Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute is a federally operated Bureau of Indian Affairs community college located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. SIPI is funded through the Bureau of Indian Education, an agency within the U. S. Department of the Interior. Today, more than 120 different Indian Tribes are represented in SIPI’s student body.CampusSIPI is located on approximately 164 acres in northwest Albuquerque, New Mexico. SIPI is located in the center of New Mexico’s agricultural and high-tech corridors (Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories, and Intel Corporation), major universities and the largest technical force within a 500-mile radius. SIPI's state-of the-art Science and Technology Center includes 12 research and teaching laboratories, 10 classrooms, two distance learning rooms, a 500-seat auditorium, faculty offices and conference rooms.HistoryThe Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute was conceived by the All Indian Pueblo Council, who envisioned a post-secondary school that could serve the Native American Community. Collective efforts with tribal leaders, public officials, and interested citizens, resulted in the school's founding in 1971; dedication ceremonies were held on August 21, 1971, and September 16, 1971, was the first day of classes. It operated initially on an "open-entry, open-exit system" of individualized training.