Lisa Phu

Students and mariners will soon be able to get formal marine transportation education without leaving the state. The University of Alaska Board of Regents last week approved a new marine transportation degree program at the University of Alaska Southeast.

For decades, UAS has offered classes and training to ferry workers, the Coast Guard, shipyard workers, sea pilots, the tug and barge industry, fishing and charter boat captains and other maritime employees.

These classes have never been part of a formal degree program.

“In the 14 years I’ve been with the university, every year students come to us and ask us if we do have a degree program in marine transportation, so there is a demand from the students without us even advertising,” said Dale Miller, a recently retired marine transportation instructor.

A formal degree program will allow more students, like military personnel and veterans, to access funding for course tuition.

“In the early days, they could receive funding by taking our non-degree classes, but in the last several years, it’s changed a lot and they’re a lot more strict with the regulations. They’re being denied funding now because we do not have a degree program,” Miller said.

The program approved by the regents is a two-year associate of applied science degree. Miller said this can go far in helping someone transition to an on-shore career.

“Hopefully when people go through that program, they’re halfway to a bachelor’s and they would think seriously about continuing their education. All the different fleet managers – the tourism, the tug boat, the Marine Highway System headquarters in Ketchikan – they all need managers and shore-side support people,” Miller said.

The degree program will also keep students in the state, Miller said, instead of going elsewhere for a degree in marine transportation.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for young people in Alaska to be able to get a degree at a lot less cost than leaving the state, paying for room and board and going to outside institutions, and coming back to the state to work,” Miller said.

More than 430 students took marine transportation classes last year. That number is expected to increase with changing regulations requiring more mariners to take refresher and navigational courses.

The associate degree program was originally proposed in 2006 and has been a priority for the Ketchikan campus ever since. The degree program starts this spring.

Eaglecrest Ski Area held the grand opening of the Porcupine Lodge on Saturday during its 7th Annual Discover Eaglecrest Day.

Construction on the $2.7 million lodge started in the summer of 2014. City sales tax paid for it.

“This building basically houses our lift ticketing, our snow sports school, our rental, the repair departments, as well as the children’s area, the adaptive area and some offices,” said Matt Lillard, general manager of Eaglecrest. “In the summer it is also the home to the Alaska Zipline Adventures.”

Inside, the new building is bright and spacious with cedar lined walls. There are more ticketing windows. Upstairs, rental equipment is stored in a new rack system. Skiers and snowboarders can exit from the second floor, which leads directly to the Porcupine chairlift. Large windows overlook the area.

“This is just the general milling area for people that want to watch their kid learn to ski and ski. Before we didn’t have a very good viewing area, but we’ll have benches set up in here and just a great view of the whole Porcupine chair,” Lillard said.

In the old lodge, Eaglecrest has added 80 more lockers and expanded the space for the Juneau Ski Club.

Lillard is excited for the winter season, despite the El Niño forecast predicting a warmer winter.

“We think there are a lot of different things going on in the climate and the atmosphere, and every year is different. That line could set up just south of us and we could be in the cold and it could be amazing, and it could go the other way,” Lillard said. “We’re always optimistic in the ski industry and we’re looking forward to a good winter.”

Last year, Eaglecrest had its worst winter in almost four decades. Lillard says the ski area will be prepared if it gets similar conditions. It recently added a fourth snowmaker.

“Previously, we’d open the Porcupine area with manmade snow, then try to fill in some areas near the base of Ptarmigan,” Lillard said. “This year, we’re going to blow snow on Sourdough Trail, so if something like last year were to happen again, we want to try to open up the Sourdough Trail and the Hooter chairlift on manmade snow, which will be the first time in a really, really long time – if ever – they’ve tried to do that.”

Eaglecrest has started selling season passes. Through Oct. 11, an unlimited adult pass costs $399, the lowest it’s been since 2009.

