IỊisaġvik College was founded to primarily serve the residents of the North Slope Borough, America’s northernmost municipality. The intent of its founders was to provide an education based on Iñupiaq cultural heritage. The basis for all of IỊisaġvik’s educational programs is the rich foundation of subsistence culture in harmony with the land and seas that give it sustenance.
IỊisaġvik College is a direct outgrowth of the Native American self-determination movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. With the formation of a home rule government called the North Slope Borough in 1972, the Iñupiat people took their first steps toward regaining control of their lives and destinies.
The founders of the North Slope Borough were acutely aware of the importance of education to their dreams of sustained self-determination and local control for their people. While overseeing the rapid transformation of the North Slope Borough from small subsistence communities into modern villages with modern amenities, they also looked toward the development of a post-secondary educational system that would allow local residents to further their educational goals while remaining close to the culture and lifestyle that sustains them.
In 1986, the North Slope Borough created the North Slope Higher Education Center, a cooperative effort between the North Slope Borough and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The North Slope Higher Education Center’s Board and the North Slope Borough Assembly changed the institution’s name to Arctic Sivunmun IỊisaġvik College in 1991 to reflect its transformation into a community college. Arctic Sivunmun IỊisaġvik College merged with the Mayor’s Workforce Development Program in 1993, adding facilities and resources to support the growing number of vocational education opportunities available at the college. In 1995, the North Slope Borough established by ordinance the IỊisaġvik College Corporation, an independent, public, non-profit corporation with full power for governance of the college vested in the Board of Trustees.
IỊisaġvik achieved accreditation from the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities in 2003 (and is authorized by the Alaska Commission on Post-secondary Education to operate in the state of Alaska). In 2006, it also became the first and only federally recognized Tribal college in Alaska and operates in an approved exempt status through the Alaska Commission on Post-secondary Education in the state of Alaska.
Values, Traditions and Culture
IỊisaġvik College weaves Iñupiaq values into all of its activities because it believes these values make its students and educational community stronger, more cohesive and more successful. Being true to the core values of the culture IỊisaġvik predominately serves helps to make IỊisaġvik a valued and contributing member of that culture. By helping to strengthen the language and traditions of the Iñupiat, IỊisaġvik fulfills its role as a distinctly indigenous institution that aims to enhance the local culture, while helping its students gain a foothold in the economy of the 21st century. IỊisaġvik’s goal is to create successful graduates who can incorporate their traditional values into modern life and, in doing so, enhance both.
Accreditation and Authorization
IỊisaġvik College is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU), one of six higher education, regional, accrediting associations recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. IỊisaġvik College is authorized to operate by the Alaska Commission on Post-secondary Education (in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth in A.S. 14.48 and in accordance with the pertinent rules and regulations) and operates in an approved exempt status through the Alaska Commission on Post-secondary Education in the state of Alaska in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth in 20 AAC 17.015 (a) (3).
As of July 2017, Iḷisaġvik has been granted candidacy status at the baccalaureate level and implemented its first four-year degree, the Bachelor’s in Business Administration, in the Fall semester of that year.