Northern Oklahoma College has started year two of the awarded $2.2 million U.S. Dept. of Education Native American Serving Non-Tribal Institutions (NASNTI) Grant, Anna Roland, NASNTI Title III Grant Project Director recently announced.The five-year project, entitled “Connecting Students to Promising Pathways” is to be completed 2021-2026 and has three life-changing initiatives.The initiatives include the development of new STEM academic programs and supporting course options. Also, the grant provides strengthened student services and build the capacity to support remote learners with disabilities.With the grant funding, NOC will develop a new Renewable Energy option under the Associate of Applied Science in Electronics Technology and Associate of Science in Precision Agriculture as well as courses in Data Analytics that support both new programs. A classroom/laboratory and greenhouse classroom will be created in the PTEC Building to support program instruction. Dollars are also being directed toward improving career/transfer student services, refining needs assessments during NOC onboarding and professional development for faculty.Roland is eager to continue work on the new project with NOC staff and faculty, “NOC’s commitment to creating Applied Science degree programs that improve the employment options for their service area’s residents and also improve student services for their students is to be commended.”Engineering, Physical Sciences & Process Technology Division Chair Dr. Frankie Wood-Black is excited for the potential of the grant.“The renewables portion of the grant will help us provide quality college to work-force education to support our industrial partners,” Wood-Black said. “Wind, renewable energy, and data analytics are seeing a rise in employment opportunities in our State and surrounding areas. Understanding these operations as well as interpretation of the information produced (data analytics) will assist supporting the current energy industries as well as helping our State attract additional employers. Providing our students with the skills to pursue jobs, as well as continuing education in these growing fields improves everyone’s quality of life in our State. We are excited to be opening these opportunities and forging relationships with our community stakeholders as well as our industrial partners.”Prior to this, NOC completed a five-year project 2016-2021 totaling $1.74 million that developed the Cultural Engagement Center at NOC Tonkawa and created several opportunities to support Native American and low-income student success.
