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The Guide Program for Students (GPS) 

The Guide Program for Students (GPS) is designed to actively engage first-year students residing in UAS Housing, and to help them adjust to college life and feel more comfortable on campus. GPS requires a very limited amount of your time. Yet, faculty/staff participation is vital to the success of the program. The time you commit can have a positive and lasting affect on students throughout their college careers.

Faculty/Staff Role

The GPS Team matches faculty/staff guides with students who have registered for the program and who share similar interests, hobbies, or a related field of study. Guides and students will be provided with each others’ phone numbers and email addresses, and are expected to attempt at least three contacts to schedule interactive activities such as meeting for coffee, lunch, or attending a UAS event. To make connections easier, three GPS events are scheduled, two of which are within the first two weeks of the semester.

Here is a summary of what is expected of you as a guide:

• Guides are encouraged to invite students on outings such hikes, fishing expeditions, and picnics, to community-sponsored activities and events, or to your home for dinner with your family.
• Guides should acknowledge their students' birthdays and special occasions.
• Guides should record all contacts and attempted contacts.
• Guides will be asked to complete a short, end-of-the-semester online evaluation of the program.
• Guides will not serve as counselors, and will not be expected to continue following up with students who do not actively engage in the program.

Benefits of Guide Participation

With the support of UAS Activities & Housing, the Student Resource Center (SRC), and the Student Alumni Association, your participation in GPS will be easy. You’ll get to know UAS students outside of your academic responsibilities. You’ll be able to utilize a Guide Account to purchase coffee or lunch at the Mourant Café or Spikes during your visits with your assigned student. You'll enjoy fun and engaging activities that you do not have to coordinate. You’ll receive a letter for your portfolio acknowledging your participation in GPS. Most importantly, your participation will show our incoming first-year students that UAS is a caring and supportive community that can fulfill their educational goals.

Signing Up

To participate, complete a short online guide biography form so that the GPS Team can match you with a compatible first-year student. For more information on how you can make a difference as a guide, contact Steve Laing, GPS Program Coordinator, by phone at 796-6368, or e-mail at steve.laing@uas.alaska.edu.

Activities & Important Dates