SENATE HEALTH, EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE April 23, 1993 2:05 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT Senator Steve Rieger, Chairman Senator Bert Sharp, Vice-Chairman Senator Johnny Ellis Senator Judy Salo MEMBERS ABSENT Senator Loren Leman Senator Mike Miller Senator Jim Duncan COMMITTEE CALENDAR -- CONFIRMATION HEARING - Mary Jane Fate & R. Danforth Ogg to University of Alaska Board of Regents ACTION NARRATIVE TAPE 93-39, SIDE A Number 001 CHAIRMAN RIEGER called the Senate Health, Education and Social Services (HESS) Committee to order at 2:05 p.m. He stated the only order of business would a confirmation hearing on Governor appointees Mary Jane Fate and Dan Ogg to the University of Alaska Board of Regents. Number 020 MARY JANE FATE informed the committee she was born in Rampart, Alaska, she is an Athabaskan Indian, and she attended Mt. Edgecumbe High School in Sitka when it was operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. She is presently co-chairing the Federal-State Commission which is reviewing all policies and programs affecting Alaska Natives. She is also involved with her village corporation which was formed pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Number 050 SENATOR SALO noted that controversy on the Fairbanks campus has been whether or not the rural education preparation has had high enough standards, and she asked Ms. Fate if she had any comments on that issue. Ms. Fate responded that she is very concerned, and she believes that the State of Alaska has not done its job in delivering quality education to the rural areas. She added that there have been some steps taken to address this situation, such as certification of community health aides to help deal with alcohol and drug problems in the rural areas. Number 112 SENATOR ELLIS said at the time of consolidation, one of the commitments made was that the university would attempt, over time, to coordinate degree programs among the campuses in order to have good quality professional programs at the different campuses. He asked if Ms. Fate thought it was the university's responsibility to offer a little bit of everything at each campus, or to have campuses specialize in degree programs. Ms. Fate answered that each campus should have the same to begin with. If the student demand is there and if it is needed for that degree, those degree programs should be available. Number 162 CHAIRMAN RIEGER asked Ms. Fate if she had an opinion on what emphasis of the university should be between upper division, lower division, and graduate courses. Ms. Fate answered she is for the best university Alaska can have, and she thinks that can be achieved without that much expense by being innovative and generating other revenues. She stressed the importance of having undergraduate programs, postgraduate programs and doctorate programs. Chairman Rieger also asked if Ms. Fate had on opinion on tenure for university professors. Ms. Fate responded that her feelings on tenure are mixed. She said a lot of the good people in the university are really stretched and we don't want to lose these people, but she would hate to see the university stuck with tenure with somebody who is excess baggage. Number 250 CHAIRMAN RIEGER thanked Ms. Fate for her participation in the hearing and then invited Dan Ogg to address the committee. DAN OGG said he has lived in Kodiak since 1973, working in the fishing industry and the construction industry. He has served on the local assembly, served as borough mayor, and served on the local planning commission. He has attended law school and now practices law in the winter months and continues to be a commercial fisherman. Number 262 SENATOR ELLIS noted that in his Letter of Interest to Governor Hickel, Mr. Ogg had indicated that postsecondary education is very important to the economic development of the state, especially in the seafood industry. He asked if he had any specific kinds of improvements that he would like to see in the university degree programs that have a direct relationship to the seafood industry of the state. Mr. Ogg said the president of the university has set up a working committee with the fishing industry, which will be meeting shortly in Kodiak, and he has asked that he be able to participate. He believes that they will be exploring what directions the university can work in and provide something that is of interest to the industry to further the economics of the fishery to the state. Number 338 SENATOR SHARP said one of his concerns for the past several years has been that when the legislature responds to specific requests by the university and the money is appropriated, the money sometimes gets moved around a little. He said he hopes the new regents will be committed to tightening up the reigns to better control capital appropriations. Number 368 CHAIRMAN RIEGER asked Mr. Ogg for his comments on emphasis between lower division and upper division and graduate courses. Mr. Ogg responded that he thinks all three have a position in the university and in the secondary education level. He thinks the community college program and the bachelor degree program are the most important and there should be less emphasis in the graduate program. Chairman Rieger said there has been a perception that the regents have had a policy that the post graduate education should be concentrated at the Fairbanks campus, and he asked Mr. Ogg if had comments on that issue. Mr. Ogg answered that Fairbanks has traditionally a lot of graduate degree programs and they are very good, but there are probably other areas, such as Anchorage, where a graduate degree would be better suited to be located there. Chairman Rieger asked Mr. Ogg for his comments on university professor tenure. Mr. Ogg said in order to attract professors of good quality, they want tenure, but he thinks it is an area that needs to be looked at carefully because there has to be some mechanism where they can go in and get the people who have taken advantage of it and actually have become a burden to the education system. Number 412 Chairman Rieger commented that in working on the university budget in the Finance Committee, he gets the impression that there is no room to try to do anything new because we are so busy trying to keep up with what we are doing now. He said he thinks the regents are going to have to get above all that and take a look at what we really have to be doing and make some hard decisions and reprioritize, even in a time when there is not enough to go around for what is there now. He said these are things that he hopes the regents will take a forceful role in. Senator Sharp added that when one examines the history of the expansion of the university, it's clear that a lot of the expansion was done on a political justification and not on recommendations of efficiency on delivery of the education. He said the regents are going to have to make some real hard decisions on where the priorities are and how to best deliver the upper education resources around the state. Number 500 CHAIRMAN RIEGER thanked Ms. Fate and Mr. Ogg for their participation in the confirmation hearing and then adjourned the meeting at 2:42 p.m.