JUNEAU (AP) -- An assistant professor of diesel technology at the University of Alaska Southeast has been named the Alaska Professor of the Year by two national education groups.
Chuck Craig was one of 47 state winners announced this week by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
''It's nice to see the award given in the vocational or career education area,'' Craig said Wednesday in the diesel shop at the UAS Marine Technology Center.
Gary Bowen, dean of career education, said he had to knock out a partition so he could get more room for students in the diesel program, which has grown from three full-time equivalent students in 1992 to about 20 today.
Craig has run the UAS diesel program for six years, following 15 years with NC Machinery, where he started as an apprentice and ended up as Southeast parts and service manager.
Craig said vocational students are motivated because they've spent money to be in the classes and expect to make money out of what they learn. The enthusiasm and quality of the students makes the job enjoyable, Craig said.
The program requires internships and recently began preparing some students to be oilers on state ferries.
