When it was founded in 1946, Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming, (or the University of Wyoming Northwest Center, as it was known at the time) had fewer than 100 students and just three instructors. Students attended classes in rooms borrowed from Powell High School and in the basement of a local Presbyterian church.
Fast forward to 2021 and the school now boasts over 1,500 students, a 62-building, 132-acre campus, and 88 degree and certificate programs, including an award-winning associate degree in nursing program and a new bachelor of applied science in professional studies degree. In honor of its 75th year of educating Wyomingites and students from around the country, NWC is looking back on the way the college and students have evolved.
Wyoming’s Northwest College boasts one of the best online associate degree in nursing programs in the country.
A changing student body
“In 1946, all our students were from within the local region, working adults, and over half were military veterans using their G.I. Bill,” says Carey Miller, NWC’s communications and marketing director. Many of them worked during the day and attended classes from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. in programs like botany, commerce, engineering, mathematics and psychology. But as the college grew, the student body began to change as well.
“For many decades our student population was a majority of traditional-aged, full-time, degree-seeking students,” says Miller. “Our focus was making sure these students were prepared for transferring to a four-year school with the academic credentials to excel, even exceed their peers who had gone straight to university.”
Northwest College wants to continue to have a reputation for academic excellence, affordability and a memorable student life experience.
A community college with university vibes
Throughout its history, Northwest College has been unique in its position as a two-year community college with the feel of a traditional university. “The college was renowned for its residential campus where students could get the ‘big university’ experience at a fraction of the cost, living in residence halls and participating in a wide variety of college activities,” says Lisa Watson, President at NWC. “They were benefiting from the academic rigor of a bigger school, only in a small-town setting, with more one-on-one attention from highly qualified full-time faculty. The number of PhDs on our faculty dwarfs that of other two-year colleges in the country. Northwest College broke the mold during this time — most community colleges were geared towards adult, part-time or commuter students.”
In recent years, NWC has continued to achieve new milestones. In 2017 the college had its highest graduation rate on record and in 2018 it received the most positive report from the Higher Learning Commission (the organization that accredits American colleges and universities) in its history.
The student body has begun to shift again as well. “We’ve seen a surge of part-time adult students looking for more technical or workforce-ready programs, to boost their careers without leaving their full-time jobs,” Watson says. Northwest College has been able to be more things for more people in recent years, she adds.
Northwest College has been serving students for 75 years. The world around us is always changing, and Northwest College is committed to evolving to continually meet students' needs.
Looking ahead
What does NWC have in mind for the next 75 years? In the summer of 2020, the college began an Institutional Transformation project aimed at uncovering the ways it can continue to adapt to the needs and desires of the modern college student.
“Right now we are considering several ideas, including an emphasis on innovative new academic delivery models, creating new academic pathways that appeal to today’s student (without sacrificing academic rigor), or possibly defining and refining a core of distinctive programs to help us stand out in a highly competitive market,” says Watson. “We want to continue to have a reputation for academic excellence, affordability and a memorable student life experience for decades to come.”
