Salish Kootenai College (SKC) is a private

tribal The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to conflic ...

land-grant A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior se ...

Pablo, Montana Pablo is a census-designated place (CDP) in Lake County, Montana, United States. The population was 2,254 at the 2010 census, up from 1,814 in 2000. It is the home of Salish Kootenai College and the seat of government of the Flathead Indian Re ...

. It serves the

Bitterroot Salish The Bitterroot Salish (or Flathead, Salish, Selish) are a Salish-speaking group of Native Americans, and one of three tribes of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation in Montana. The Flathead Reservation is home to ...

Kootenai The Kutenai ( ), also known as the Ktunaxa ( ; ), Ksanka ( ), Kootenay (in Canada) and Kootenai (in the United States), are an indigenous people of Canada and the United States. Kutenai bands live in southeastern British Columbia, northern ...

, and

Pend d'Oreilles The Pend d'Oreille ( ), also known as the Kalispel (), are Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau. Today many of them live in Montana and eastern Washington of the United States. The Kalispel peoples referred to their primary tribal range a ...

tribes. SKC's main campus is on the Flathead Reservation. There are three satellite locations in eastern Washington state, in Colville, Spokane, and Wellpinit. Approximately 1,207 students attend SKC. Although enrollment is not limited to Native American students, SKC's primary function is to serve the needs of Native American people.

History

Prior to 1978, SKC was a branch campus of

Flathead Valley Community College Flathead Valley Community College is a public community college in Kalispell, Montana. History The college was founded in 1967. It is one of three two-year institutions in the state that are outside the control of the University of Montana Sy ...

(FVCC). SKC is a

tribal college In the United States, tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) are a category of higher education, minority-serving institutions defined in the Higher Education Act of 1965. Each qualifies for funding under the Tribally Controlled Colleges and Un ...

, chartered in 1977 under the sovereign governmental authority of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. In 1981, the college formally disassociated from FVCC and became completely self-governing. The college was designated a

land-grant college A land-grant university (also called land-grant college or land-grant institution) is an institution of higher education in the United States designated by a state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890. Signed by Abraha ...

in 1994 alongside 31 other tribal colleges. In 2015, a satellite designed by SKC students and faculty was successfully deployed into low earth orbit under NASA's

CubeSat A CubeSat is a class of miniaturized satellite based around a form factor consisting of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit, and often use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components for their electronics and structure. CubeSats ...

Launch Initiative, making it the first operational CubeSat designed by a tribal college. BisonSat's primary mission objective is to transmit image data of earth with a targeted

ground sample distance In remote sensing, ground sample distance (GSD) in a digital photo (such as an orthophoto) of the ground from air or space is the distance between pixel centers measured on the ground. For example, in an image with a one-meter GSD, adjacent pixels i ...

of 100 meters. Some former employees sued the college in 2017 under the Federal

False Claims Act The False Claims Act (FCA), also called the "Lincoln Law", is an American federal law that imposes liability on persons and companies (typically federal contractors) who defraud governmental programs. It is the federal government's primary litigat ...

, saying that the administration had falsified student records in order to continue receiving public grant funding from the United States Department of Human Services and the United States Department of Indian Health Services. This suit was dismissed with prejudice in May 2018 by United States District Court, D. Montana, Missoula Division in a determination that the lawsuit violated tribal sovereignty of the Confederation Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

Academics

SKC offers 17

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

programs, 24 associate degree programs, and 6 certificate programs. Although most of the degree programs are career-oriented, students can elect to take courses of study in fields such as the

liberal arts Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term '' art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically th ...

and Native American Studies.American Indian Higher Education Consortium

Partnerships

Salish Kootenai College - Michel Building 20130723

SKC is a member of the

American Indian Higher Education Consortium The American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) was established in 1972 to represent the interests of the newly developed tribal colleges, which are controlled and operated by American Indian nations. The four founders were Gerald One F ...

, a community of tribally and federally chartered institutions working to strengthen tribal nations and make a lasting difference in the lives of American Indians and Alaska Natives. SKC was created to serve the needs of American Indians for higher education. SKC generally serves geographically isolated populations that have no other means to gain higher education beyond the high school level.

Athletics

The sports teams are nicknamed the "Bison" and "Lady Bison". Although they are not within any athletic association. SKCs men's basketball program has won 3 consecutive

Basketball Championships (05, 06, 07) and the women have won 2 (03, 07). The Bison, and Lady Bison also are the current AIHEC champions, both winning the 2014 tournament.

Scholarships

Scholarships available through the

American Indian College Fund The American Indian College Fund is a nonprofit organization that helps Native American students, providing them with support through scholarships and funding toward higher education. The fund provides an average of 6,000 annual scholarships for ...

(AICF)

References

External links

Official website
{{coord, 47, 35, 47, N, 114, 06, 39, W, format=dms, display=title, type:edu_region:US-MT 1981 establishments in Montana Educational institutions established in 1981 Tribal Colleges in Montana Education in Lake County, Montana American Indian Higher Education Consortium Universities and colleges accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities Ktunaxa