Almost Where the Pavement Ends: NACA in Alaska

We recently wrapped up NACA Institute season – our first fully sold-out summer! 69 schools attended the institutes, and we are grateful to have been hosted by the Illinois Institute of Technology, the University of Louisville, and the University of Colorado Denver - and to everyone who attended an institute. We also had the opportunity to pilot a new model where we bring a NACA Institute to you.   

In the past, we had discussed taking our institute model to the members – to train either a campus or multiple campuses that are part of the same state system. Then I received an email forwarded by NACA's Member Relations Team.  

“Is there any possibility we could get programming board institute trainers to our remote area of Alaska this summer? Using the term pavement loosely, the pavement ends approximately 100 miles north of us.”  

This was an opportunity to test what we had discussed! Two months later, I was on a plane to Fairbanks, Alaska, to meet up with Jameson Root, NACA’s Executive Director, and three volunteer facilitators to lead the Programming Board Institute for staff and students at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). 

_{Josh Hovis, Wood Center for Student Engagement Director, welcomes NACA to Fairbanks airport; Wood Center for Student Engagement taken 2 am Alaska time; Alaska Institute Facilitators left to right: Roger Fang, Cindy Vallejo-Victoria, Sarah Keeling, Peter Vandeventer, and Jameson Root} 

UAF paid a program fee and travel costs. They used the institute to bring staff together from across campus to discuss the importance of programming and its role in creating a sense of belonging. Staff from their Student Activities office, as well as Disability Services, Academic Advising, the Registrar’s Office, and more, participated. Many of those folks stayed in the residence hall with us; one staff member told me she had worked there for over 20 years and had never set foot in that residence hall. We knew attendees had bought into the process when many participants stayed on campus, chatting into the evening after the program ended.  

_{NACA Alaska Institute participants}

This model gives schools a flexible way to bring NACA programs directly to them, whether for one specific campus or multiple campuses across a larger state university system. If you are interested in bringing a NACA Institute to your campus or university system, I'd love to hear from you - email me at [email protected]. 

To all the incredible volunteers who supported this year’s NACA Institutes in Alaska and beyond: thank you for sharing your time, knowledge, energy, and talent. Your contributions helped make meaningful learning and connection possible for hundreds of students and professional staff this year. 

_{2026 Summer Institute Facilitators}