Our History
By Adult & Higher Education Director, Dr. Denise Bill​

In 1995, the Muckleshoot Tribal Council made a 
significant commitment to higher education in the
Muckleshoot community by creating the Muckleshoot
Training Center.  Designed to provide business
training for tribal members seeking employment in
the newly created Muckleshoot Indian Casino, the
center offered computer training through Native American Career and Technical Education funding and college-level courses through agreements with Seattle Central University.  The training center became an official GED testing center in 1996.  The training center was renamed Muckleshoot Tribal College in 1997, through Resolution # 03-278 by the Muckleshoot Indian Tribal Council. Since Muckleshoot Tribal College opened many other collaborative partnerships were forged.  Here are some examples of our partnerships: In 1998  Evergreen State College, Reservation Based/Community Determined Program offered a 4 year Bachelor of Liberal Arts Degree. In 2000 Native American Career and Technical Education Program Grant Award funded Computer classes on-site with Clover Park Technical College.  In 2002  Antioch University began its First Peoples’ Program at Muckleshoot Tribal in 2002 offering a Masters in Education, Bachelor in Education, and teaching certification to community members. In 2002  Northwest Indian College initiated the  2-year Associate of Arts transfer degrees.  In 2005  Grays Harbor Community College began offering an online Associates Degree.  In 2010 an Early College Program was created with Northwest Indian College and Muckleshoot Tribal College.   A First Peoples B.A. Degree was offered from 2009-2013 in which there were 41 Muckleshoot Tribal Graduates.  In 2018, the University of Washington Tacoma Bothell offered a Business Operation and Management Certificate, and in 2019, offered a Project Management Certificate. In 2020 the University of Washington Tacoma partnered with us to have a Place Based Doctoral Program with an Indigenous/Native focus.  In 2021 the University of Washington Tacoma partnered with us to have a Masters of Education program Place Based here at Muckleshoot Tribal College.