UA News

Diné College president Ferlin Clark put his doctoral studies on hold to help build higher education in the Navajo community.

Diné College, under the direction of returning University of Arizona student Ferlin Clark, has been awarded a 10-year accreditation for its two-year degree programs for the first time in its 40-year history.

In addition, the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools has given Diné College the green light to grant its first bachelor’s degree, in elementary teacher education.

“We made history today by receiving continued accreditation for a 10-year period for our associate degree courses and are happy with our ability to bestow our own bachelor degrees in elementary teacher education,” said Clark, who took a leave from pursuing his doctorate at the UA to become the college's president several years ago. He'll resume his studies this summer.

"We are also happy that we received approval to offer additional upper-level courses in Diné Studies, which paves the path towards a BA degree in Diné Studies in the near future.”

Accreditation is vital for higher education institutions and allows for course transferability, scholarship funding, and tribal, state and federal funds that support the operations, maintenance and development of colleges.

Clark, who was born and raised on the Navajo Nation, earned a bachelor’s degree from Fort Lewis College in 1988, worked for several governmental and nongovernmental organizations and in 1992 received a master’s degree from Harvard University, where he studied administration, planning and social policy.

Upon returning home to the Nation, Clark began pursuing a doctorate in American Indian Studies at The University of Arizona. In 2003 he was made an offer he couldn’t refuse and accepted the interim president position at Diné College.

The decision would force him to put the last phase of his doctoral studies – written orals and dissertation – at the UA on hold to dedicate his efforts to building the Diné College up to its current levels of success.

Through the UA’s American Indian Studies Program, Clark had worked closely with Diné College. His doctoral research and interest brought him into routine contact with the college’s administrators. They, in turn, advocated for his taking on the interim president role. “I reluctantly agreed but was ready to help my people improve their higher education institution” even though it meant postponing his own educational goals, he said.

Clark had the backing of his doctoral chair, Manley Begay, director of the Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy in the UA’s Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy and senior lecturer/associate social scientist of American Indian Studies at the UA, and his advisory board members, UA American Indian Studies professor Tom Holmes and Rob Williams, the E. Thomas Sullivan Professor of Law and American Indian Studies and faculty co-chairman of the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program at the UA James E. Rogers College of Law.

With their support, Clark realized that his experience, education and cultural background had weaved together the elements he would need to lead the college.

“My advisers’ support and the on-the-job training I received taught me a powerful lesson that cultural preparation was the most important element in being the leader of this college,” said Clark, who has been at the helm of the college for five years.

One of his first steps was to secure the college’s funding. He and his team worked with members of the Navajo Nation and during his first year as president he had secured 20 years of funding for the college. Clark then worked on applying his UA scholarly studies and western educational training and that of his faculty to traditional learning.

The plan is to create an interdisciplinary study that weaves culture, language, history, philosophy, ceremony and laws known traditionally into a sequence of studies that builds toward a doctorate in the Diné way of life.

“A 10-year accreditation is the gold standard for colleges and universities throughout the country,” Clark said. “It reaffirms the quality and integrity of our curricular offerings, services, and our faculty and staff. It has been an honor, privilege and challenge leading us here but well worth the effort.”

Clark’s leadership has been recognized nationally. He is the first American Indian to be named to sit on The College Board, a not-for-profit membership association of more than 5,400 schools, colleges, universities and other educational organizations whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity.

Clark said that the prayer and ceremony of years past have finally come to fruition and he looks forward to being able to finish his doctoral studies to be able to give more back to his community.