Atwater appointed to head Education College at UAS

Steven Atwater, interim dean of the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Education, has been selected as the executive dean of the new Alaska College of Education at the University of Alaska Southeast.

Starting July 1, Atwater will oversee education programs at UAS, along with coordination and alignment of all of the university’s programs and expanding partnerships with K-12 districts and educators statewide.

University officials said Atwater’s selection is a major milestone in UA’s plan to increase its preparation of quality teachers, principals and superintendents. Alaska currently imports nearly two-thirds of all new teachers hired annually.

Atwater holds a doctorate in educational leadership from UA. He has worked as a teacher in predominantly Native communities in western Alaska, and as superintendent of both the Lake and Peninsula and Kenai Peninsula borough school districts.

In 2013 he was recognized as the state’s Superintendent of the Year.

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