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To receive more information about undergraduate admissions at UAF, please visit here. To apply to the B.A. in Arctic and Northern Studies, please visit here.

Students can start the B.A. in Arctic and Northern Studies in the fall, spring, or summer semester.

Requirements for the B.A. in Arctic and Northern Studies can be found . Requirements for the minor in Arctic and Northern Studies can be found .

To see a list of courses in Arctic and Northern Studies, visit . Note that undergraduate courses are at the 100 to 400 level, and graduate courses are at the 600 level. In addition to ACNS-designated courses, students take a wide range of courses from other departments and programs across UAF.

To see which courses are being offered now or in the near future, visit the . Course designators beginning with F0 or FE are in-person, FX are online synchronous (in which students meet via videoconference), and UX are online asynchronous (in which students do not meet via videoconference).

To learn about funding opportunities for undergraduate students, consult the Financial Aid Office. After acceptance, students can apply for funding to support their undergraduate research and other scholarly pursuits from Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Activities. Arctic and Northern Studies also offers Leonard and Marjorie Wright Scholarships to partially offset students’ living expenses (awarded on a need/merit basis) and provides support for students’ conference presentations and research (if applicable).

Alumni have gone on to work in a wide variety of careers, including in government and politics; advocacy and policy institutes; non-governmental organizations; and the private sector. Many have also gone on to earn  graduate degrees.

To apply to the M.A. program, please review the application requirements here. Applicants will submit the application . After the application is complete, it will be routed to the Director of Arctic and Northern Studies who will put it under review with an admissions committee. The Admissions Office will contact the applicant with the decision regarding the application.

While the review committee considers applications holistically, successful applicants typically have a strong and well-written writing sample on a theme relevant to the Arctic region; a statement that clearly outlines their research interests and prospective thesis or project; three letters of recommendation that speak to their academic strengths and ability to pursue graduate level education and conduct graduate level research; and a strong undergraduate GPA.

Students can start the M.A. program in the fall, spring, or summer semester.

Requirements for the M.A. in Arctic and Northern Studies can be found . In brief, students must complete a minimum of 24 credits of coursework and 6 credits of thesis or project research. The program has 3 core courses required of all students: Perspectives on the North; Research Methods and Sources in the North; and Thesis Writing Workshop. Other courses are required for the chosen concentration or are electives. Students must choose one of three concentrations: Arctic Politics and Policy, Northern History, or Individualized Study. The Individualized Study allows students to design their own concentration under the direction of the Director of Arctic and Northern Studies and the student’s supervisory committee. It is the most flexible, and recent Individualized Study concentrations have included environmental studies, Indigenous governance, Russian nationalism, and cultural history and higher education.

In addition to the course requirements, students must take and pass two comprehensive exams. The student and the student’s supervisory committee decides the topic of each exam. While both topics relate to the student’s research for the thesis or project, the first comprehensive exam topic should be “broad” in scope, while the second topic should be “narrow” in scope. After the student and the supervisory committee identify the comprehensive exam topics, the student should develop a list of readings on the topic. Typically, this includes a blend of 25-30 academic articles, book chapters, and/or books. After the student drafts the reading list, he or she should send it to the committee for comments and feedback. Once the student and committee finalize the list, the student should study the readings on the list. When the student feels prepared to take the comprehensive exam, he or she should work with the committee and the administrative assistant of Arctic and Northern Studies to decide a day and time to sit for each exam. The committee is responsible for designing the exam question and passing it along to the administrative assistant. The exam’s format is a sit-down, three-hour session in which the student responds to the question on a computer. Although the student may have a list of references, no notes or other resources are allowed during the exam. The administrative assistant gives the student the exam at the beginning of the session, and the student must send his or her response to the administrative assistant at the end of the session. The supervisory committee will grade the exam on a pass/fail basis. Full-time M.A. students typically sit for the first exam at the beginning of their third semester of study and second exam a month or two later. Part-time M.A. students typically sit for their first and second exams during their second or third years of study. Once the student passes the second comprehensive exam, he or she advances from M.A. “student” to M.A. “candidate.” After the student passes both comprehensive exams, he or she and the committee must submit to the Graduate School two forms: Report on Comprehensive Exams and Advancement to Candidacy. Both forms are located here.

