Cheryl Crazy Bull
President and CEO
Cheryl Crazy Bull
President & CEO
American Indian College Fund
303-426-8900
Board of Trustees Liaison and Senior Manager – President’s Office
Carrie Basgall cbasgall@collegefund.org
Cheryl Crazy Bull, Wacinyanpi Win (They Depend on Her), Sicangu Lakota, is President and CEO of the American Indian College Fund, a role she has held since 2012. A lifelong educator and community activist, Cheryl is an advocate for self-determination focused on Native voice, philosophy, and traditions as the heart of the people’s work in building prosperity for current and future generations.
Cheryl’s experience includes serving Sinte Gleska University on her home reservation in various academic and administrative roles for 17 years, serving St. Francis Indian School as Chief Educational Officer; and serving as President of Northwest Indian College for ten years.
She is on the board of IllumiNative, an organization that focuses on a widespread accurate narrative about Indigenous people, Native Ways Federation, a national association of Native non-profits and the Brookings Institution Board of Trustees.
Cheryl is a frequent public speaker, presenter, and writer about Indigenous education and issues with a focus on indigenous higher education equity and place-based education. She has an honorary cultural degree from Sinte Gleska University, an honorary doctorate from Seattle University, and other awards for her leadership as a Native educator and Native woman.
In 2015 she was named by Indian Country Today magazine as one of the 50 most influential people in Indian Country. In 2017 she was one of two American Indian women leaders honored by National Indian Women’s “Supporting Each Other” group. The Native American Finance Officers Association honored her with a Lifetime Achievement Award in October 2019. In March of 2020, CBS paid tribute to Crazy Bull, along with six other women, as an example of what it means to challenge and overcome stereotypes and biases in their industries as part of a series of CBS CARES public service announcements in primetime on the CBS Television Network. Working Mother Media named her their Legacy Awardee at their Multicultural Women’s Conference in July of 2020.
In 2021 the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian in Evanston, Illinois honored Crazy Bull with its Elizabeth Seabury Mitchell Awardee for exemplary service and philanthropic giving in promoting American Indian culture and Global MindED, a non-profit organization dedicated to closing the equity gap by creating a diverse talent pipeline through role models, mentors, and internships, named her as its 2021 Inclusive Leader Awardee.
For her work with student access to higher education and with tribal communities, Cheryl was recognized by the Bank of America as one of six Neighborhood Builders Social Equality Awardees in 2023.
From the President
Read important updates from the President’s blogs.
Celebrating Leaders of the Tribal College Movement
In 2016, I was invited to submit a chapter on the presidency of tribal colleges for a book on leadership at minority-serving institutions. I started the chapter with these words, Itancan, Bacheei-tche, Ogimaa: tribal words for those in leadership at tribal colleges because their leadership is rooted in their cultural knowledge and practices. This essay is derived from that chapter, “Tribal College and University Leaders: Warriors in Spirit and in Action
American Indian College Fund Recognized for Outstanding Service to Public Education
By 2020, 65 percent of all jobs will require post-secondary education. But only 13.8 percent of American Indians have a college degree – less than half the national average. Fighting this dynamic is the American Indian College Fund, providing direct, focused solutions that enable American Indian youth to succeed in college and beyond.
Inequity in America: Education Is the Answer
Our nation was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race. Even before there were large numbers of Negroes on our shores, the scar of racial hatred had already disfigured colonial society. From the sixteenth century forward, blood flowed in battles over racial supremacy. We are perhaps the only nation which tried as a matter of national policy to wipe out its indigenous population.
Featured Reports
A Landscape Analysis Illustrating How TCUs Can Leverage Assessment to Drive Their Missions
This report presents the findings from a landscape analysis looking at how TCUs have integrated culturally grounded practices in their assessment work. Relying on previously published literature, strategic documents shared on TCU websites, and first-hand interviews with TCU staff about their college’s current culturally grounded assessment practices (CAPs), a model identifying actions that TCUs take when engaging in CAPs work, along with the characteristics that accompany this work, was created. By sharing this report, we aim to highlight the potential for TCUs to leverage assessment to actualize and drive their cultural missions.
Alumni of Tribal Colleges and Universities Better Their Communities
The Tribal Colleges and Universities #RealCollege Survey
College Affordability Study
