(SitNews) Juneau, Alaska - The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development is closing AVTEC’s satellite campus in Anchorage as a result of a 33 percent cut to the department’s state general funds. Today, August 15th, will be the last day of operations for the campus.

“It is frustrating and disappointing to close a campus that trains Alaskans for rewarding careers in a fast growing industry like health care,” said Labor Commissioner Heidi Drygas. “The department’s and AVTEC’s budgets have seen big cuts in the past couple of years and we simply cannot afford to keep the Anchorage campus open.”

AVTEC’s Allied Health program typically served 100 Certified Nursing Assistant candidates each year. Thirty Alaskans were on the waitlist for the Licensed Practical Nurse program with the hope it would be resurrected. Seventy-nine Alaskans completed a Health Care Academy course last year.

The main campus of AVTEC – Alaska’s Institute of Technology, is located in Seward. Its training programs include maritime, information technology, culinary, diesel/heavy equipment, and welding, among many others. AVTEC’s Anchorage campus is the site of its Allied Health program. In the closure effective today, the Certified Nursing Assistant and Medical Assistant programs are being eliminated. The Registered Nurse program was shut down after the last cohort graduated in April of 2015, and the Licensed Practical Nurse program was put into abeyance after its last cohort graduated in November of 2015. The campus has also been the site of the department’s Health Care Academy, where students participate in introductory workshops to orient them to career options in the health care industry.

Reporting & Editing by Mary Kauffman, SitNews

Source of News:

Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development
www.labor.state.ak.us

 

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