University of Alaska System
| File:UalaskaSeal.png | |
| Motto | Ad Summum
(Latin, "To the Highest Point") |
|---|---|
| Type | Public, Land Grant |
| Established | 1917 |
| President | Mark R. Hamilton |
| Students | 35,000 |
| Location | , , |
| Nickname | Alaska Anchorage Seawolves, (NCAA Division I)[1] Fairbanks Nanooks (NCAA Divisions I and II) [2] |
| Website | www.alaska.edu |
The University of Alaska is a land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant university founded in 1917 in Fairbanks, Alaska.
The UA System consists of three main universities, each with several satellite campuses in smaller communities. They are: University of Alaska Fairbanks, the main campus; University of Alaska Anchorage, the largest campus; and University of Alaska Southeast (whose main campus is in the state capital of Juneau). Nearly 40,000 students attend classes between the three campuses.
The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) is home to the world-famous Geophysical Institute, which operates both the Poker Flat Research Range (the only collegiate rocket range in the country) and the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center, home to the only Cray supercomputer in the Arctic region.
The University of Alaska schools are relatively small, but do have several world-class departments. At UAF, these are most notably the geology department and those natural sciences which take advantage of UA's unique location, including atmospheric sciences and wildlife biology.
The University of Alaska campuses compete on a national level in several sports, both in the NAIA and NCAA. The University of Alaska Fairbanks has won several NCAA championships in competition shooting, while the University of Alaska Anchorage hosts the famous Great Alaska Shootout each fall in men's basketball. UAF's men's hockey team also plays at the Carlson Center, one of the very few Olympic-sized hockey rinks in North America.
Interesting fact
While Alaska is the largest state in terms of area, the UA system is the second smallest land-grant university system in the country, leading only Rhode Island[citation needed].