High School
100% of UAS CNA students pass State certification test
UAS Sitka is happy to announce that 100% of the fall class of UAS Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) students passed their final test, and then passed the Alaska State Certification Exam. It is not uncommon for states to report CNA failure rates of between 20% and 40%. At UAS Sitka Campus, we take great satisfaction in helping our students beat those odds. Confidence is key. By building their confidence, our faculty and Student Success Center work to help them be successful in their education and their life. The next cohort of CNA students began their 15-week course last week.
First of two Sitka Campus Director candidates to arrive January 26
The first of two finalists in the search for a new Campus Director at the UAS Sitka Campus will be visiting the UAS campus on Monday, January 26. The university will be hosting community “Meet the Candidate” event for both candidates, and invites the public to hear their presentation, ask questions, and provide feedback. Leslie Balsiger, J.D. of Cheyenne, Wyoming will make a presentation on Monday, January 26 at 11:30 am in room 229 on the Sitka Campus. A one-hour reception will follow, allowing community members, students, faculty and staff to meet Leslie and converse with him. The University will provide hors d’oeuvres and refreshments. Leslie is currently the Director of the Center for Learning Technologies at the 5000-student Laramie County Community College. He has been in that position since 2010. His duties as the day-to-day manager of online education include supervision of the instructional design staff, responsibility for accreditation and state authorization, leadership of the online education program, and fostering growth in the use of learning technologies. In that role he developed pedagogical training programs for faculty who deliver courses via distance, and oversaw the migration from ANGEL to D2L. He is a certified Worldwide Instructional Design Trainer, and trains faculty as well as providing frequent brown bag sessions on new technologies. Prior to his employment in Cheyenne, Dr. Balsiger served as Director of the Fire Science Administration Online Degree program at Eastern Oregon University from 2008 to 2010. In that role he managed 10 faculty members plus office staff, and also built courses himself in Blackboard, Web CT, D2L, ANGEL and E-College. He was in charge of the Gear Up dual enrollment program, developing ties with local high schools. Leslie also served as the grievance officer for the University, and “worked on a variety of issues including some sexual harassment/assault cases as well as student grievances." Beginning in 2005, Les has also served as an adjunct professor of Criminal Justice for Blue Mountain Community College, and taught both undergraduate and graduate law courses for Southern Illinois University. From 2004 to December 2007 he was the Director of Student Relations/Marketing in Distance Education at Eastern Oregon University. He received a B.S. in Liberal Studies from Eastern Oregon University, concentrating in Psychology and Business. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Juris Doctor degree from the Gonzaga University Law School, where he founded and served as President of the Lawyers Guild Chapter, and received the CALI Award in Community Property. In his personal bio, Leslie writes that he grew up in Wilsonville, a small town of only 300 people in Eastern Oregon, which has now grown to be a suburb of Portland with a population of 25,000. As a child he learned to catch Trout, Bass, Salmon, Steelhead, and other game fish, and lists fishing as his most passionate hobby today. “I would rather be fishing than anything else”, he says. He served in the U.S. Army as a Military Policeman, and served on the school board as well as City Council of La Grande, Oregon. Dr. Balsiger is an avid antique collector, has two grown children, and he and his wife love to travel, especially in Europe. Leslie expresses a strong interest in helping poor and disadvantaged people gain opportunities for self-advancement. “While at Eastern Oregon University I ran the Gear up Program, which primarily served high school students who would be the first in their family to attend college. I worked with a Tribal Charter School and three high schools that had primarily Hispanic student populations as well as small rural high schools.” He writes, “The best day of my life was early in my higher education career when a single mother I had assisted came to graduation with her entire family and children and told them that if it had not been for Mr. Balsiger, ‘I would not be graduating today’. Nothing is more satisfying to me than seeing students graduate and getting employment in their chosen field.” Prior to going back to school to pursue an education leadership career, Les was an entrepreneur. “I have owned several small businesses” he writes. He currently owns an antique shop in downtown Cheyenne. His wife, Carol, works for County Government Human Resources in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
2nd Director Candidate January 31
Chris Gilmer, Ph.D. will be visiting the UAS campus on Friday, January 30, and will make his presentation in our Meet the Candidate event at 11:30 am in room 229 of the UAS Campus. Hors d’oeuvres and refreshments will be served to the public, students, faculty, and staff from 12:00 to 1:00, with ample opportunity to meet and ask questions on an individual basis. Since 2009 Chris has been Core Professor and Chair of the Department of Undergraduate Writing at the College of Undergraduate Studies of Walden University, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is also Chair of its Undergraduate Writing Task Force, and Faculty Development Director for the College of Undergraduate Studies. “Walden enrolls 60,000 students in 137 countries and is among the largest, most highly accredited online adult-serving universities in the world”, according to Dr. Gilmer’s C.V. Chris was one of only five professors to receive the Faculty Excellence Award in 2014, chosen from among a global faculty of 2500. From 2010 to 2013, Professor Gilmer served as Visiting Faculty Member and Curriculum Developer of the Department of English at Mississippi State University. He also, since 2000 to the present, has been President of Chris Gilmer and Associates Consulting. “I coordinate a group of affiliated, independent college and university faculty members from various disciplines to serve the training and grant writing needs of clients nationwide.” This work funds the pro bono services of a regional nonprofit social services agency, Innovative Behavioral Services, which provides counseling serves to battered women and children, and persons in drug recovery, without regard for their ability to pay. An overview of his skills includes experience as a university administrator, professor, trainer, grant writer, and editor. In the private sector, he has 15 years of consulting and training experience for a variety of government agencies, universities, nonprofits, and major corporations. He is a published editor, writer, and master communicator in both written and verbal forms. A few of the many listed clients of his consulting group include the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Florida State University, Mississippi University for Women, and the U.S. Departments of Education Justice, and HHS. The group has secured in excess of $75 million in competitive federal and non-federal grant funds for their clients nationwide. Chris’ higher education began with an A.A. in Liberal Arts at East Central Community College, Decatur, Mississippi. He completed a B.S. in English from the University of Southern Mississippi, and a M.A. in English from Mississippi College, Clinton, MS. He received a Ph.D. in English from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1994, graduating with a 4.0 GPA. Chris writes, “My mother read David Copperfield to me in the womb and promised that my world would be larger than hers. A sharecropper’s daughter, she was the valedictorian of her tiny high school class in the red clay hills of rural Mississippi and got me instead of the college education of her dreams. My grandparents gave me a calf when I was born, and it grew into a small herd of cattle large enough to pay for two years of community college.” He lists his four dogs – Sophia, Lillian, Stella and Naomi – along with cooking, entertaining, music, theatre, and long walks as his major hobbies, and writes, “I am more than looking forward to meeting the whales in Sitka. I have always felt a special kinship with animals and the ocean, even though I have not lived near the ocean so far.” Both candidates will make a presentation, and then be available to meet and converse with the public and campus community. In an effort to be transparent in our hiring process, the University will provide feedback forms to each member of the public who attends and wishes to share their impressions of the candidates, Les and Chris. The two candidates are finalists in a nationwide search for a replacement of Campus Director Jeff Johnston, who will be retiring in June. For more information, contact Nicole Rogers, Human Resources Director at UAS Sitka Campus. nrrogers@uas.alaska.edu 907-747-7706
TODAY: Wednesday, Jan. 28
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