Creating a College to Produce More Alaskan Teachers

Mary Snyder (PhD ’91) is building a college of education at the University of Alaska Anchorage practically from scratch.

The Educational Administration graduate moved to Anchorage in the summer of 2003 to be the college’s founding dean. Prior to her arrival, the university had only a School of Education, which was a part of the College of Health, Education and Social Welfare.

Snyder and her colleagues have already seen some major successes. Last year, the College of Education’s undergraduate and graduate programs became nationally accredited for the first time. It also received the largest grant the university has ever seen—$9.3 million from the U.S. Department of Education—and increased student enrollment by nearly 16 percent.

“It was a good year and next year promises to be exciting and full of challenges as well,” Snyder said. “We’re already predicting another large increase in student enrollment, which is important since Alaska currently imports 70 percent of its teachers from the lower 48. We’re committed to increasing the number of Alaskans teaching in Alaska’s schools.”

Snyder’s colleagues say she is a committed, tireless leader.

“Mary Snyder has been responsible for leading the college and its faculty and staff through a difficult growth period,” said Donna Gail Shaw, associate dean for Student and Curriculum Affairs. “Our successes during this time reflect Dean Snyder’s success.”

Snyder was born in Clinton, Iowa, and raised in western Illinois. Before moving to Anchorage, she was chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Central Missouri State University.

She said Anchorage, which is home to a third of Alaska’s total population, is a beautiful, peaceful place to live and work. But some differences between her new state and the Midwest took some getting used to.

“The summer I moved to Anchorage, I’d get home from the office, then work around home—unpacking, moving things—and then notice it was 2 a.m. The long daylight hours were hard to get used to—I felt like a gerbil running around all night,” she said.

She said she was also “pleasantly surprised” that some Alaska wildlife finds its way onto campus.

“During the winter, rarely a week goes by that I don’t see a moose,” she said.

In addition to interesting animal visitors, Snyder said she’s been blessed with some exciting coworkers in Alaska.

“I have faculty who conquer mountain peaks, bike hundreds of miles, or learn to fly airplanes on the weekend,” she said. “For a university faculty, they’re an exciting group of people.”

When she’s not on campus, Snyder likes to give back to her new community by volunteering with the Alaska Botanical Gardens.

“It gets me into the outdoors,” she said.

–by Heather McElvain