Bacone College, founded in 1880, is Oklahoma’s oldest operating institution of higher learning. Bacone has been serving Native American students for 140 years, and its tribal partners in education are the Kiowa Tribe, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, Osage Nation of Oklahoma, and the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma.

With an 11:1 student-professor ratio, 49 percent Native American staff and a 65 percent Native American student population which represents more than 40 tribes/nations, Bacone College offers a college experience like no other.

Undergraduate study opportunities include 21 degrees (eight associates and 13 bachelors) in the following programs:

Accounting, The Bacone School of Indian Art, American Indian Studies,  American Indian Ministry, Business Administration, Sport Management, Christian Counseling, Elementary Education, Exercise Science, Family Studies: social work, education, Liberal Arts: English, communications, history, interdisciplinary studies, Radiography, and The Renard Strickland School of Tribal Law & Criminal Justice.

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Merritt D. Betts & Bacone College American Indian Research Library

The mission of the Merritt D. Betts Library System is to support scholarship and education by providing outstanding and innovative information services and resources to the students, faculty, and the research community. Learn more.

Bacone College has set six goals of student learning that all admininistration, faculty and staff strive to achieve to impact student success.

1. Intellectually challenging baccalaureate and associate degree programs that include study in both professional programs and the arts and sciences.

2. A core curriculum, which allows students to demonstrate critical thinking, computer proficiency, computational ability, and self-expression in writing and oral form in understanding and developing new ideas and presenting them to others.

3. The opportunity for students to learn and live in a diverse cultural collegiate community.

4. Emphasis and privilege in its curricular and co-curricular programs to the voice and culture of American Indians as represented in the College’s students, staff and faculty.

5. The opportunity for students to experience personal and spiritual growth and to acquire knowledge of cultural and spiritual values and perspectives.

6. Academic and non-academic support services that facilitate student success.

Learn more in the College Catalog.