News and Announcements
ISER recommends new routes for workforce development
ISER faculty have published results from their study of Alaska’s construction workforce. Commissioned by the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities, the report examines Alaska’s workforce in nine priority construction occupations, including laborers, carpenters, electricians, and truck drivers. Using interviews, surveys, labor data, and public datasets, the report presents detailed industry profiles that cover job nature, wages, workforce demographics, growth projections, training availability, and recruitment challenges. The study aimed to assess current workforce characteristics, forecast growth, and explore strategies to increase participation by Alaskans and underrepresented groups such as women, people of color, and rural residents. The report outlines crosscutting [...]
Hiring: ISER Director
ISER is currently looking for a new director, who will coordinate research activities both within the institute and with other institutions and agencies, and will supervise a multi-disciplinary team consisting of 30 people, including faculty, administrative and research staff and student researchers. ISER’s current director, Diane Hirshberg, has announced that she will step down from the director’s role at the end of June 2026. She has been ISER director since 2022. For 65 years, ISER has been producing research that helps people understand social and economic systems and supports informed public and private decision-making. The institute has a strong, multi-disciplinary group [...]
ISER Director to Step Down after Nearly Five Years of Leadership
Diane Hirshberg, professor of education policy at Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER). Dr. Diane Hirshberg will step down as director of the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) in June 2026. She has led the Institute since October 2021. Hirshberg joined UAA as a professor of educational policy in 2003, shortly after obtaining a Ph.D. in education from UCLA. She has since served the university in a variety of leadership roles. Hirshberg was the founding director of the Center for Alaska Education Policy Research, served as president of UAA’s faculty senate and was the VP Academic [...]
CAEPR Educator Survey
CAEPR is currently running a statewide educator survey! The survey was developed in collaboration with education shareholders. It is a confidential survey that asks educators about their school and work experience, their community, themselves, and their future plans. In early February, every in-service educator in Alaska received a personalized email survey invitation. We will send reminders to teachers periodically over the next 8 weeks, and develop a report in June. We are excited to do this in service of schools and communities in our state. Questions? Please contact us! • ISER contacts: Staci Corey (slcorey@alaska.edu) and Dayna DeFeo (djdefeo@alaska.edu) • [...]
ISER Analysis of State Fiscal Options Webinar
Researchers from the UAA Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) discussed Alaska’s fiscal options on Zoom on Wednesday, Feb. 4. Any fiscal option adopted by the state will have short- and long-term economic effects. ISER researchers hosted an event in Juneau to explain how various budget decisions may impact Alaska wages, employment, and outcomes by demographic. The presentation built from ISER’s recent evaluation of 11 primary fiscal options, along with three variations, that assessed the economic impacts of various budget options for Alaska. The webinar recording is now available to watch online (see sidebar). Dr. Brett Watson presented a 45-minute overview of [...]
Alaska’s Fiscal Options
The State of Alaska faces persistent budget challenges resulting from declining oil prices and production. Because current major revenue sources—petroleum and the Permanent Fund (POMV)—are not explicitly tied to internal economic activity, there is an "Alaska disconnect" between state growth and public revenue. ISER researchers evaluated 11 primary fiscal options + three variations. These included changes to state spending, broad based taxes, and businesses taxes. Nine of these options were selected to match those ISER evaluated in 2016. In addition, ISER modelled two new options related to business taxes. ISER also evaluated three variations of these options. Any options implemented [...]