Contributed Photo
Arnold Simon (Hooper Bay) stands in front of the 769D Haul Truck at the MAPTS center.
Concerns loom over MAPTS program funding
UAF evaluating potential cutbacks to program
ty. The business plan could include likely increase in fees for MAPTS training. About one-third of the budget for the service now comes from the uni- versity and if those are cut, fees for training would SLaP_ZP^NLWL_P_ZXLVP`[_SPOTʬP]PYNP Support from UAF to MAPTS now amounts to about $700,000 this year. According to reports, UAF is considering total elimination of support next year, in Fiscal Year 2022. The biggest expense for the service is in instructors in mining and Meet recent MAPTS graduate and new miner Nikola Maccabee on Page 28 to read his story and see how the program is making an impact on the future of mining in Alaska.
BY TIM BRADNER
For The Alaska Miner The University of Alaska Fairbanks’ venerable Mining and Petroleum Training Service could be headed for big changes. While a shutdown of the program, which trains entry-level workers in min- ing and oil and gas, isn’t on the immediate hori- zon, UAF Chancellor Dan White said the university will likely have to reshape MAPTS as it deals with sharp budget cuts. White has asked for a business plan that con- templates reductions in support from the universi-
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The Alaska Miner
January 2020
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