Kodiak College director to retire

Kayla Desroches/KMXT

Kodiak College’s director is retiring.

Alan Fugleberg, who’s been on the island for about seven years, joined the college as assistant director.

“That’s how I kinda got here. I didn’t expect to get into higher education, but it’s the way it worked out, and it’s been a wonderful career.”

Fugleberg worked in law enforcement and journalism in rural Montana, where he’s from, but changed paths after he was involved in a car accident in his late 30s.

He says he walked away with a traumatic brain injury, which contributed to him taking about five years off to attend to his recovery.

“And then I decided it was time to rebuild my life, and that’s exactly what I did.”

He earned a bachelor’s degree and graduate degree at the University of Montana, and ended up working there, moving from different jobs within the system until he became associate dean at the university’s former College of Technology.

After that, Fugleberg moved to Kodiak to work at the college.

He says, as director, budgeting has been a challenge in the face of cuts, but he also names areas of growth. Fugleberg says he and staff have bulked up the college’s education for maritime participants and fishermen, which was one of his goals when he first took the director position.

Now that he’s retiring, Fugleberg says he and his wife are moving to a one-acre farmhouse in Montana.

He says his last day is in October, and the chancellor at the University of Alaska Anchorage will put together a search committee to find his replacement.