The College of Health Access and Belonging Committee (ABC) was established to support
access and success of all students, staff, and faculty of the college. Through shared
values of respect, accountability, and a commitment to equal opportunity, we strive
to create greater cohesion across our college to deliver and promote the health and
well-being of the communities we serve.
We acknowledge and honor the ancestral lands of the Dena'ina, Ahtna, Alutiiq/Sugpiaq,
and Eyak/dAXunhyuu Peoples on which the UAA College of Health campus resides in Southcentral
Alaska. We commit to working in partnership with Indigenous communities to promote
health equity and cultural humility, and to recognize the unique knowledge and contributions
of Indigenous Peoples to health and holistic healing.
Rodger Lewerenz, an assistant professor in the UAA School of Nursing, is dedicated to mentoring future nurses and nurse educators, with a special passion for the MSN Leadership in Education offering.
A monthly injection of Vivitrol calms cravings for heroin, giving real help to addicts emerging from prison and, as UAA DNP alumna Jyll Green discovered, providing a good chance of keeping them from going back behind bars.
Four women—Jyll Green, Jill Rife, Leigh Keefer and Robin Bassett—became the first class of graduates to accept Doctor of Nursing Practice degrees from UAA at fall commencement.