[1] Over the past 40 years, the center has evolved to become an academic-based program including courses in studio art and Native art history and special workshops and symposia on topics including mask making, bentwood traditions, basketry, sculpture and carving.
He has been a teacher, mentor, and supporter of talented Alaska Native students who might not have otherwise had the aspiration or opportunity to attend college.
During his UAF tenure, he advocated to keep the center active for both established and emerging Native artists who did not necessarily meet the typical university enrollment requirements.
This was a time of flux for the Native Art Center with a number of interim directors, one being James Schoppert, a Tlingit artist.
In 1992 Alvin Amason, a Sugpiaq Alaskan painter and sculptor, took over as director of the Native Art Center until his retirement in 2006.