KPC’s Kachemak Bay Campus Semester by the Bay program participates in federal beluga count

According to Debbie Boege-Tobin, KBC Professor of biology and coordinator of the unique Semester by the Bay program, students currently in the program participated in the recent Cook Inlet Beluga Whale Count event.

Boege-Tobin has worked continually to partner with various state, federal and non-profit agencies to establish internships and other “real life” experiences for the Semester by the Bay students. Students from all over the U.S. who are interested in the marine sciences have been recruited to participate in the Kachemak Bay Campus SBB program. The one-semester curriculum, offered each fall, enables students to experience and learn about the rich Kachemak Bay environment and be involved in hands-on marine research.

Brook Faulker, SBB student, was quoted in an Alaska Public Media story recently and several students participated in the count. “I was just talking and then all of a sudden I was like, ‘It’s right there!’” Faulkner said. She’s studying biology at a Homer-based semester program. “It was within like 50 feet of us.”

For more information and to read the entire the article, visit this link: https://www.alaskapublic.org/2018/09/18/a-federal-plan-to-save-alaskas-belugas-starts-with-recruiting-an-army-to-count-them/

2019 Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference planning underway

Since 2002, the Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference, coordinated by KPC’s Kachemak Bay Campus is Homer, has served to empower and inspire writers from Alaska and beyond. The nationally acclaimed conference will be held June 14-18, 2019 at Land’s End Resort.

The nationally recognized writing conference features workshops, readings and panel presentations in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and the business of writing.

To date, nine presenters are confirmed for the conference, including Kazim Ali, Martha Amore, Richard Chiappone, B.J. Hollars, Erin Coughlin Hollowell, Ismael Angaluuk Hope, Nancy Lord, Elena Passarello and Peggy Shumaker.

According to the Writers’ Conference website, the 2019 keynote speaker, Diane Ackerman, poet, essayist, and naturalist, is the author of two dozen highly acclaimed works of nonfiction and poetry. They include “The Zookeeper’s Wife,” and “A Natural History of the Senses.” Ackerman has received a P.E.N. Henry David Thoreau Award for Nature Writing, the Orion Book Award and John Burroughs Nature Award, Visionary Artist Award, Guggenheim Fellowship, Lavan Poetry Prize, and a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

For more information on the upcoming conference, visit http://writersconf.kpc.alaska.edu/

‘Able Seaman’ non-credit class to be offered at KBC

This new USCG-approved 40-hour course is designed for those that have sea time and would like to obtain an Able Seaman Merchant Mariner Credential. The class will take place Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Sept. 27 – Oct. 13, at KBC.

Upon completion of this course, and passing an exam, students will receive a course completion certificate in lieu of Coast Guard examination. The topics will include navigation, rules of the road, safety, Marlinespike Seamanship, and more. Fishermen are welcome and encouraged to participate in this opportunity.

Students are advised to verify their eligibility before taking this course by contacting the KBC Marine Technology Coordinator at 907.235.1622. The course fee includes the book. The exam will take place from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., Oct. 13.

For more information, contact KBC at 907.235.7743.