With the increasing awareness of design and usability issues in regards to websites, in this case tribal college websites, there is an increasing desire to have a set of guidelines to assist in determining design and usability for academic websites. Though there is an overwhelming amount of information available to researchers in this subject area the conceptualization of a theory is not apparent. This study utilizes a grounded theory methodology to assist in developing a theory that is relative to the issues in question for academic websites. Through the use of the grounded theory methodology this study was able to generate a significant amount of raw data from the four academic websites under study. The data was compiled and reduced to formulate main themes and conditions in which a theory in regards to usability and design for academic websites was developed. The utilization of this theory will assist institutions in moving away from the status quo and enter an area that may be more cost effective in the long term. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]