Finally, students must write a thesis or project (non-thesis) under the supervision of their committee. Although both the thesis and project are academic pieces of writing that require original research, the thesis is standard academic research that engages theory and contributes to a scholarly literature, while the project may address a practical issue for a specific policy audience or community or may be a more creative undertaking. Typically, students who choose to write a project work alongside an organization, institution, or government to meet a practical need for it and its audience/membership. Projects often include images and creative formatting and are made publicly available. Recent project-writing students have partnered with the local hockey community, Cold Climate Housing and Research Center, and the Copper Valley School Association.

Students periodically meet with their committees to discuss their thesis or project research. Their committee provides them with comments, suggestions, and other feedback to help them develop their thesis or project. When the committee believes they are ready to defend the thesis or project, they will do so in a public forum, presenting and fielding questions from the committee and audience. Students must register to graduate by February 15 and defend in March for a May graduation and register to graduate by October 15 and defend in November for a December graduation. Upon defending the thesis or project, students and their committee must complete the Project Defense Report or Thesis/Dissertation Report. Once the committee has approved the final version of the project or thesis, students and their committee must complete the Project Approval Form or Thesis/Dissertation Form. All forms are found here.

The supervisory committee is a committee of at least three faculty members who guide the student through comprehensive exams and the thesis or project. Although the Director of Arctic and Northern Studies advises students on coursework, the supervisory committee should do so also, and it approves comprehensive exam topics and reading lists and grades comprehensive exams on a pass/fail basis. It also supervises the student as he or she works on research for the thesis or project, providing advice and suggestions, giving feedback on drafts of chapters, and evaluating the defense and final version of the thesis or project.

The supervisory committee consists of a chair and at least two non-chair members. The chair must be a full-time UAF faculty member who works closely with Arctic and Northern Studies. The second committee member could be a core or affiliate Arctic and Northern Studies faculty member or another faculty member outside Arctic and Northern Studies but at UAF. The third committee member could be a core or affiliate Arctic and Northern Studies faculty member, another faculty member outside Arctic and Northern Studies but at UAF, or someone outside UAF who has expertise necessary for the research. 

 For a list of Arctic and Northern Studies faculty, please visit here.

Full-time students should assemble their committees ideally no later than during their second semester, while part-time students should assemble their committees no later than towards the end of their coursework phase. Upon assembling the committee, the student and the committee should complete the Appoint/Change Committee Form, the Graduate Study Plan, and Report of Advisory Committee. Students must meet with their committees at least once a year and submit the Annual Report, which consists of a student-generated narrative and the committee’s assessment of the student’s progress. Because this report is due no later than May 15 each spring, most students hold their committee meetings in spring semester. These forms are located on the Graduate School website here.

The Arctic and Northern Studies program has a small number of teaching assistantships (TAs) available to full-time M.A. students on a semester-by-semester basis.

The teaching assistantship requires 15 hours of work per week during the academic semester. TAs assist a professor in teaching an undergraduate class (usually by grading assignments). It covers tuition each semester (up to 10 credits), basic health insurance, and a modest stipend.

To be eligible for a TA position, an applicant must have applied and been accepted to the program by March 1 for the fall semester or October 1 for the spring semester. The applicant must be pursuing the program on a full-time basis. Priority will be given to students pursuing the program face-to-face in Fairbanks.

To indicate interest in receiving a TAship, the applicant should notify the program director (Dr. Brandon Boylan, bmboylan@alaska.edu) by March 1 for the fall semester or October 1 for the spring semester. TAs will be awarded based on both a first-come, first-serve basis and need/merit basis.

If awarded a TAship, the student must maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher and fulfill all work responsibilities. Typically, students awarded TAships will have them for a maximum of four semesters. 

The program can also provide limited financial support to students through the Leonard and Marjorie Wright Scholarship on a merit/need basis to offset living expenses.

Through the Leonard and Marjorie Wright Scholarship, the program can offer limited financial support to students in good academic standing to conduct thesis or project research. Students are encouraged to seek other research support through the Graduate School and other units at UAF and outside the University.

