Alaska Pacific University student, Tracey Mueller, was recently awarded a scholarship from the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company (Alyeska) for the 2014-2015 academic year. As part of Alyeska’s robust Alaska Native Scholarship Program, this $7,500 scholarship is awarded to Alaska Native students who are pursuing education, training and development that leads towards careers on the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) or other, oil industry related careers.
Ms. Mueller, an MBA student at Alaska Pacific University in Strategic Leadership, is an Athabascan Indian born and raised in Alaska. After her initial start in college directly out of high school, Tracey decided she was simply “not ready” and began her career as a flight attendant, first with a local airline in Alaska, eventually moving on to work for an international carrier. After having the opportunity to travel and see the world, she eventually decided it was time to return to school and finish her undergraduate degree.
“I came back to school with a new energy,” Mueller says, “but had also gained some financial responsibilities. I knew that I would need to work and go to school, and was fortunate to secure a job with VECO, who fully supported not only my education, but offered a flexible schedule to ensure that I could accomplish both my new position and college.”
Within three years of starting her career at VECO in 1995 as a Senior Administrative Assistant, Tracey was promoted to management and also hired to assist the Executive Director of the University of Alaska’s newly established Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program (ANSEP). She refers to this work as her “feeding my soul position” because of the pride she felt watching Alaska Native students graduate from this program into positions in the fields of science and engineering, knowing she had some role in their success. In 2007, she took a position at the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, where she was able to exercise her influence in the hiring of Alaska Natives, which “completes the circle for me,” she says. By 2010, she was again promoted, into her current managerial position at Alyeska. Completing her MBA at Alaska Pacific University is her next challenge, and this scholarship from Alyeska will support her efforts, says Tracey, who looks forward to achieving this next goal.
We at Alaska Pacific University congratulate you, Tracey, and look forward to cheering at your graduation!
