Did you know the University of Alaska is partnering with the travel industry to promote education and workforce opportunities that prepare students for careers in Alaska’s second largest industry?

The Alaska-themed “Day in the Life”  TikTok ad campaign, is a collaboration between UA and the Alaska Travel Industry Association with support from Alaska Airlines that aims to attract more students and workers to the state. The campaign highlights a typical day in the life of two students, as well as two alums of the UA system who now work in the Alaska travel industry. 

In a recent Fairbanks Daily News-Miner interview, UA President Pat Pitney explained, “We want young people to understand that there is an opportunity for education [in Alaska]. This campaign ties together the market of people that may not know what is possible, think about the adventure of Alaska, but might not about the opportunities at the university.”

Through the ads, viewers are introduced to a variety of university degree / certification programs and hospitality jobs. Featured programs include: Culinary Arts and Hospitality Administration at University of Alaska Anchorage, Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Alaska Southeast, and, at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Arctic and Northern Studies and Biology and Wildlife. 

The alumni ads feature hospitality jobs available to graduates of those programs including at an Anchorage bistro and at the Museum of the North in Fairbanks.

The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development identified worker shortages as a hurdle to the projected growth of the Alaska travel industry. These video vignettes highlight only a fraction of the diverse experiences available. 

Pitney emphasized the hope that more students and graduates will share their experiences. Each personal story adds a new dimension to help others understand the myriad opportunities available across the UA system to live, learn, and empower Alaska.

A second set of TikTok ads, to be launched over the holidays and in the new year, will feature tourism businesses in Juneau, Seward, Fairbanks and Anchorage and related university programs.

One of the new ads focuses on a tour company in Fairbanks that offers walks with reindeer partnered with the reindeer research being conducted at UAF's Large Animal Research Station. Another video will feature the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward and the Kachemak Bay Campus's Semester by the Bay program. In Juneau, an ad will feature the Mendenhall Glacier and the glacier research being conducted at the UAS Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center.