Moreover, in the 91��Ƶ and Polar Regions Collections and Archives (APRCA) at the Elmer Rasmuson Library, students have easy access to one of the world’s most extensive archival collections on 91��Ƶ and the Circumpolar North, as well as thousands of published books, journals, historical newspapers, and other documents on the region. Collections on 91��Ƶ’s Russian and American eras through the mid twentieth century are especially rich, as are holdings on missionary history, polar exploration, and exploration in 91��Ƶ. Visit APRCA’s website  to see that many items in its holdings can be accessed electronically. APRCA contains the 91��Ƶ Film Archives with more than 10,000 films and videos dating back to 1910; the 91��Ƶ Native Language Archive, with linguistic field notes and audio recordings, as well as published and unpublished materials; historical manuscripts collections with letters, diaries, scrapbooks, maps, business records, and more; historical photograph collections; a rare books and maps collections with over five thousand rare books on polar and 91��Ƶn exploration and 91��Ƶ’s settlement from the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries, and rare maps from the sixteenth century forward; and an oral history program that houses more than ten thousand recordings.

Finally, the University of 91��Ƶ Museum of the North holds over 2.5 million artifacts and specimens that represent millions of years of biological diversity and thousands of years of cultural traditions in the North. The collections are organized into ten disciplines (archaeology, birds, documentary film, earth sciences, ethnology and history, fine arts, fishes and marine invertebrates, insects, mammals, and plants) and serve as a valuable resource for research on climate change, genetics, contaminants, and other issues facing 91��Ƶ and the Circumpolar North. The museum is also the premier repository for artifacts and specimens collected on public lands in 91��Ƶ and is a leader in Northern natural and cultural history research. These collections form the foundation for the museum’s research, education programs, and exhibits. They are accessible to students on the UAF campus and remotely through the online collection management system, Arctos. All University of 91��Ƶ students receive free admission to the museum and are encouraged to consider using the collections as part of their academic work at UAF.

Although some full-time M.A. students complete the degree within two years, many full-time M.A. students take up to three years. Part-time M.A. students often take three to five years to complete the degree. For many students, passing the two comprehensive exams and completing a thesis or project takes longer than expect.

Students enter careers in government and politics from local to international; thinktanks and research centers; higher education; advocacy and policy institutes; non-governmental organizations; and the private sector. Many have gone on to earn Ph.D.s at other institutions. The Alumni page on our website here features recent graduates, along with their concentrations, thesis or project titles, and current or recent employment.

No and yes. Arctic and Northern Studies does not have its own Ph.D. program. However, several students pursuing the Interdisciplinary Studies Ph.D. at UAF are housed in Arctic and Northern Studies, because their research focuses on the North or the Arctic, and ACNS faculty serve on their committees.

Interdisciplinary studies offers a holistic approach to education and research by drawing from and integrating two or more traditional academic disciplinary perspectives. Recognizing shortcomings inherent in any one academic discipline, interdisciplinary studies allows students to synthesize concepts, issues, theories, methodologies, and methods from multiple disciplines to craft a research project that responds to a complex, multi-dimensional problem or question. As a regional studies program, Arctic & Northern Studies is inherently interdisciplinary. The program exposes all students to a variety of disciplinary approaches to study of the region.

UAF offers degrees in interdisciplinary studies at the bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. levels. UAF’s Graduate School manages the INDS Ph.D. Prospective INDS Ph.D. students must apply for admission to the Graduate School. The Interdisciplinary Studies Ph.D. Council reviews and makes recommendations on applications, which the Director of the Graduate School finalizes. Although students apply to the Graduate School for admissions, students must be housed in a department or program at UAF during their doctoral studies. Students interested in Ph.D. work on topics related to the Arctic and Circumpolar North should contact faculty within the Arctic and Northern Studies program to look for advice, support, and potential advisory committee members. Faculty will guide promising students in the application process, if they feel ACNS has the expertise to support the applicant. Such applicants who gain admission to the INDS Ph.D. program will be housed in ACNS.   For more information about the INDS Ph.D. visit the Graduate School page here.

Application procedures and deadlines can be found here. Applicants should start the application process at least a couple months in advance of the deadline. The program application requires much thinking and work upfront. Interested students need to determine if UAF can support their research interests and research plan. They need to identify and work with at least two faculty members, including the chair, willing to serve on the doctoral committee. They need to have a fully developed research prospectus. And they need to determine how they will fund their Ph.D. program.

