The College of Health Access and Belonging Committee (ABC) was established to support
access and success of all students, staff, and faculty of the college. Through shared
values of respect, accountability, and a commitment to equal opportunity, we strive
to create greater cohesion across our college to deliver and promote the health and
well-being of the communities we serve.
We acknowledge and honor the ancestral lands of the Dena'ina, Ahtna, Alutiiq/Sugpiaq,
and Eyak/dAXunhyuu Peoples on which the ³ÉÈËAPP¾«Ñ¡College of Health campus resides in Southcentral
Alaska. We commit to working in partnership with Indigenous communities to promote
health equity and cultural humility, and to recognize the unique knowledge and contributions
of Indigenous Peoples to health and holistic healing.
Vanessa Hiratsuka from CHD and Britteny Howell from DPHS are the new Co-Directors for UAA’s National Resource Center on Alaska Native Elders. Vanessa Hiratsuka shares her hopes for the center’s future.
Vanessa Hiratsuka from CHD and Britteny Howell from DPHS are the new Co-Directors for UAA’s National Resource Center on Alaska Native Elders. Britteny Howell shares her journey into geriatrics.
One morning in 2005, psychology alumna Maggie Winston — then a 21-year-old hairdresser and mother of twin boys living in Kenai — woke up feeling cramps between her shoulder blades. Within an hour, she couldn’t walk.
After a two-year hiatus, ³ÉÈËAPP¾«Ñ¡STEM Day returned to campus on October 1, drawing over 1,500 community members to the ConocoPhillips Integrated Science Building to celebrate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, commonly known as STEM. Attendees, primarily children, enjoyed activities, challenges, demonstrations, tours, and planetarium shows that explored a wide range of STEM topics from biology to robotics.
More than two years into the pandemic, vaccines are widely available and most health measures have been lifted. But there are still Alaskans who have difficulty accessing vaccines or who have continued health risk in spite of them. Sondra LeClair, Health Projects Coordinator, ³ÉÈËAPP¾«Ñ¡Center for Human Development, discusses vaccine access for individuals with disabilities in Alaska.