Moving and craving adventure? Get paid to do what you love
In Outdoor Studies, we prepare students for meaningful lives and careers working with people in the outdoors through expedition and active learning. Students earn either a bachelors in Outdoor Studies or a master of science in Outdoor and Environmental Education.
Our classes utilize Alaska’s millions of acres of wildlands and diverse human resources to provide unmatched opportunities to experience and learn the skills and knowledge needed to be an outdoor professional. You will be prepared for positions in parks and recreation, commercial recreation, outdoor and environmental education, wilderness therapy, and snow science.
Jobs? Our alumni have been or currently are:
- Educational Specialists: Alaska Avalanche School, Alaska Geographic, Anchorage Zoo, Campbell Creek Science Center,
- Winterberry School
- Ski Patrol/Assistant Ski Patrol Director: Alyeska Ski Resort
- Backcountry Ski Guide: Chugach Powder Guides
- Ranger: Chugach National Forest, Alaska State Parks
- Mountain Guide: Alaska Mountaineering School, Mountain Trip, Ascending Path, Wild Alpine
- Military Recreation Coordinator: Joint Base Elmendorf – Richardson
- College Outdoor Program Director: Alaska Pacific University
- Outdoor Apparel Company: Voormi
- Reality TV/Film work: “Life Below Zero.” “Ultimate Survivor: Alaska,”
- Outdoor Instructor: National Outdoor Leadership School, Outward Bound
- Wilderness Therapy: Alaska Crossings, Northstar Behavioral Health
- Sea Kayaking: Sunny Cove Sea Kayaking, Alaska Sea Kayakers
- International: Terratribes: China
Sample classes at the undergraduate level:
- Wilderness Skills, Packrafting, Swiftwater, Nordic Skiing, Winter Wilderness Skills, Sea Kayaking, Climbing Systems, Ice Climbing, and more
- Wilderness First Responder, Risk Management, Search and Rescue
- Expedition: Leadership, Mountaineering, or Sea Kayaking
- Human Impacts on Wildland Ecosystems
- Applied Exercise Physiology
- Outdoor Education
- Business of Recreation
- GIS and Remote Sensing
- Snow Science I and II, Glaciology and Glacier Travel, Marine Mammals, Physical Geology, Meteorology, Ecology, Intro to Botany and Zoology, Climate Change, and more
Graduate seminars:
- Curriculum Design
- Power of Place
- Teaching Methods
- Research Methods
- Learning Theory in Outdoor Education
- Outdoor and Environmental Literacy
- Expeditions and skills: Sea Kayaking, Mountaineering, Leadership
