (2001), also the work of a professor of English who teaches Tolkien's writings and wishes to address questions raised in the classroom. The mental image that both books bring to my mind is that of an auto mechanic peering under the hood. Both Widdicombe and Stanton are primarily concerned with the mechanical construction of Tolkien's sub-created world from the internal perspective often called "Middleearth studies," though they do not neglect the perspective that this is the artistic creation of an author who is trying to make all the pieces fit together. Both scholars claim to be addressing readers new to Tolkien, but they both have a tendency to leave such readers behind and deal with matters at a more experienced reading level. Widdicombe is fairly good on relating the legendarium to its packaging, and thus addressing the first and last of his class's questions, but he deals with the insight question mostly by implication, and hardly mentions any of the rest of Tolkien's creative output at all. Where Widdicombe scores most highly is in his repeated dives from describing the mechanical details of the writings into quite cogent observations on the themes and patterns of Tolkien's works, the ideas or principles that Tolkien was trying to express through his creativity. This is brought to the forefront in the concluding chapter, a set of mini-essays directly addressing what Widdicombe or other scholars consider the major themes of Tolkien's writing. To open his book, in place of introducing the Tolkien bookshelf or describing the theoretical essay, Widdicombe presents a brief biography. This is where his attempts...

Review: Undocumented Politics: Place, Gender, and the Pathways of Mexican Migrants, by Abigail Leslie Andrews

Book Review| December 24 2020 Review: Undocumented Politics: Place, Gender, and the Pathways of Mexican Migrants, by Abigail Leslie Andrews Abigail Leslie Andrews. Undocumented Politics: Place, Gender, and the Pathways of Mexican Migrants. Oakland: University of California Press, 2018. 312 pp. Paperback $29.95. Ian C. Hartman Ian C. Hartman Ian C. Hartman is an associate professor of history at the University of Alaska Anchorage. His research and teaching emphasize race and public policy in the American West. His most recent book project is a history of African Americans in the North Pacific and Alaska. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar California History (2020) 97 (4): 166–168. https://doi.org/10.1525/ch.2020.97.4.166 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Ian C. Hartman; Review: Undocumented Politics: Place, Gender, and the Pathways of Mexican Migrants, by Abigail Leslie Andrews. California History 24 December 2020; 97 (4): 166–168. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/ch.2020.97.4.166 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentCalifornia History Search This content is only available via PDF. © 2020 by the Regents of the University of California2020 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Joanna Maselko: using the power of science to change lives

“I was always interested in science. And I knew I wanted to make the world better somehow. I thought about medicine, but I fainted at the sight of blood so that wasn't an option. So I left high school, liking science, liking nature, wanting to help people, but not knowing how I was going to do that: at that age, I had no clear career path.” With good intentions and enough self-awareness, Joanna Maselko, now Associate Professor of Epidemiology (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, USA), settled on biology at the University of Alaska Anchorage (AK, USA). After graduating, she spent a few “amazing” years as a National Park Ranger in Alaska and thought about studying ecology, but after moving to San Francisco, CA, she was introduced to epidemiology. Maselko found this subject “similar to ecology, but social”, which ticked all the right boxes—maths, systems, health, and people—“and knew this is what [she] wanted to do”. Effect of an early perinatal depression intervention on long-term child development outcomes: follow-up of the Thinking Healthy Programme randomised controlled trialOur findings show that cognitive, socioemotional, and physical developmental outcomes of children at age 7 years whose mother had prenatal depression did not differ between those who received the Thinking Healthy Programme intervention and those who received the control. Further investigation is needed to understand what types of complex interventions or approaches are needed for long-term gains in maternal and child wellbeing. Prolonged, detailed, and frequent follow-up is warranted for all interventions. Full-Text PDF Effectiveness of a peer-delivered, psychosocial intervention on maternal depression and child development at 3 years postnatal: a cluster randomised trial in PakistanReduced symptom severity and high remission rates were seen across both the intervention and enhanced usual care groups, possibly masking any effects of the intervention. A multi-year, psychosocial intervention can be task-shifted via peers but might be susceptible to reductions in fidelity and dosage over time (which were not among the outcomes of this trial). Early intervention efforts might need to rely on multiple models (eg, collaborative care), be of greater intensity, and potentially targeted at mothers who are at high risk for depression to reduce the intergenerational transmission of psychopathology from mothers to children. Full-Text PDF

7. English in the North: The Vowels of Southcentral Alaska

Research Article| December 01 2020 7. English in the North: The Vowels of Southcentral Alaska David Bowie David Bowie david bowie is professor of linguistics in the Department of English at the University of Alaska Anchorage, where he serves as department chair. Along with his work on Western Englishes, he also conducts research in linguistic variation and change during the decades following emergent adulthood, as well as the ways individuals use linguistic variation to express religious identities. His teaching areas include general linguistics, historical linguistics, and sociolinguistics, and he has a strong interest in the development of best practices for online and distributed teaching of linguistics. Email: dbowie2@alaska.edu. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Publication of the American Dialect Society (2020) 105 (1): 123–143. https://doi.org/10.1215/00031283-8820653 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter Email Permissions Search Site Citation David Bowie; 7. English in the North: The Vowels of Southcentral Alaska. Publication of the American Dialect Society 1 December 2020; 105 (1): 123–143. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/00031283-8820653 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter Books & JournalsAll JournalsAmerican Dialect SocietyThe Publication of the American Dialect Society Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Article PDF first page preview Close Modal Issue Section: Articles You do not currently have access to this content.

