MARCH 17, 2015
FEATURES
THENORTHERNLIGHT.ORG
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE
A&E
PAGE 3
PAGE 8
‘Predestination’ film brings intrigue to time travel
Stuggle and euphoria: Alaska backcountry skiing
Nanooks force shoot-out, take sixth consecutive Governor’s Cup By Nolin Ainsworth
sports@thenorthernlight.org
Following the last meeting between the UAA Seawolves and University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks at the beginning of spring semester, the clubs’ respective seasons have gone in opposite directions. After sweeping the Nanooks both nights in Fairbanks Jan. 16 and 17, the Seawolves’ wheels fell off — losing their next nine Western Collegiate Hockey Association games. The Nanooks, on the other hand, rebounded from those two losses against UAA and went on to win five of their next eight games, including taking down then-No. 1 Minnesota State on home ice last month. So naturally, when the Nanooks paid a visit to the Sullivan Arena March 6-7 to take on the Seawolves for games three
and four of the Governor’s Cup, some assumed it wouldn’t be much of hockey series. To put it simply, they were wrong. Although UAF looked like the more skillful team, the Seawolves found a way to make both games close. The Seawolves fell 1-0 March 6 and 3-2, 1-0 in the shootout March 7, saying goodbye to five seniors and their hopes of dreams of bringing the Governor’s Cup back to southcentral Alaska. “This one definitely stinks,” said senior captain Scott Allen after Saturday’s game. “That’s not how anyone wants to go out — and I think everyone realizes that, but it’s something that you have to live with now.” Head coach Matt Thomas didn’t mince words after the UAF sweep.
SEE HOCKEY
PAGE 10
By Victoria Petersen
vgpetersen@thenorthernlight.org
PHOTO BY ADAM EBERHARDT
Forward Brad Duwe gets some air while making a pass during a game against UAF on March 7.
Annual fees up $16 to fund digital portfolios
GRAPHIC BY JAY BALDWIN
By John Sallee
jsallee@thenorthernlight.org
This year, the University of Alaska Anchorage will roll out the ePortfolio, an electronic portfolio that enables users to store all of their coursework. Starting next fall, students and faculty will be given the tools to keep all past academic work in one online space. Paul Wasko, who has worked with similar ePortfolio projects in the past, is the lead behind the project. “This work has gone better with more enthusiasm that any other effort I have been involved in with higher education in the last 12 years,” he said. Wasko leads an advisory committee that reflects the
university, with membership including English professor Heather Caldwell and a current student from UAA, which enables input from a student’s perspective. Getting the ePortfolio project initiated was a gradual process. First, students’ needs were assessed at UAA. The next step of the process was to find which program was the best at addressing those needs. Caldwell said UAA signed a contract with Digication, which will be the provider for the ePortfolio system. Digication is a provider for more than 5,000 K-12 schools throughout the United States. “The system is very userfriendly for anyone beginning to use Digication,” Caldwell said.
facebook.com/northernlightuaa
UA system to align to common calendar
Paul Wasko said that the Digication system was not only the cheapest on the market, but it fulfilled all of the assessed student needs as well. When asked about this new ePortfolio project, UAA student Olivia Steiner answered enthusiastically: “I’m so excited for it! … It’s about time we had something to keep track of all our college work all in one place.” Steiner is working on her bachelor of science degree, and she hopes the ePortfolio will propel her college career even further. The ePortfolio system will be funded by an $8-per-semester flat fee, which means each student will pay $16 total each academic year. A possibility of a digital media lab is in the
twitter.com/tnl_updates
works, which allows students to use technology to create video, audio and other multimedia elements for their ePortfolios. The media lab would be part of the UAA Learning Resource Center. The media lab would be funded by an additional $12 flat fee — $24 per academic year. The media lab and portfolio will be exclusively for UAA. Top colleges such as Harvard, Yale and Princeton currently already utilize the ePortfolio. Wasko hopes to see ePortfolio success carry across the entire University of Alaska system. The ePortfolio is already being used by a small amount of students and staff, and the rollout to all 20,000 students and 15,000 faculty members will be slated for this fall.
thenorthernlight.org
University of Alaska officials are working to align the Anchorage, Fairbanks and Southeast campus calendars. In April 2014, the Board of Regents passed a policy to align all UA campus calendars. Student Regent Courtney Enright says the Common Calendar Advisory Task Force has been working on this project since last year and has identified several areas for alignment. “These eight areas for alignment include term start dates, add/ drop dates for class, fee payment due date, withdrawal date, term end date, finals week, spring break and course blocks,” she said. The Common Calendar Advisory Task Force has outlined the challenges of each component for the new committee that will take over in the next year. “The calendar will begin alignment of withdrawal dates in spring 2016 — otherwise all other aspects of calendar alignment will occur in fall 2016, aka, calendar year 2017,” Enright said. However, there is controversy concerning the time of calendar implementation. The task force has been guided by a memo from UA President Pat Gamble, which called for a fall 2016 implementation. Despite this, some regents and university leadership believe that fall 2015 is when the common calendar should start. Michelle Saport, a communications assistant for UAA Advancement, is confident the process is progressing in a timely fashion. “This is still happening, and it looks like it is on track,” Saport said. UAA currently has spring break one week before UAS and UAF. Task force members say there was no initial support to align this break, but now they are working hard to make it happen. The move would require engagement by the entire university community. Barbara A. Hegel, registrar and director of admissions at UAS, feels positive about the proposed alignment. “I’ve been working here since 2002. One of my goals as an employee is to see things more aligned,” Hegel said. “I think this will be really good and help students maneuver the system better. I feel very positive about it.” The alignments for a new universal calendar will take place within the next two years.
youtube.com/tnlnews