PITAAS
Earn your teaching degree at the University of Alaska Southeast with the PITAAS Program.
Preparing Indigenous Teachers & Administrators for Alaska Schools (PITAAS) Program Overview
The Challenge: Alaska needs more Alaska Native teachers
- In Alaska schools, Alaska Natives make up 25% of the student body and less than 5% of the teaching force.
- In 2000, the University of Alaska Southeast created the PITAAS Program with the help of a federal grant to address this shortage of Alaska Native teachers.
- The PITAAS Program has grown to include many services designed to meet its goals: more Alaska Native teachers and administrators in Alaskan schools, preschool through high school.
The PITAAS Program can help you earn your teaching degree at the University of Alaska Southeast!
Students who are accepted to the program receive a scholarship that generally covers tuition, fees, books, and room and board at UAS for the entire program period (contingent upon continued grant funding). Students must be enrolled in an education degree program at UAS, have a minimum 3.0 GPA upon entry and maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA in order to continue receiving this scholarship.
Note for Scholarship for Graduate Students & Teachers Seeking a Type B Principal Endorsement
The PITAAS GPA requirement is higher than UAS Financial Aid and may differ from the requirements set forth by your degree program. The conditions stated here are separate and in addition to any requirements imposed by those offices.
In order to receive a PITAAS scholarship, students must have college junior status and be admitted to one of the following degree programs at UAS:
Undergraduate Teacher Preparation Programs
- BA Elementary Education
- BA Special Education
- BA or BS in an academic area leading toward a teacher certification
Post Graduate Teacher Certification Programs
Master's of Art in Teaching (MAT)
- Elementary MAT (Distance)
- Secondary MAT
- Special Education MAT
Graduate Certificates, Endorsements and Master of Education (M.Ed) Programs
- Reading Specialist
- Special Education
- Educational Leadership
- Superintendent Endorsement
PITAAS Application
Forms for Current PITAAS Scholarship Recipients
PITAAS Student Spotlights
Native teacher Joshua Jackson on the PITAAS program at UAS
PITAAS Cultural Scholarship Opportunity
Students residing in Alaska who have freshman or sophomore standing (have taken less than 60 total credits) are eligible for funding which covers all tuition/fees for eligible courses.
Eligible students:
- Physically residing in Alaska
- Alaska Native
- Enrolled in a qualifying UAS course
- 2.0+ GPA at most recently attended school, university, or trade school
- Taken less than 60 credits at the University of Alaska (UAA/UAF/UAS)
View Spring 2021 course registration date requirements on the UAS Academic Calendar.
Personnel
Ronalda Cadiente-Brown, M.A.
Associate Vice Chancellor for Alaska Native Programs and Director of PITAAS
Profile and contact info