Our Philosophy 

Education at APU is Different

APU’s small size and location provides a unique experience where students are encouraged to both draw from their roots and explore new horizons in their learning adventure.

Core Distinctives

Small & Personalized

At APU we value our relationships. Students get to know their professors, staff, and fellow students.  We pride ourselves on a small and personalized environment in which your professors know your name and care about your interests.  Students explore their own interests and bachelor programs culminate in a senior project that is unique to them.

Student Life
Experiential Learning

Since our first classes in 1959, APU has focused on a hands-on activities and real-world experiences.  Individuals actively engage with the material, apply theoretical knowledge to practical situations, and develop critical thinking and problem-solving.  Whether it’s camping on a mountain in Outdoor Studies, or running investment scenarios in a business class, our professors make it a priority to provide learning experiences that go beyond the classroom walls for personal growth and greater understanding. Bachelor’s degree students complete their program with a Senior Project of their own choosing, allowing students to apply their learning through their own passions and interests. Internships and research opportunities abound.

Research & Community
Quality & Purpose Driven

At APU, learning is the work. Students choose APU because they want a high-quality experience that results in personal growth and preparation to pursue their passions and contribute to their communities.  The education environment is simultaneously challenging and supportive, using our relational approach to provide individual attention and engaging learning experiences.  Students are guided to reflect on their experiences, analyze their learning, and integrate new knowledge into their understanding. Students are invited to bring in unique perspectives and ways-of-knowing rooted in who they are and their own culture.  Professors draw on the power of place and positionality to create thought provoking and hands-on experiences to connect learning to students’ desires to make a difference.

Academics
Alaska Native Centered

Students of all cultural backgrounds are invited to engage in APU’s inclusion of Alaska Native ways-of-knowing and being. Our campus reflects Alaska Native culture and art and seeks to be a space that is welcoming to all. Many courses include traditional knowledge, Indigenous scholarly works, and/or applications to the contemporary needs of Alaska Native communities.  Our founder Peter Gordon Gould, an Unangax from the Aleutian Islands, established APU to ensure Alaskans had access to the type of education he had to leave Alaska to receive. APU offers the formalized education our founder envisioned, while creating opportunities for the rich educational history and contemporary contributions of Alaska Native people to be reflected and honored in our educational institution. All students are invited to bring their whole selves into the learning environment and to benefit from the inclusion of Alaska Native knowledge and perspectives.

Alaska Native University

Our Education Program

Five Core Competencies

The framework of learning at APU is built on five competencies interwoven through all academic degree programs: effective communication, ethical engagement, scientific inquiry, critical thinking, and cultural/historical perspectives. These essential competencies result in the attainment of critical skills and wide-ranging knowledge useful across a multitude of professions and industries.

APU operates within a unique set of variable length terms, providing for intensive hands-on block classes and course delivery methods responsive to industry and students.  Each semester starts with a block class.  Many block classes include travel or field work, allowing students to access some of APU’s most unique and experiential classes.  Freshmen are encouraged to participate in Expedition Alaska, a block class that includes ten days in Alaska’s wilderness. Other block classes include travel abroad and research opportunities.

All Bachelor level undergraduate degrees culminate in a senior project. Students work with an advisor to identify a hands-on learning project to apply their learning.  This may include undergraduate research, an internship, or an entrepreneurial endeavor.  Many students are able to use their senior project to jump-start their career or next educational step.

APU recognizes that many of our students have busy lives outside of school and may need to fulfill their educational goals over a period of time.  Many of our programs include multiple levels of degrees, certificate through graduate degrees.  These are designed to step-up; a student may return and enroll in the next level of degree when they are ready without starting over.

APU cares about you as an individual.  We know that navigating the higher education world can be confusing at times.

“APU’s unique semester timeline gives students the opportunity to learn in settings that go beyond the classroom, whether that’s hiking in Alaskan mountains or diving into real-life business investments, we offer true hands-on learning unlike anywhere else.” – Janelle Vanasse, President of APU

Variable Terms

Here’s how our semester classes are structured:

Start

End

Block (B)

(1st month)

Session (S)

(Begins 2nd month)

Module I (M1)

Module II (M2)

Full (F)

Academic Calendar