Podcast: Alaska Native education and outreach executive director is homegrown UAA
by Matt Jardin |
![Seawolf Voices, Episode 8 featuring Michele Yatchmeneff](/news/archive/2022/02/_images/seawolf-voices-ep-8-michele-yatchmeneff.jpg)
Homegrown. Homesick. Homebound. Civil engineering and engineering management alumna Michele Yatchmeneff has been all of those things.
In October 2021, Michele accepted the role of executive director of Alaska Native education and outreach at UAA. Sitting on the chancellor’s Cabinet, her position is focused on ensuring Alaska Native students, faculty and staff have equal opportunity to succeed on campus.
What makes Yatchmeneff the perfect person for the job is that she has been all those things at UAA. Before taking the job, she served as associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and assistant director of the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program.
In this episode, Michele talks about the challenges she faced pursuing her undergraduate, graduate and doctorate degrees, how impactful it can be to see someone with a similar background hold a leadership position, and how programs like ANSEP and the Alaska Native Success Initiative can be scaled up to benefit entire communities.
Listen now
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