I began my career at UAF in the Office of the Registrar as a records clerk in fall 2011 and continued working on campus as a student employee throughout my undergraduate degree in history. I joined the TRIO Student Support Services team in 2012, and I thoroughly enjoy helping first-generation and limited-income students and students who experience disabilities work toward their educational goals. As a first-generation/limited-income student, I came to Alaska from Washington as part of the Upward Bound math/science program, participating in a total of three federally funded TRIO programs. My master's degree in Arctic and Northern studies will be completed this summer, with a focus on cultural history and higher education in the Pacific Northwest.

Misti Hopkins is currently coordinating the Student Support Services Emerging Scholars Academy and is a SSS Classic Advisor. She is the former UAF North Star Middle College Coordinator helping roll out a new high school on the UAF campus. As the former I-AC Upward Bound Program Manager and Academic Coordinator, she worked closely with college-bound students at Effie Kokrine Charter School and Lathrop High School and spent several weeks off grid with them at Howard Luke's Spirit Camp each summer for five years. She also oversaw I-AC's National Science Foundation Gaalee'ya STEM Project. She worked for the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District Alaska Native Education Program in four elementary schools as a Cultural Liaison and taught kindergarten and 5th grade at Fairhill. She began her time in Fairbanks in 2006 as a Development Director for Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) where she implemented the AmeriCorps Summer of Service program. Her Bachelors of Science in Business Administration with a focus in Management and minors in Sociology and English from Appalachian State University have been beneficial in her work in the education field. She grew up at Fort Bragg in North Carolina as a military dependent with her family roots in the Blue Ridge Mountains of SW Virginia, where her grandparents were farmers and coal miners. Her mom was a first generation college student at Radford University and her family has now been transformed through their educational pursuits. She is a mom to a UAF senior and Barnette Magnet School student.