Alaska
Alaska Pacific University and Seattle University to offer dual Master of Business Administration-law degrees • Alaska Beacon
A new program at Alaska Pacific University will allow students to get sequential graduate business degrees and law degrees while staying in Alaska.
The dual MBA-JD program, to start in next fall’s semester, links the master of business administration program that already exists at the small private university in Anchorage with the degree program at Seattle University School of Law. Through dual admission, students who want to combine the degrees will be able to earn them on an accelerated schedule – and stay in Alaska at the same time, the universities said when they announced the program.
Students need not be enrolled in the dual program to get a law degree. They will be able, if they choose, to enroll solely in the law program, university officials said.
During an open house held Thursday on the APU campus, officials with both universities explained the partnership details.
Alaska, with no law school, is considered a “legal desert” requiring would-be attorneys to leave the state for their educations, Anthony Varona, dean of the Seattle University School of Law, said at the open house. Frequently, that results in law students from Alaska moving away for good and practicing law elsewhere, he said.
Through the new partnership, that no longer needs to be the case, he said.
“You are able to stay at home, keep living with your family, not move to Seattle,” he said. And afterward, he said, graduates can “stay where you are to practice law.”
The dual program would start with the MBA coursework, said Lincoln Garrett, an assistant professor of business who directs that program. Some of the courses needed for the MBA would count toward the law degree to be acquired later, he said.
While most of the law coursework — including independent work online — is to be done from Alaska, there would be some required on-site weekend sessions at Seattle University once the law program is underway, Varona and Colin Watrin, the law school’s assistant dean for administration, said in their presentation at the open house.
There are some factors that make Seattle University School of Law and Alaska Pacific University good fits for each other, the schools’ officials said.
Seattle University already has a “Flex JD” program that combines online and in-person learning, and it has proved popular and successful, Varona said.
There are more working attorneys in Alaska who are alumni of Seattle University School of Law than any other law school, Varona and Watrin said.
The law school has a focus on Indigenous studies, with a Center for Indian Law and Policy, and it just hired an Alaska Native law professor to lead the faculty there. Nazune Menka, who grew up in Anchorage and Chistochina and is both Koyukon Athabascan and Lumbee, is the law professor who will start in that position this summer, the school announced.
That Indigenous focus fits with the mission at APU, which is working toward becoming a tribal university.
While there is currently no option for attending law school within the state, there are some existing opportunities through the University of Alaska for students who want to become lawyers.
UAA has a partnership with Willamette University College of Law in Oregon and Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Ohio that allows students to get work through undergraduate and law degrees on accelerated timelines, for example, and UAF offers a prelaw program.
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Alaska
ICE: Alaska state attorney arrested by immigration officials, held in Tacoma detention center
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Shucheng “Charlie” Yang, 32, a Chinese national and attorney with the Alaska Department of Law, on July 10 in Anchorage, according to an ICE spokesperson.
ICE said Yang violated the terms of his admission and is a “deportable alien.”
He is currently being held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington, pending immigration proceedings.
Yang pled no contest to a speeding ticket he was cited for on May 22. There are no other charges against him listed in the Alaska court system.
Yang is the most recent person in Alaska to be taken into ICE custody at the Tacoma processing center; a Mexican woman living in Soldotna was deported along with her three children in February.
His arrest also comes days after a Colombian man was shot and killed by a federal immigration officer earlier this week in Maine, fueling a new wave of protests against perceived ICE brutality.
State outlines hiring process
The Alaska Department of Administration responded to general questions about verifying employment eligibility for all full-time hires and said the state requires applicants to self-disclose their employment eligibility during the application process.
“The State of Alaska hires individuals who have the legal right to work in the United States,” Policy Advisor Kate Sheehan said. “This employment eligibility is confirmed through the federally mandated I-9 verification process.”
Yang is listed as Department of Law civil attorney on the State of Alaska employee directory.
Agencies decline to comment on Yang
Both the Alaska Department of Law and the Office of Gov. Mike Dunleavy declined to address Yang’s employment status or arrest.
“As a practice, the Department of Law does not provide comments on personnel issues,” Information Officer Sam Curtis said.
“We do not comment on personnel issues,” Deputy Press Secretary Grant Robinson said.
Alaska’s News Source is reaching out to Yang through multiple channels while he remains detained in Tacoma.
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – The National Science Foundation has selected the University of Alaska Fairbanks to be the site of a new critical minerals research program, making it one of 12 new technology innovation centers across the nation that received federal funding, according to Yereth Rosen with the Alaska Beacon.
The new Critical Minerals Accelerator Engine in Alaska will receive $15 million in funding for two years and up to $160 million over 10 years, the university said on Tuesday.
The organization will be located at and led by UAF’s Geophysical Institute and will work with more than 40 partners, said Steve Masterman, the university faculty member who helped lead the application for the award. Partners include private companies, Native corporations, nonprofits, other universities and other entities, said Masterman, who formerly served as Alaska’s state geologist.
UAF already conducts scientific research into minerals considered critical to the nation’s economy through its Critical Minerals Collaborative. That program is more scientific and academic-focused, said Masterman, who is its deputy director.
In contrast, the Critical Minerals Accelerator Engine will be focused on putting research to use, determining ways to commercialize resources, addressing supply needs, workforce development and other issues important to the critical minerals industry.
Though the scientific research already conducted at UAF will be helpful, the accelerator idea is industry-focused, Masterman said.
“This is quite different because it’s an economic development project,” he said.
Alaska is rich in resources considered critical minerals. The state has 56 of the 60 minerals classified by the U.S. Geological Survey as critical to the nation’s economy, UAF said in its statement.
In addition to the Alaska award, the NSF on Tuesday announced its awards for other innovation engines in different parts of the nation. The sites have different primary purposes, such as disaster prevention and mitigation, robotics development and development of advanced information technologies.
The Alaska innovation engine will be led by Lee Ann Munk, a faculty member at the Geophysical Institute and a geosciences professor at UAF’s College of Natural Science and Mathematics. Munk is currently director of the Critical Minerals Collaborative at UAF.
“Our NSF Engine is built on the simple but ambitious idea that Alaska can lead the nation not only with the abundance of its critical mineral resources, but also in how we innovate, develop and deploy the technologies needed to produce them responsibly,” Munk said in a statement released by the university.
“By bringing together researchers, Alaska Native organizations, industry, workforce partners, state and federal agencies, national laboratories and communities, we are creating an engine that accelerates discovery into action,” she said.
Editor’s note: This story was republished with permission from the Alaska Beacon.
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