According to the American Council on Education, only 30% of all college and university presidents are women, and only 5% are women of color. However, 43% of presidents at tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) are women, and 100% of those women presidents are Native. Tribal colleges have always led the nation in appointing women presidents. But…

The concept of a community college implies some connection to the community beyond mere setting. A tribal community college suggests even more--a college which maintains its roots in traditional Native culture and serves the tribal community in a unique way. Located in northwest Wisconsin within the traditional homelands of the Ojibwe people, the…

Sinte Gleska University students are all ages. The author's class has an even mix of genders, and there are also non-Indians with various experiences and backgrounds, but they have one thing in common. They are eking out a living in the second poorest county in the nation. The class discusses why NDNs or Natives write. In "Winged Words:…

This article describes the activities during the annual Summer Student Leadership Training held July 8-10, 2009, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The leadership training was attended by thirty-five students from 12 tribal colleges and universities. It was presented by the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) Student Congress at the…

When students graduate from a tribal college or university (TCU), everyone in the community celebrates. They recognize the sacrifices the students have made, juggling their responsibilities as students, parents, and community members. Many people have contributed to this success, including the tribal college presidents. Eight tribal college…

Names in Indian country are powerful. Some names are spoken aloud, others whispered. The name of the college drives the identity of the school and fuels the people's desire to preserve their unique tribal identities as opposed to just using, for example, Northern Montana. Of the 37 tribal colleges and universities in the American Indian Higher…

Colleges and universities across the nation offer scholarships to outstanding student athletes to entice them to attend their particular schools. That's not the case with tribal colleges and universities (TCUs). While they may be less expensive to attend, the tribal colleges usually don't have much of a budget for athletics. Still, student players…

"A History and Case Study at a Selected Tribal College" focuses on a tribally chartered two-year institution of higher education. The selected Tribal College serves Native American and non-Native American populations on two separate and distinct reservations and one urban location. This study surveys the history to answer basic foundational and…

Each semester, hundreds of children find themselves on the campus of a tribal college or university. While their parents are busy working toward that associate's or bachelor's degree, the children are getting their own dose of college life. From Ilisagvik College in Barrow, Alaska--the "northernmost accredited community college"--to…

Of the 37 tribal colleges and universities in the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, 33 are tribally controlled--located on Indian land and chartered by tribes. In governance and funding, the four intertribal colleges differ from tribally-controlled colleges. Institute for American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for example,…

Dine, the very first tribal college in the United States, and the tribal college movement are both celebrating their 40th anniversary this year. The seeds of the movement were sown many decades before the debut of the Navajo Community College. Indeed, since native peoples began attending mainstream U.S. colleges and universities 350 years ago,…

Since its founding in 1968, Dine College in Tsaile, Arizona, has centered the curriculum on Dine language, history, and philosophy. "Sa'ah Naaghai Bik'eh Hozhoon," the Dine traditional living system, places human life in harmony with the natural world and the universe, providing protection from the imperfections in life and development of…

This bibliography explores tribally controlled colleges, an area of research that is often neglected by mainstream academia. Unlike other American minorities, Native Americans make up sovereign nations. American Indian tribal members retain their rights to land and self-government, and since 1924 they hold dual citizenship in their Native…

This qualitative study attempted to analyze the educational goals and achievements of successful present and former Native American students at San Juan College (SJC) in Farmington, NM. It considered a systemic approach to educating Native American students by taking into account their suggestions of how to improve the educational framework to…

The author explored how the oral tradition is currently "voiced" in tribal college and university classrooms. He asked a number of instructors how they approach literature and writing--particularly if the texts that they assign represent the value that Native people have historically given to traditional stories, teachings, speeches, tribal…