President Crazy Bull selected as 2010 Honorary Doctorate recipient

WHATCOM -- Seattle University has selected Cheryl Crazy Bull, Northwest Indian College president, and Bob Craves, CEO and founder of College Success Foundation, as this year’s honorary doctorate recipients.

These prestigious SU honorary degrees are awarded annually to recognize select meritorious community members who have made remarkable contributions advancing the university, community, nation or world through their respective accomplishments and services.

This year, SU’s award recognizes these leaders’ tireless commitment to enhancing access to higher education, particularly for groups customarily underrepresented in college demographics. Crazy Bull and Craves’ efforts and achievements will be formally acknowledged at SU’s June 13 commencement event at the Key Arena in Seattle.

 “These individuals exemplify a commitment to closing the gap in access to higher education and helping all students succeed,” said SU president Stephen Sundborg, S.J. “We are grateful for their work and consider them to be partners in addressing this important issue.”

Crazy Bull is the third president of the Northwest Indian College, which is located on the Lummi Reservation near Bellingham, and she has served in this capacity since 2002. A Sicangu Lakota from South Dakota’s Rosebud Reservation, Crazy Bull is the first female president to head Lummi Nation tribally-chartered college; the only regional tribal college in the nation, and the only accredited tribal college in the Pacific Northwest.

Crazy Bull has drawn on her expansive experience and expertise to enhance the college’s ability to forge increased post-secondary education access for Native Americans as well as revitalize Native heritage. Crazy Bull was the impetus for the college to develop and implement solutions around the obstacles area Natives face when pursuing higher education, creating pathways to a college education for students from all walks of life.  Since its inception, 645 students have earned their degrees from Northwest Indian College. In addition to its main campus at the Lummi Nation, NWIC has full-service extended sites at Muckleshoot, Nez Perce, Port Gamble S’Klallam, Swinomish and Tulalip.

Under Crazy Bull’s leadership, the institution has increasingly promoted indigenous self-determination and knowledge through academia, heightening a diverse body of students’ understanding of who they are as Native people through culturally-relevant, value-based instruction and education. The college draws representation from more than 100 federally-recognized tribes from throughout North America in its student body.

Crazy Bull has also been instrumental in the college obtaining candidacy status as a four-year degree-granting institution to better serve its students' growing educational needs. Its new four-year degree in Native Environmental Science is the only degree of its type in the world.    

Crazy Bull is a member of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium board, and serves on the National Museum of American Indians board of trustees. A member of the Rotary Club of Bellingham, she was recently elected to the Board of United Way of Whatcom County.  From 1981 to 1995, Crazy Bull served the Sinte Gleska University on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota in varying capacities, including as the Vice President, Administration and Director for Institutional Relations, and Dean for Instructional Programs. Prior to her Presidency at NWIC, she served as Chief Academic Officer/Superintendent of St. Francis Indian School, a tribally- controlled K-12 school also on the Rosebud.

Now celebrating its 26th year, Northwest Indian College is in the midst of a capital expansion campaign to transform the college into a four-year university and sanctuary of learning for Native students; $30.5 million (76 percent) of the $40.2 million campaign has been pledged. To date, over six facilities have been completed or are under construction (ranging from Student Housing and an Early Learning / Daycare facility to a Natural Resources Laboratory).  Improvements also include Distance Learning enhancements and the addition of several named endowment funds, including the Billy Frank Jr. Natural Resources and Tribal Sovereignty Endowment. Other buildings planned include a Library / Technology Building, The Coast Salish Institute, and a Workforce Training facility among others.

Crazy Bull shared that, “Receiving this recognition is a deep honor that I accept on behalf of all of the tribal people and students who have helped tribal colleges and tribal educators as we strive to increase post-secondary opportunities in our communities.  It is the work of individuals like the faculty and staff at tribal colleges and the vision of the founders of the tribal college movement that makes it possible for individuals like me to receive this recognition.  I am honored to be recognized by Seattle University along with Bob Craves of the College Success Foundation.  We are both involved in increasing access for underserved populations.”

The College Success Foundation was founded in 2000 and provides a forum of Washington community leaders to help students lacking assistance from government and scholarship programs. Craves’ College Success Foundation has collectively allocated more than $107 million in scholarship money to 6,000 students.