Fairbanks: Education and Research

Fairbanks: Education and Research

Elementary and Secondary Schools

Public elementary and secondary schools in Fairbanks are part of the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District (FNSBSD), the second largest in the state. The district is administered by a nonpartisan, seven-member school board with three non-voting advisory members, which appoints a superintendent. Students in the district come from 50 different language backgrounds. The district opened a new Fairbanks Magnet School for grades K-8 at Barnette Elementary School in fall 2005. The Yukon-Koyukuk School District, headquartered in Fairbanks, covers the Western interior of Alaska. Serving an area of 65,000 square miles, the district is larger than the state of Washington. The District's 11 schools serve 10 villages with 500 school-aged children in grades K-12. More than 90 percent of the students are Tanana or Koyukon Athabaskan Indians.

The following is a summary of data regarding public schools in the FNSBSD as of the 2003–2004 school year.

Total enrollment: 15,412

Number of facilities

elementary schools: 19

middle schools: 4

junior/senior high: 1

senior high schools: 3

other: 1 vocational education center, 1 correspondence school, 2 charter schools, 1 magnet school

Student/teacher ratio: 17.5:1

Teacher salaries (2004-2005)

minimum: $35,605

maximum: $69,073

Funding per pupil: $6,691

Private schools, including seven religious schools, with an enrollment of about 1,800 students, provide alternative forms of education in the Fairbanks area.

Public Schools Information: Fairbanks North Star Borough School District, 520 Fifth Avenue, Fairbanks, AK 99701-4756; telephone (907)452-2000

Colleges and Universities

Fairbanks is home to the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), which offers 162 degrees in more than 112 disciplines to its 10,400 students. Programs of study include developmental programs and certificate, associate, baccalaureate, and graduate/professional programs in the arts, sciences, career fields, and professions. It is Alaska's only doctoral-granting institution. UAF possesses unique strengths in both the physical and natural sciences and offers a broad array of engineering programs with particular emphasis on the northern environment. UAF is the state's center for the study of Alaska native cultures and languages, and also offers a northern studies program.

Libraries and Research Centers

The Fairbanks North Star Borough Public Library operates a main facility in the city, the Noel Wien Public Library, and a branch in the city of North Pole, which is a community of 1,600 residents 11 miles from Fairbanks. Mail library service is available. The library houses about 269,000 volumes, periodicals, tapes, and films. The Elmer E. Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska Fairbanks houses more than 1.75 million items, making it the largest library in the State. Its holdings include books, periodicals, photography, manuscripts, films, oral histories, rare books, maps, micro-fiches, tapes, records, and prints. Its Alaska and Polar Regions collection is one of the world's finest.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) ranks among the top 100 universities in the nation for its research and development activities. It also ranks 55th out of 200 universities in the amount of research money awarded by the National Science Foundation. In 2003-2004, UAF received $175 million for research activities, more than triple the amount received just six years earlier. Among UAF's many outstanding research schools and institutes are the School of Fisheries and Ocean Science, the Geophysical Institute, the Institute of Arctic Biology, the Polar Ice Coring Office, the Institute of Northern Engineering, and the Agriculture and Forestry Experiment Station. The Arctic Region Supercomputing Center, a collaboration between the UAF and the Department of Defense, supports computational research in science and engineering with emphasis on high latitudes and the arctic. A $32 million, 100,000-square-foot International Arctic Research Center provides office and research space for scientists from around the world. Research at the Center focuses on four major spheres: arctic ocean circulation, arctic atmosphere, permafrost/frozen soil, and arctic vegetation. The most recent addition to research efforts at UAF is the Office of Electronics Miniaturization (OEM), which replaces the former Center for Nanosensor Technology. The Office boasts a Class 10,000 Clean Room, equipped with Chip-Scale Packaging and related technologies. UAF is engaged in prototyping design development and production through a cooperative agreement with the Department of Defense's Defense MicroElectronics Activity (DMEA). Finally, the Poker Flats Research Range, located 33 miles north of Fairbanks, is a scientific rocket launching facility owned by the University of Alaska under contract to NASA. Poker Flat houses many scientific instruments for the study of the arctic atmosphere and ionosphere.

The Cold Climate Housing Research Center in Fairbanks researches and develops the latest building technologies and products for cold climate regions. Alaska's full range of climatic conditions and a cold season which lasts for six months or longer provides researchers ample time to conduct experiments and evaluations of housing performance. The Agricultural Research Service projects in the area focus on aquaculture, crop protection, plant diseases, and plant, microbial and insect genetics.

Public Library Information: Fairbanks North Star Borough Public Library and Regional Center, 1215 Cowles Street, Fairbanks, AK 99701; telephone (907)459-1020