(Photo: Diane Hirshberg, ISER director, speaks with Craig Fleener, Deputy Advisor, Arctic Security Affairs Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies, at the Arctic Encounter Symposium in Anchorage, April 2022. Photo: UAA/James Evans.)
The 2022 Arctic Encounter Symposium in Anchorage brought together researchers and leaders from government, the business community, the University of Alaska, and ambassadors of Arctic nations. ISER Director Diane Hirshberg served on a panel related to workforce development and ISER researcher Bob Loeffler contributed to a panel discussion on sustainable resource development and mining in the Arctic.
“The Arctic Encounter Symposium provides a venue for researchers to have policy conversations with ambassadors, state department officials, military representatives and colleagues from other universities within and outside Alaska,” Hirshberg said. Other speakers on her panel included Pat Pitney, UA President; Doug Tansy, Assistant Business Manager for the IBEW Local 1547; Deborah Vo, program officer at the Rasmuson Foundation and Commissioner of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission; and Steve Wackowski, State Director for the office of U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski.
Hirshberg’s discussion was rooted in work she has done in rural Alaska communities on sustainable development and rethinking what it means to have a job or career. “In rural Alaska, it’s not about a 9-to-5 job 50 weeks a year,” Hirshberg said. “Many people are looking for ways to combine a cash economy and subsistence lifestyle. So rather than a small community having a full time electrician and a full-time plumber, people develop flexible skills sets as needed.”
“This has implications for how we think about preparing young adults for the workforce. For example, having flexible, short-term skills development opportunities that are offered in hub communities rather than just in the big population centers, or continuing to expand UAA’s efforts to have micro-credentials that can build up to associates degrees and set students up for bachelors and beyond when they are ready to take the next step. It also means working much more closely with rural communities to have them identify the skills they see as central to achieving their sustainable development goals.”
The last Arctic Encounter in 2020 was cancelled due to the pandemic, so there was a “pent up demand” for these in person discussions, Hirshberg said. “I actually met some of my students for the first time in person.”
Hirshberg has a long interest in Arctic studies, and is also the Vice-President Academic of University of the Arctic.
UA President Pat Pitney, and ISER Director Diane Hirshberg are joined by regional VP of Alaska Airlines Marilyn Romano, Local 1547 IBEW Assistant Business Manager Doug Tansy, Rasmuson Foundation Program Officer Deborah Vo, and State Director for Senator Murkowski Steve Wasckowski as part of the panel Arctic Tried and Tested: Developing a Robust Labor Force, Boardroom, during the 2022 Arctic Encounter Symposium at the Dena’ina Center in downtown Anchorage. Photo: UAA/James Evans.
