We aim to cultivate an inclusive learning community intensively engaged in connecting with, and studying, the landscapes around the Wrangell Mountains. Our program has an emphasis on research process and context, interdisciplinary methodologies, and community research and education interests. We teach and learn experientially as much as we can, through site-based studies and discussion, faculty-led exercises, and student field projects. Our immersive setting allows for focused attention to our surroundings; the art of noticing is a sustained practice, supported by reading, writing, arts, reflection, dialogue, and spending time on the land. Our broader community is one where people depend on each other and work together as a way of life – we strive to give back to the community that supports us and to be mindful of how we relate to the land and to each other. We are always “off the grid” here and we spend extended periods of time in the backcountry. We believe there is ample opportunity for personal growth through the shared experience of building trust, collaboration, and mutual support in technical scenarios, scholarship, and in community living.
Who We Are
The Wrangell Mountains Center is a non-profit research, humanities and education institute located in McCarthy in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve. The Center hosts programs promoting understanding, appreciation, and stewardship of the land and its communities. We create opportunities for personal transformation through direct experience with this extraordinary place, increasing understanding of complex natural processes, changing views of the human role in the natural environment, and developing skills for taking effective action. In the process of helping people come to know the Wrangell Mountains, we build local, national, and international constituencies for the protection of wildlands and the enhancement of mountain cultures in Alaska and beyond.
The Center has hosted field studies for over four decades. The 2025 program continues this tradition.
The Wrangell Mountains Field Studies Program is operated and hosted by
The Wrangell Mountains Center
Creating an inclusive, interdependent, and collaborative community between students, instructors, and our partners is a core value of our program. Our program and our research are made stronger and more meaningful when all participants are able to bring their whole selves to the community we co-create over the course of our time together in the Wrangells.
We value differences in background, culture, experience, place of origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, race, ethnicity, age, ability, and more. Field research programs can and should do more to confront the unjust barriers to access and inclusion that have existed throughout the history of scientific research, with special attention given to the local context of each program. We are committed to actively welcoming people from historically marginalized and/or underrepresented communities, including but not limited to Alaska Natives, people of color, people with disabilities, people who are LGBTQIA+, women and gender minorities, and people at the intersections of these identities and others. We strive to facilitate a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture within the program, such that everyone involved experiences a deep sense of belonging and of being a valued and supported member of the WMFS community.
Community, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Field Studies Coordinating Committee
Joseph Boots-Ebenfield, WMFS Program Coordinator
Sally Gibert, President, Wrangell Mountains Center
https://www.wrangells.org/board
Jack Holt, Wrangell Mountains Center Board Member
https://www.lpl.arizona.edu/faculty/jack-holt
Howard “Moz” Mozen, Wrangell Mountains Center Board Member
https://www.wrangells.org/board
Ben Shaine, WMFS Academic Coordinator