Today was a busy day. Students started out at the Museum of the North learning about the culture, history, art, and ecosystem of Alaska. Then, we ate lunch at Pioneer Park. Pioneer Park is a public area that many tourist visit. From Pioneer Park, students went to the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center. There a park ranger explained politics of public lands in Alaska from many perspectives. Lastly, students discovered Fairbanks in their Place-As-Text exploration.

Tomorrow, we will leave Fairbanks to travel the Dalton Highway. I (Dr. Pederson) will not be blogging for a few days because we will not have internet or phone service. Mr. Josh Blakely will be updating the blog with our progress and locations.

Stay tuned!

Today students met with Ed and Nannette Rouleau. They talked to students about living in Fairbanks, politics related to mining, oil, and natural gas, and the history of this area. Today, downtown Fairbanks was our classroom as we await the arrival of the rest of our group.

Today, we purchased enough food for 13 people to travel up the Dalton Highway and back. Lucky, the LU@YNP (Longwood University at Yellowstone National Park) has feeding students while traveling down to an art and a science. Like many things in the LU@TAC program, we used the LU@YNP model for planning our meals.

While in Fairbanks, students who are part of the LU@TAC program will be staying at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. This campus is a 100 year old land, sea, and space grant institution.

As we begin our journey to Fairbanks and Northern Alaska, you can get daily updates here!

While we will not have cellphone service on days we spend on the Dalton Highway, we will be checking in each evening (using a satellite phone) with Mr. Josh Blakely at Longwood University and he will post updates here.

For three days at the end of May, students in the Alaska program studied at Longwood University. During these three days, students learned about and discussed issues that will be examined during their time in Northern Alaska. One of the issues this course will focus on is the use of pipelines to transfer natural resources. Students met with David, who helped build the Trans-Alaska pipeline in the late 1970s. Today, he works with the Friends of Nelson County to oppose the natural gas pipelines being proposed in Virginia. Additionally, students talked with a medical anthropologist about the potential historical and health implications of the proposed compressor station in Buckingham County, VA. These local issues will help students understand similar issues in Alaska through political, environmental, and economic lens.