Iḷisaġvik College

Iḷisaġvik College
Motto	Honoring your past, preparing for your future
Type	Public tribal land-grant community college
Established	1996; 28 years ago
Parent institution	North Slope Borough
Academic affiliations	UArctic; AIHEC
President	Justina Wilhelm
Location	Utqiaġvik, Alaska, United States
Campus	Rural
Website	ilisagvik.edu

Iḷisaġvik College (Inupiaq: [iʎisɑʁvik]) is a public tribal land-grant community college in Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow), Alaska. Operated by the North Slope Borough, a home rule government of the Iñupiat, it is the only tribally controlled college in Alaska, and it is the northernmost accredited community college in the United States. The college is located within the boundaries of the North Slope. It is an 89,000-square-mile (230,000 km²) region of Arctic tundra. It is connected to the 414-mile (666 km) Dalton Highway only during the winter, by an ice road for local residents. The community can also be reached by plane.

The college is a member of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, and it offers a bachelor's degree in business administration, associate's degrees, one-year certificates, and adult education courses for GED preparation. In 2020, the school's Alaska Dental Therapy Educational Program became the first program in the United States to be fully accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation.

History

Bowhead whale skull in front of Iḷisaġvik College main building

Iḷisaġvik College (IC) was renamed in 2005. It had been developed in alliance with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, beginning in 1986. Like other tribal colleges, it is a result of the Native American and Alaskan Native self-determination movement that expanded in late 1960s and early 1970s. The North Slope Borough was organized as a home rule government in 1972, and with that, the Iñupiat people took other steps toward regaining control of their culture.

The college was created to satisfy higher education needs of Alaskan Natives and American Indians. IC generally serves geographically isolated populations that have no other means accessing higher education.^[1] Beginning in 1986, the North Slope Borough had worked with the University of Fairbanks^[2] to create the North Slope Higher Education Center.

In 1995 the Borough passed an ordinance incorporating Iḷisaġvik College as a public and independent non-profit corporation. The school moved to the facility previously used by the United States Naval Arctic Research Laboratory (NARL).^[3] In 1996, IC took over the Iñupiat Heritage Center.^[4] In 1997 the school changed its name to Arctic Sivunmun Iḷisaġvik College. It was led from 1995 to 2005 by college president, Edna Ahgeak MacLean (Iñupiat) an educator from Utqiaġvik (Barrow).^[5] Iḷisaġvik College was a leader in 1997 in founding the Consortium for Alaska Native Higher Education (CANHE).^[5]

In 2005, the North Slope Borough established IC, the first, and still the only, Tribal College in the state of Alaska. It was federally recognized in 2007 as the 36th tribal college in the United States and designated as a land-grant college the following year.^[2]^[6]

Presidents

IC has been led primarily by indigenous educators, who have mostly been local Iñupiat people. Brooke Gondara is Northern Cheyenne, and Justina Wilhelm.^[7]

S. No.	Name	Term
1.	Benjamin Nageak (executive vice president)
2.	Edna Ahgeak MacLean	1995–2005
3.	Beverly Patkotak Grinage	2005–2010
4.	Brooke Gondara	2010–2011
5.	Pearl Kiyawn Nageak Brower	2012–2020
6.	Justina Wilhelm	2020–present

Academics

Accredited in 2003 by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, the college offers a bachelor's degree in business administration,^[8] associate's degrees, one-year certificates, and adult education courses for GED preparation. Academic programs at IC reflect local Iñupiat traditions, values, and culture. They are also intended to provide training for career and employment opportunities.^[1]

In 2018, then-President Brower discussed the hope of expanding a current program into the school's second bachelor's degree program in elementary education with an indigenous focus.^[8] In 2020, the college's Alaska Dental Therapy Educational Program became the first program in the United States to be fully accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation. The program opened in 2004 and, by 2017, had increased oral healthcare services via Tribal Health Services by 40,000 people, mainly in rural populations across the state.^[9]^[10]

Partnerships

IC is a member of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC),^[11] a community of tribally and federally chartered institutions that work to strengthen and lead tribal communities in higher education.^[12]

Governance

Iḷisaġvik College is sanctioned by the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope (ICAS) tribal government. Iḷisaġvik College weaves Iñupiaq values into all 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 it predominantly serves helps to make Iḷisaġvik a valued and contributing member of that culture. By helping to strengthen the language and traditions of the Iñupiat, Iḷisaġvik 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. Iḷisaġvik's goal is to create successful graduates who can incorporate their traditional values into modern life and, in doing so, enhances both.