Chief Dull Knife College was originally chartered in September, 1975, by Tribal Ordinance as the Northern Cheyenne Indian Action Program, Incorporated, and granted funding by the Indian Technical Assistance Center of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council appointed six directors to manage the affairs of the corporation.

Previously known as Dull Knife Memorial College, CDKC was renamed in 2001 to emphasize the significance of Dull Knife as a chief and respected historical leader of the Northern Cheyenne people. Chief Dull Knife, also known as Chief Morning Star, fighting with great courage and against overwhelming odds, led his band of Northern Cheyenne back to our homeland to maintain the sovereignty of our tribe. Reflecting Chief Dull Knife’s determination, the College’s primary mission is to provide educational and cultural leadership to its constituents.

Although the original curriculum of the College was directed at training students for mining jobs near the reservation, the College has quickly expanded its offerings to include post-secondary transfer programs. The College offers a variety of Associate degrees, certificate programs, and maintains articulation agreements with institution within the Montana University system that facilitate seamless transfer for students. With the addition of interactive television technology at CDKC, the College has also been able to expand opportunities for upper level students to complete advanced degrees on-line.

As the student population has steadily increased, so has the need to acquire new facilities and the campus has utilized sustainable greenbuild technology to construct buildings to house Adult Literacy, technology, daycare, and visiting lecturer facilities. All of the facilities were designed and built using sustainable straw bale construction in cooperation with the American Indian Housing initiative. In addition, the campus houses the Dr. John Woodenlegs Memorial Library, a state-of-the-art library that serves both the College and community, a Learning Center that provides both educational and technological access for student research and study, and numerous computer, math and science laboratories.