While Juneau waits for snow at Eaglecrest, people can check out the new mountain bike trail. A third of it is complete and open. Eaglecrest and the Juneau Mountain Bike Alliance hope to have the intermediate level flow trail finished by next June.

The Juneau Empire and Capital City Weekly recently told five of its employees they were being laid off. Three people in the business office and two graphic designers are losing their jobs by the end of the year. Those duties will be done either in Anchorage or outsourced to another country.

The Juneau Empire’s parent company is Georgia-based Morris Communications. In Alaska, the media company also owns the daily Kenai Peninsula paper Peninsula Clarion, The Alaska Journal of Commerce, Homer News and The Alaska Star.

“In the past, they’ve operated like islands,” said Juneau Empire publisher Rustan Burton. “We’re working to try and get them to work together a lot more and share more resources.”

An example of that is the business office. Instead of having different business offices for different papers, they’ll all be consolidated in Anchorage.

“This is one of those moves that’s going to help us become more efficient and we save some expense,” said Burton.

Burton said another move is laying off graphic designers. Morris Communications is part owner of NIIT Technologies, which is headquartered in India. Besides telemarketing and IT, the company builds ads.

“They have people on the ground here stateside, they have people in India and they have people in the Philippines. So basically it’s a 24-hour shop,” Burton said.

The other Morris newspapers have already undergone consolidation and outsourcing, said Burton. It’s now possible at the Alaska papers after a software update. Burton said the papers have already made efforts to share more content and help each other out.

“We’re in a climate where you got to do that more often. You got to find ways to be more efficient, especially with the way things are going with the state. We’re feeling the effects of that as well and people pulling back, businesses pulling back on advertising. We want to be sure that we’re ahead of that and ready to be able to weather that storm if it gets worse,” Burton said.

The newspapers have already weathered significant ups and downs. In 2010, Morris Publishing Group, a division of Morris Communications, declared bankruptcy. Within a month, Morris Publishing came out of bankruptcy court with an agreement to keep the company together while writing off hundreds of millions of dollars in debt. By 2014, the company’s head said Morris Publishing was debt free.

The Juneau Empire gave out five layoff notices earlier this month, but Burton said most of the employees will work through the end of the year. After the layoffs, Burton said the paper will have a staff of around 35. He said the Peninsula Clarion is losing two to three positions.

As the papers find ways to become more efficient, Burton said more layoffs are a possibility.

The body found in the Mendenhall Wetlands on Wednesday has been identified as Juneau resident John Ross Knudson.

When the 56-year-old was discovered by two duck hunters, Juneau police said his body appeared to have been in the water and exposed to the elements for at least several days.

Lt. David Campbell said Knudson was wearing a neck brace that led the police to guess who he was.

“Mr. Knudson’s body was sent up to the medical examiner’s office in Anchorage along with his dental records to do an identification,” Campbell said.

Next of kin has been notified. Campbell said there was no obvious trauma to Knudson’s body and the medical examiner is still working to determine a cause of death.

The Juneau School District has won a $500,000 grant to incorporate more art into the classroom.

The funding from the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation is for two years. Director of Teaching and Learning Ted Wilson says the funding could continue for up to 10.

He says the grant will provide professional development for K-12 teachers.

“Train teachers on just artful thinking, what does it mean to think artfully when you’re presenting your curriculum? Then some of the work will be, how do you integrate art into your classroom, into the daily activities of your class?” Wilson said.

The grant will bring in visiting artists, including people from The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Former University of Alaska Southeast chancellor John Pugh was honored Thursday during a naming ceremony of the freshman residence hall.

The dormitory opened in the fall of 2014 and was dedicated this past May. The UA Board of Regents approved naming it the John R. Pugh Residence Hall at its June meeting.

Pugh started working at UAS in 1987. He served as dean of Arts and Sciences before becoming chancellor in 1999. He retired last May.

The Board of Regents is in Juneau for a regular meeting. The body is taking public testimony at the UAS Recreation Center Friday at 10 a.m.