University of Alaska Fairbanks

The University of Alaska at Fairbanks is the USA's northernmost land, sea and space grant institution, offering twenty-one certificates and 163 degrees ranging from bachelors to Ph.Ds. Our 10,487 students come from all fifty states and thirty-nine foreign countries.

About half of the University's students graduated from high school in Alaska and nearly three-hundred are international students. Undergraduate students make up 88 percent of the total student body. The University of Alaska at Fairbanks has many non-traditional students. Some are returning to college after spending many years in the workforce or raising a family while others work full time while attending school or are pursuing a second associate or bachelor's degree.

The Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines opened its doors in 1922. The school grew quickly, and in 1935 became the University of Alaska. By the time Alaska became a state in 1959, students could earn Ph.D.s at the university. The University of Alaska at Fairbanks is still the only campus in the state that awards doctoral degrees.

The University was established in 1917 and basketball teams were nicknamed the Polar Bears. After 1963, the Polar Bears became known almost exclusively as the Nanooks, after the Eskimo word for polar bear. Incidentally, up until the mid-70s, the men's basketball team was known as the "Flying Nanooks" because of the amount of air travel regular they needed to make in order to compete with other NCAA college teams. Now, all UAF athletic teams, including women's volleyball, basketball, rifle, hockey and cross country running and skiing teams, are Nanooks.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks has the challenge of balancing the benefits derived from competing at both the Division one and two levels and maintaining the integrity of the student-athlete.