Stories

Spring 2018 Grads: Becca Erdman

Spring 2018 Grads: Becca Erdman Programs completed at APU: Outdoor Studies Major & Psychology Minor with a Wilderness Therapy Concentration Project Title and what it entails? Expedition Yukon: An Exploratory Study on Stress and Coping Mechanisms During Extended Time in the Wilderness For my Senior Project I completed a 54-day expedition paddling the Yukon River…

Spring 2018 Grads: Karissa L. Du Preé

Spring 2018 Grad: Karissa L. Du Preé Programs completed at APU: Bachelors of Arts, Liberal Studies Project Title and What it Entails: The topic of my senior project, Sonification, considers the question, “How Do Sonification and Virtual Reality Intersect to Reflect the Useful Implications of a Human’s Perception of Sound?” This project considers how the…

Spring 2018 Grads: Jake Behnke

Programs completed at APU: BA in Outdoor Studies with a minor in Environmental Policy Project Title and what it entails: My senior project is titled “Creating an Energy Portfolio for Alaska Pacific University.” In it, I looked at APU’s current carbon emissions through electricity, natural gas, and campus vehicle fuel usage. I also analyzed our…

Spring 2018 Grads: Marisa Skolnick

Programs completed at APU: Masters of Science, Counseling Psychology Project Title and what it entails: “Traditional Healing Utilization Patterns of American Indian/Alaska Native people: Bridging the Gap between Traditional Healing Practices and Behavioral Health Services.” This project aims to add to the deficit in literature of demographic variables that impact Alaska-specific utilization patterns of behavioral…

Spring 2018 Grads: Charity Carmody

Programs completed at APU: Bachelors in Business Administration and MBA ​Hometown: I’m a 4th generation Anchorage girl. Project Title: My master’s thesis is titled Alaska Adoption, Recruitment, Privatization, and Permanency Outcomes for Children in Foster Care.  The thesis explores what recruitment and adoption services are currently happening in Alaska for foster children and then discusses what other states are doing…

Spring 2018 Grads: Ian McDermod

Programs completed at APU: B.A. Outdoor Studies – Concentration in Land Management Project Title: My senior project is titled: “Creating an Outdoor Documentary Film: The Elucidation of Adventure.” Essentially, I produced, captured, and edited a short outdoor documentary film that follows three kayakers: Becca, Maryann, and Sam, for a portion of their nearly 2,000-mile river…

Spring 2018 Grads: Caitlin Marsteller

Programs completed at APU: Masters of Science, Environmental Science Project Title and what it entails: My Masters thesis is entitled “Prey availability and preference of Enteroctopus dofleini in Prince William Sound, Alaska.” My project focuses on giant Pacific octopuses, what they eat, and why. Although it mostly entailed sitting in front of a massive Microsoft…

Spring 2018 Grads: Jonathon Lee Singler

Programs completed at APU: Bachelor of Arts: Liberal Studies Minor(s): Counseling Psychology & Outdoor Studies Project Title and what it entails: Alaska Pacific University Competency-Based Education: Chess in Academia The project literature reviews competency-based education (CBE), the structure of APU curriculum, and the correlational skills in chess that meet the demands of the Department of…

Randy Dowd: APU Alumnus, Outdoor Education Champion

In Randy Dowd’s outdoor education classes everything is a metaphor. When he teaches about navigating through the woods, mountains, rivers and other obstacles, he discusses how that transfers to navigating through life’s obstacles. When the students practice rock climbing, they compare the personal challenges they encounter on the rock wall with the difficult decisions they…