Tribal Colleges - AZ

The Navajo Nation established the first tribal college, Navajo Community College in 1968. In 1997, the college was renamed Diné College. In creating an institution of higher education, the Navajo Nation sought to encourage Navajo youth to become contributing members of the Navajo Nation and the world society. The college serves the residents of the 27,000-square-mile Navajo Nation that spans into the states of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. The college’s facilities consist of a residential campus at Tsaile, AZ, and a branch campus at Shiprock, NM, which had a fire in 1998 that destroyed their science and math building. The college also provides community campuses in Arizona at Chinle, Window Rock, Ganado, Kayenta, and Tuba City and Crownpoint in New Mexico. In 1998, the college bestowed its first bachelor degree under the Diné Teacher Education Program, accredited under a partnership with Arizona State University. In the fall of 2002, the college had an enrollment of 1,822 students.