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UAF photos by Sierra Coley

The Hutchison Institute of Technology opened in fall 2004 as a partnership between the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District and UAF's . It is housed in the renovated Hutchison Career Center, which the school district first opened in 1973.

After the 2004 renovation, the school district opened Hutchison High School in the building as a stand-alone school with a vocational focus.  

Classroom and lab space at “Hutch” for CTC associate degree and certificate programs includes areas for , , and maintenance technology with emphasis areas in and . A new multipurpose shop for process technology was added during the renovation. In 2013, most of the aviation maintenance program moved to a newly purchased hangar on the East Ramp of Fairbanks International Airport.

The building is named for James T. Hutchison, who was a master craftsman and worked as an aircraft mechanic for 40 years. Hutchison was recognized in 1972 as the Federal Aviation Administration’s Mechanic of the Year. He originally came to AV����̳ with the U.S. Army. In 1929, he began his aircraft maintenance and repair career by working for Carl Ben Eielson’s AV����̳ Airways, where he learned how to work on a variety of aircraft and earned a reputation for meticulous work, often forging new parts or adapting replacements.