On Dec. 5, 1986, the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly chose Karen Boorman for an open position as director of the Department of Community Planning. Boorman, who had held the position as a temporary replacement for seven months before being hired officially, had competed with five other finalists that the Assembly considered for the job.
The University of Alaska Board of Regents planned to make some hefty decisions too, including possible approval of a controversial reorganization plan that UA President Donald O’Dowd proposed in wake of the university system’s budgetary issues. It was predicted that despite its unpopularity with some Alaskans, the board was set to approve the plan.
As a part of the reorganization, the University of Alaska-Juneau (now the University of Alaska Southeast’s Juneau campus) would drop many of its graduate programs and focus graduate work in the system’s Fairbanks and Anchorage schools, the Juneau-Douglas Community College would cut most of its vocational and technical courses, and the Ketchikan Community College and the Islands Community College would be combined with the University of Alaska-Juneau.
“This Day in Juneau History” is compiled by Empire freelancer Tasha Elizarde, who sums up the day’s events — 30 years ago — by perusing Empire archives.