What is the Business with AI? Preparing Future Decision Makers and Leaders

With companies now recognizing how artificial intelligence (AI), digitalization, the internet of things (IoT), and data science affect value creation and the maintenance of a competitive advantage, their demand for talented individuals with both management skills and a strong understanding of technology will grow dramatically. There is a need to prepare and train our current and future decision makers and leaders to have an understanding of AI and data science, the significant impact these technologies are having on business, how to develop AI strategies, and the impact all of this will have on their employees' roles. This paper discusses how business schools can fulfill this need by incorporating AI into their business curricula, not only as stand-alone courses but also integrated into traditional business sequences, and establishing interdisciplinary efforts and collaborative industry partnerships. This article describes how the College of Business and Public Policy (CBPP) at the University of Alaska Anchorage is implementing multiple approaches to meet these needs and prepare future leaders and decision makers. These approaches include a detailed description of CBPP's first AI course and related student successes, the integration of AI into additional business courses such as entrepreneurship and GSCM, and the creation of an AI and Data Science Lab in partnership with the College of Engineering and an investment firm.

U.S. Public Higher Education, General Education, and the Medievalist

Author(s): Kline, Dan | Abstract: Kline’s essay guides readers through the steps many Chaucerians may find themselves taking in order to protect the English major and to ensure medieval literature remains in higher education curriculum. In institutions such as the University of Alaska-Anchorage, where funding has dried up and what remains is frequently diverted to STEM fields, one certain way to preserve the major is through faculty’s active involvement in curricular work and general education. The goal cannot be simply to pack as many medieval-literature-friendly courses into the curriculum as possible; instead, the goal is to create coherent general education programs that meet student needs and provide opportunities for them to explore the questions that medieval literary texts provoke. Although it might seem outside the medievalist’s immediate interests, active participation in shared governance provides a means for medievalists to remain relevant.

College Student Perceptions and Utilization of Food and Nutrition Resources on Campus: Study Protocol

Abstract Objectives Food and nutrition are important to college student success and well being, yet little work has been done to characterize food and nutrition environments on college campuses regarding how students utilize food and nutrition resources, barriers and facilitators to accessing and consuming a healthy diet, and what students value in a campus food system, such as sustainability. The objective of this pilot study is to characterize the food and nutrition environment on the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) campus, specifically by: Measuring the prevalence of food insecurity on the UAA campus Determining barriers and facilitators to accessing and consuming a healthy diet on campus Analyzing the relationship between food insecurity and indicators of student success and health Assessing the importance of sustainable campus food systems to UAA students Methods Phase 1: Focus Groups. Students utilizing a free meal service at UAA (the Daily Den) will be recruited to participate in one of two focus groups (target sample size n = 20) to explore how students use the food and nutrition services on campus, barriers and facilitators they experience in accessing and consuming a healthy diet, and what they value in a campus food system. Grounded theory will be used to determine common themes and guide the development of survey questions. Phase 2: Survey. A survey will be administered to a convenience sample of Daily Den clients (target sample size n = 60) to collect information on demographics, indicators of student success (i.e., GPA), indicators of health (i.e., BMI), the US Household Food Security Survey, and questions determined from Phase 1. Survey data will be analyzed to determine the prevalence of food insecurity on campus, the barriers/facilitators to accessing and consuming a healthy diet, and how each may be associated with indicators of student success and health. Importance of sustainable food systems to students will also be assessed. Results N/A (study protocol) Conclusions Understanding how college students perceive and utilize food and nutrition services available to them on campus will provide valuable insight into addressing food insecurity and sustainability on college campuses. Results from this study will be used to inform the future of food and nutrition services at UAA. Funding Sources None.

The “Better” Answer

The “Better” Answer

MSphere of Influence: an Inupiat Journey in Science.

