About us

NWC Service Area

MISSION
Northwest Campus provides excellent opportunities for academic,
vocational, and community education to the Bering Strait Region.

VISION
Northwest Campus will provide programs to meet our students' personal and educational goals and to contribute to the success of our communities.

CORE VALUES
Respect for Diversity
Innovation
Collaboration
Excellence
Empowerment
Life Long Learning

Northwest Community College was created by an act of the state legislature in 1976, when the college began offering classes.

In 1987, Northwest Community College became a branch of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and was renamed UAF Northwest Campus. Though now affiliated with a preeminent research institution, Northwest Campus has kept its community college mission as a foremost goal.

The organization of UAF's rural campuses into their own college, the College of Indigenous Studies, and the priority that UAF gave to the development of a cross-regional network and a highly qualified instructional faculty have been critical to NWC's continued viability. The mission of Northwest Campus and UAF's College of Indigenous Studies is to provide higher education to the people of the Bering Straits Region and to other rural regions through telecommunications links.

In addition to Nome, UAF Northwest Campus serves 15 Alaska Native villages in the surrounding 36,000 square miles, an area the size of the state of Indiana.

The majority of the region's population is Inuit and resides in villages across the Seward Peninsula. NWC and its service villages are entirely off the road system requiring commercial airline or private charter for the majority of travel, even between villages. The nearest major airport is in Anchorage, 550 air miles from Nome. Travel to or from the villages requires an additional flight in and out of Nome via small commercial aircraft.

 

 

 
 

With the help of our partners

Thank you to all our partners who have helped us through funding, outreach and assistance.

Learn more about our partners