Applicants must have a Master’s or professional degree (such as a J.D.). Applicants who have secured at least two faculty members willing to serve on their committee (including the chair), discussed their proposed coursework and research in depth with these members, identified a research program that UAF can support and presented it in a well-written academic statement and prospectus, and identified sources of funding are more likely to be accepted.

Like any Ph.D. program, the INDS Ph.D. requires coursework, comprehensive exams (field papers), and a dissertation that uses and analyzes original data and that contributes to appropriate fields of study. For more information, visit here.

Students must identify their own funding sources. Arctic and Northern Studies has a limited number of teaching assistantships (TAs) about which students may inquire the program director. The Graduate School offers scholarships for students who meet the requirements. It also offers Dissertation Completion Fellowships on a competitive basis to students who have advanced to candidacy.

Through the Leonard and Marjorie Wright Scholarship, the program can offer limited financial support to students in good academic standing to conduct dissertation research. Students must be pursuing the INDS Ph.D. and housed in Arctic and Northern Studies. Students are encouraged to seek other research support through the Graduate School and other units at UAF and outside the University.

Students at the Fairbanks campus have easy access to one of the world’s most extensive archival collections on 91��Ƶ and the Circumpolar North, as well as large numbers of published books, journals and other documents on the region in the 91��Ƶ and Polar Regions Collections and Archives (APRCA) at the Elmer Rasmuson Library. APRCA includes rare books and maps; unpublished archival documents, including photographs, letters, journals, proceedings, and other documents; an oral history collection; and a film archive.

Please note that the below structure is for Interdisciplinary Studies Ph.D. students housed in Arctic and Northern Studies. Other departments and programs will have their own structures for their Interdisciplinary Studies students.

Students must complete at least 18 credits of coursework and at least 18 credits of thesis credits (ACNS 699). The coursework should focus on topics, theories, and methodologies relevant to your dissertation research. Students should enroll in ACNS 699 while they are working on their field papers and dissertations.

Students must have an advisory committee consisting of at least four faculty members. The committee chair must be affiliated with the Arctic and Northern Studies program. At least one other committee member should be affiliated with the Arctic and Northern Studies program. All committee members must have an earned Ph.D. Students and their committee must submit the Appointment of Advisory Committee form early in the student’s program. In the first year, students and their committee must meet and complete a Report of the Advisory Committee and Graduate Study Plan. In subsequent years, students and their committee must meet at least once and submit the Report of the Advisory Committee after each meeting.

In addition to coursework, students must complete three field papers. Each field paper should relate to the dissertation. It can be on a topic, methodology, or theory. In each paper, students must identify, summarize, and critique a literature. After writing the field paper, students should be knowledgeable enough to be able to teach a course or write an article based on the field paper. Field papers are roughly 50 papers (they can be longer or shorter), and students usually take at least a year to write all three. Students must orally defend their field papers in a meeting with their committee and an outside examiner. (Note that this meeting should occur after students write all three papers, not after the completion of each paper.) All committee members must approve all field papers before students can advance in the program. After the successful completion of the three field papers, students and their committee will submit the Report on Comprehensive Exam.

Finally, students must write a dissertation proposal and the dissertation itself. When ready, students must defend their dissertation prospectus in a meeting with the committee members and an outside examiner. When students successfully defend their dissertation proposal, they advance to candidacy, and students and their committee must complete the Advancement to Candidacy form. Once students are ready to defend their dissertations, they must hold a public defense with their committee members and outside examiner (and ideally fellow students and university/public community members). Students and their committee must complete the Report on Dissertation/Thesis/Project Defense. Often, the committee asks students to make changes to the dissertation based on the defense. Once the committee is ready to approve the dissertation, students and their committee must submit the Approval of the Dissertation/Thesis/Project form.

Students are responsible for requesting an outside examiner for the dissertation prospectus defense and the dissertation defense with the Request for Outside Examiner form.

For other information, please consult the Graduate School and the Arctic and Northern Studies Program Director.

All forms referenced in the above text are available here.

The Ph.D. is a research degree. It prepares students to conduct research in a variety of settings, including universities, thinktanks and research centers; advocacy and policy institutes; non-governmental organizations; and the private sector. Some students pursue the Ph.D. for personal and professional growth.