Dr. Kathryn Milligan-Myhre works in the field of host-microbe interactions. In this mSphere of Influence article, she reflects on the people and scientific ideas that influenced her journey from a small town in Alaska to a faculty position at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Risk of Environmental Exposure to Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus in Healthcare Programs

<h3>ABSTRACT</h3> The opportunity for disease transmission increases with potential pathogen exposure. Environmental exposure provides an avenue for not only active infection, but also for bacterial colonization. Of the various bacteria that exhibit regular colonization in humans, methicillin-resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> (MRSA) is of particular interest in health care. To determine the potential for MRSA transmission from public restrooms, we cultured 72 sites within 9 buildings on the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) campus. <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> was isolated in 5 of the 9 buildings but was not significant for exposure risk (<i>P</i> = 0.07). However, MRSA was isolated in the Health Science Building and was determined to be an independent risk factor for pathogen transmission (<i>P</i> &lt; 0.05). The discovery of MRSA in a building dedicated to health care professional education and one that is absent from all other public restrooms on the UAA campus suggests a subpopulation of colonized students and faculty. Because students and faculty in health care-related programs have proximity to patients, a screening process for MRSA-carrier status should be implemented to determine potential transmission risk during clinical rotations.

From Quest to Conquer: Traversing General Education at a Diverse Alaskan University to Integrate and Assess Transferable Information Literacy Skills in Foundational Courses

The University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) is an open enrollment university that offers vocational, academic, and professional degrees in a northern region. UAA serves a culturally and demographically diverse population. Given this diversity, students display varying levels of information literacy (IL) competencies. Library Professors Anna Bjartmarsdóttir and Deborah Mole partner with faculty teaching composition and communication courses to create increasingly sophisticated and transferable IL learning opportunities. Strategies include: assessing students’ IL competencies; creating engaging activities; integrating IL throughout the semester; developing reflection opportunities to reinforce IL skills. UAA librarians, partnered with faculty, integrate and scaffold IL activities in foundational GE courses to develop increasingly sophisticated, transferable IL skills and knowledge practices. From team-based learning application exercises to workshops for teaching assistants, students learn how creativity partnered with initiative has helped to integrate transferable IL skill education at this diverse arctic university.

The fertile physics of chemical gardens

Many a child has enjoyed watching the gardens grow; many a physicist has puzzled over the transformation of self-organized, nonequilibrium patterns into permanent structures.

“The intervention piece…that's still the hardest part of it all.” Enhancing brief intervention skills among public health nurses

Background Nurses are likely to encounter opportunities to engage patients in alcohol interventions, yet few have received preparation for this work. Although screening procedures are relatively straightforward and easily utilized by nurse professionals, developing a personalized, brief, and effective response to promote behavior change for indicated cases is a clinical skill that, for many nurses, requires deliberate effort to acquire [1,2]. To support development of alcohol screening and brief intervention (SBI) skills among nurses and implement alcohol SBI as a routine practice, Alaska Public Health Nursing (PHN) collaborated with the Arctic FASD Regional Training Center at the University of Alaska Anchorage. The objective is to describe ongoing training needs for nurses conducting alcohol SBI.

The role of change facilitators in the implementation of alcohol SBI with public health nurses

Background The University of Alaska Anchorage partnered with the State of Alaska, Section of Public Health Nursing (PHN) to pilot routine alcohol screening and brief intervention (aSBI) in three of their 22 public health centers (PHCs) prior to system-wide dissemination. During this two-year project funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the university research team facilitated aSBI implementation through collaborative planning with PHN leadership, providing training for nurses to conduct aSBI, and maintaining contact with PHN staff. Nurses at the pilot sites participated in regular phone calls with members of the research team acting as change facilitators. A Plan-Do-Study-Act approach was used to refine implementation protocols throughout the pilot.

Developing alcohol SBI policy and procedures with Alaska Public Health Nursing

Background The Institute of Medicine recommends changing organizational policy as a key element of evidence-based practice (EBP) implementation; however, policy change alone may be insufficient to change provider practice behavior [1,2]. Engaging key organizational stakeholders in the policy change process may foster buy-in, particularly if the policy is piloted and refined alongside the new practice. As part of a two-year initiative funded by CDC to implement routine alcohol screening and brief intervention (SBI) into primary care settings, the Alaska Section of Public Health Nursing (PHN) collaborated with the University of Alaska Anchorage to pilot alcohol SBI policy and procedures in three clinics prior to systemwide dissemination.

In the NEWS: A ROUNDUP OF NEWS AND INFORMATION FROM OUR COMMUNITY

In <i>the</i> NEWS: A ROUNDUP OF NEWS AND INFORMATION FROM OUR COMMUNITY

ENGAGED ANTHROPOLOGY ON “THE LAST FRONTIER”

The distinction between engaged/applied anthropology and traditional anthropology has not been rigid in Alaska since the early 1970s. Why? And how has this engagement occurred for four decades at the University of Alaska Anchorage? This paper describes the socio‐political realities of Alaska and how faculty and students responded in their engaged research, teaching, and service. Cultural and linguistic anthropologists engaged with a variety of Alaskan communities, primarily Alaska Native, sometimes working with federal, state, and private agencies serving northern populations, which now includes over 90 ethnic groups from around the world.