Northern Oklahoma College is committed to developing an institutional culture that combines academic pursuits with civic involvement.  NOC President, Dr. Cheryl Evans, was the first college president in Oklahoma to sign Campus Compact’s 30th Anniversary Action Statement of Presidents and Chancellors.

In 2008, NOC created a Center for Academic and Civic Engagement.  The early goal was to connect community partners with NOC students, faculty, and staff.  Since the inception, the Center’s mission was to complement the traditional aims of higher education with principles of active and responsible citizenship through service-learning and volunteer outreach.  The Center has encouraged faculty to incorporate service learning into coursework and student organization activities.  

Our Civic Action Plan (CAP) purpose is to combine the goals of the national Campus Compact with NOC’s five-year Strategic Plan.  A fully implemented CAP requires commitment at all levels of the institution—office space, access to campus resources, federal work study funds, and internships for students.  Through collaborative efforts between administration, staff, faculty, students, community leaders, and organizations, we will:

• Aid faculty in the development of service-learning courses and curriculum that are discipline-specific,
• Provide students enrolled in service-learning courses with opportunities for academic and civic engagement, and
• Establish partnerships with community organizations in order to define and address specific community needs.

Integrating academic service learning into an institution of higher education requires both substantial planning and ongoing assessment.  Below are NOC’s three service-learning goals:

1. Institutionalizing Academic Service-Learning
2. Building Faculty Support for Academic Service-Learning
3. Designing Student and Community-Based Programs

An assessment rubric was developed (based on a similar rubric from California State University) to help create a set of overall goals, steps to achieve these goals, and evaluate the current state of development of the goals (underdeveloped, in process, or complete).