I AM UAA: Mike Hanley

B.Ed. Elementary Education '91; M.Ed. Educational Leadership '06
Alaska's Commissioner of Education & Early Development
Hometown: Juneau, AK
Fun Fact: Still enjoys a good game of tag

 

"I put a lot of value in connections," says Mike Hanley, Alaska's Commissioner of Education and Early Development (EED). "The value of an education is how it connects you to who you are and where you are. I value UAA because I can see an opportunity for our students within their own state and communities."

Mike is the leader of the governance organization for the state's preschool-12 education system. The EED evaluates and supports comprehensive student and school educational standards statewide. He works with fifty-three school districts and over 500 individual schools; state museums and libraries; and the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education, Professional Teaching Practices Commission, and State Council on the Arts.  As commissioner, Mike represents the educational needs of the state to Alaska legislators, the governor and other educational leaders throughout the nation. He's also a proud alum of the College of Education at UAA.

Mike's main objective is to adequately prepare students for a successful future. "It is our moral imperative," Mike says "to keep that focus in mind as conversations and ideas get sidetracked to how our movement forward affects others more than our kids. I am excited about introducing new standards into our state and the corresponding support systems that will help us take our kids farther than we have in the past."

Consequently, one EED program he is particularly excited about is the Alaska Performance Scholarship, which enables Alaska's high-performing high school graduates to continue their post secondary education in state. The graduating class of 2011 will be the first class eligible for funding for up to eight semesters of college enrollment in Alaska.

His vision includes creating honest models of accountability for school effectiveness, graduation rates, student achievement and teacher effectiveness. He also plans to focus on the empowerment of communities and early learning providers to address the skills that are essential to young children when they begin kindergarten.

"I look forward to strengthening public and private partnerships in these areas," he says. "We owe it to our kids to prepare them for a successful future by keeping all of their options open early on."

Mike is a Dimond High School graduate and earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Bethel College in Minnesota. Mike worked for several years in the business sector in Alaska before he decided to get his education degree at UAA. After earning a second bachelor's in K-8 education in 1991, he taught for 14 years at the elementary level. Mike always knew he wanted to be a leader and turned once again to UAA to obtain his degree, this time in the master's program in educational leadership.

Settling well into a new role as principal at Kincaid Elementary, Mike was surprised when he was contacted as a potential candidate for the role of commissioner. "Something I was doing caught somebody's eye!" he says. Although quite content at Kincaid, he kept his options open during the vetting process and accepted the new job in February 2011.

During his transitions from teacher to principal to commissioner, Mike has been pleasantly surprised that many of his UAA professors have remembered him. "It is impressive that they remember who I am when I run into them now," he says. "Although I didn't have much of a campus life like a lot of the younger students did, the connection I had with staff was a very positive one."

Since his appointment to commissioner, he and his wife, Angela, have moved to Juneau so he can be most effective in his position. His son is a junior at Colorado School of Mines and his daughter a freshman at Gonzaga University in Washington.

"I've really enjoyed the time I've spent in education," he says. "I enjoy the aspects of young learners exploring the wonders and simple pleasures of life: walks in the snow, playing at recess, a good game of tag. The kids are always thrilled when an adult takes the time to play tag." So when the going gets tough in the world of adults and responsibilities, the tough head to a kindergarten classroom for perspective.