SWC Four Year Program and Carl Perkins Grant Award

Sisseton Wahpeton College is back at it again with good news to report. We will be offering a Bachelor of Science in Behavioral Science and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. We have also been granted the ability to offer distance education for all of the college's 2-year offerings ( Details to Come).

As was mentioned in Oyate News back in July 2021, the college had an evaluation visit and review by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). The visit back on June 28-29, 2021 was conducted by the HLC Peer Review Corp. The college had requested a substantive change that, if approved, would change the status of SWC from a 2-year granting institution to a 4-year granting institution. Additionally, the college applied for the ability to offer distance education for all of the college's 2-year offerings.

The HLC Peer Reviewers evaluated the college and determined that SWC in fact does have the capacity to offer 4-year degree offerings in Behavioral Science as well as Business Administration in addition to allowing the college to offer programs via distance education. The HLC Peer Review team then sent their recommendation to the Institutional Action Council (IAC) who made the final decision. On August 29 and 30, 2021, the IAC met and reviewed the recommendation delivered by the HLC Peer Review Team and concurred with their recommendation.

Sisseton Wahpeton College is happy to announce that in the 2022 Spring Semester there will be a Bachelor of Science in Behavioral Science and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. SWC is excited to begin a new chapter for the students, community, and Sisseton Wahpeton

Carl Perkins Native American Career and Technical Education Programs Grant
Received by SWC

NACTEP Grant Award: Sisseton Wahpeton College would like to announce the recent Grant Award for the Carl Perkins Native American Career and Technical Education Programs (NACTEP) through the Department of Education. This $2.5 million grant to be administered through the college for the next 5 years.

This project will provide the resources for SWC to significantly expand and improve our career and technical program offerings. Although this was the foundation upon which the College was originally built. Over the previous two decades these programs were allowed to languish as the focus shifted towards liberal arts and other academic offerings. More recently, the College has recognized the need to renew our mission for both pathways which must be vigorously pursued to meet the needs of the SWO and the communities of the Lake Traverse Reservation.

The Sisseton Wahpeton College has excellent facilities and significant resources for a small institution, which are needed to support and expand the technical and career education programming envision within this proposal. Additional facilities are being considered for future growth. SWC is currently working with an architectural firm, funded through a grant from the American Indian College Fund, to develop a new campus master plan. This plan will guide future development to support the growth of our CTE programming while at the same time bringing us closer to our goal of a net-zero carbon footprint. SWC is already well on its way, utilizing geothermal, wind energy, and a small amount of solar energy. Vocational certificates and degree programs such as Building Trades, Certified Nursing Assistant, Business Specialist, Multimedia Technology, and recently the College added a new certificate in Culinary Food Science. The primary focus of this proposed project to redesign and expand the Building Trades program to cover a wider range of skills that will prepare students for a greater number of job opportunities. This will be accomplished by creating a collection of certifications using a Modular Design encompassed with the hands-on experience of building houses to be delivered to the SWO Housing Authority.

The programming targeted in this NACTEP grant will be:

Building Trades
Residential Drafting
Building Design & Print Reading
Fundamentals of Plumbing
Electrical Low Voltage
Systems Solar Panel Security
Computer Aided Design (CAD) & 3D Printing
Welding Nursing
Culinary Food Science