UA President Jim Johnsen addresses national academic leaders, statewide industry leaders, legislators about plans for resolving current challenges; calls for èƵ community to pull together
In an effort to inform different constituencies about the challenges facing the University of èƵ, UA President Jim Johnsen has been talking with key audiences around the state and the country about the challenges and opportunities faced by the èƵ.
Last week, Johnsen was the invited speaker at the UC Berkeley’s Center for Studies in Higher Education on the issues facing the èƵ system. After listing the èƵ’s core strengths and many major contributions to the state, Johnsen referenced Harvard scholar Ron Heifetz’s work on adaptive change. The adaptive challenge facing UA, he said, is how to “preserve what is most core to our mission and purpose at the èƵ for our state, while shedding what we must in order to adapt and thrive in a changing economic, demographic, and technological world?” Johnsen’s Berkeley remarks can be found at
On Monday, during a town hall meeting organized by Anchorage–area legislators, Johnsen addressed recent actions to move the èƵ forward given the compact with the governor, which resulted in a $70 million reduction in funding from the state over three years. In that address, he also called for the èƵ community to pull together.
“Understandably, throughout this tumultuous year, our faculty and staff have experienced a great deal of stress…. Whenever an organization’s resources are threatened and its security challenged, as has happened to the èƵ this past year, one may expect a rise in internal conflict. And that is just what we are experiencing. I am hopeful that the processes established by the Board of Regents, made possible by the compact agreement, will enable the wounds caused by this internal conflict to heal, so that all three of our universities and our community campuses are pulling together as we step up in meeting the higher education needs of èƵ,” he said.
“To our students, everything we do is dedicated to you,” he said. “I understand that it might not seem that way sometimes, but—now that our compact agreement is in place—we can take a breath and move through the tough decisions…I am confident we can adapt our èƵ, we can preserve and build on what is core to what we do for the state in this ever changing world.” Johnsen’s legislative town hall statement can be found at .
On Tuesday, Johnsen addressed the èƵ Chamber’s Fall Forum, where he discussed the future of the University of èƵ including the work underway to build, strengthen and pursue UA’s goals.
Yesterday, Johnsen spoke to the Palmer Chamber of Commerce. In, the coming weeks he will present talks to several other chambers of commerce as well as national education associations, including the annual meeting of the Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities where he will address The Council of Presidents. In November Johnsen is the invited guest speaker at
the èƵ Municipal League conference and the ALCOM Arctic Symposium.
As remarks become available they will be posted at: .