Alaska Legislature adds faculty member to University of Alaska Board of Regents — with a catch

The University of Alaska Southeast campus in Juneau as seen on May 25, 2022. (Lisa Phu/Alaska Beacon)

By Corinne Smith

Alaska Beacon

The Alaska Legislature approved legislation to add a faculty member to the University of Alaska Board of Regents, the body that oversees policy and management of the state’s public university system.

The Alaska Senate passed House Bill 10 by a vote of 18 to 2 on Friday, which now goes to Gov. Mike Dunleavy for consideration.

If approved by the governor, the legislation would add a full-time, tenured faculty member to the eleven-member board for a two-year term, after a selection process and appointment by the governor and confirmation by the Legislature.

Rep. Ashley Carrick, D-Fairbanks, whose district includes the University of Alaska Fairbanks, sponsored the bill and said the seat would provide important representation for university faculty on the board. 

“Over the past 10 years, the University of Alaska has navigated some of the most difficult financial and social challenges. Throughout those challenges, the Board of Regents has been in the driver’s seat, making difficult decisions to preserve the integrity of the University. During those difficult discussions, University faculty have strongly desired a greater role in the decision-making process,” she said in a statement applauding the bill’s passage. 

“The addition of a faculty regent complements the existing student regent, who is given the same power, duties and respect that all other board members receive. I am pleased to see this bill pass the Legislature to provide parity in University system decisions,” she said.

But an amendment to the bill earlier this month puts an expiration date on the changes. They would last for only for six years, until 2033. The revised version has a sunset provision, and would allow the Legislature to review and either approve an extension of the faculty regent seat or allow the policy to expire and the Board of Regents to return to eleven members. 

The House passed the revised bill by a vote of 23 to 17. 

Nominees for the faculty regent position would be selected through elections in the faculty senates of the three universities — University of Alaska Anchorage, Fairbanks and Southeast — and a list of six nominees would be advanced to the governor to appoint a finalist who would then be subject to confirmation by the Legislature. 

Members of the Board of Regents serve eight-year terms, and are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Legislature, except for student representatives who are nominated from their campus and serve two-year terms. 

• Corinne Smith started reporting in Alaska in 2020, serving as a radio reporter for several local stations across the state including in Petersburg, Haines, Homer and Dillingham. She spent two summers covering the Bristol Bay fishing season. Originally from Oakland, California, she got her start as a reporter, then morning show producer, at KPFA Radio in Berkeley. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.