Monday Message, Jan. 6
SDSU Community -
Welcome back from the holiday break! Jane and I hope each of you had a chance to relax and spend quality time with family and friends. As we gear up for the new year, I am filled with anticipation for what we will accomplish together.
Next week, we will welcome our students back to campus to begin the spring semester. It’s always exciting to see the campus come alive again with their energy and enthusiasm. I wish everyone a successful semester and remind you that graduation will be here before we know it, marking yet another milestone in our students’ lives.
Several of us are already ramping up for the 2025 South Dakota legislative session, which begins Jan. 14. We expect it to be a busy couple of months as we prepare for the formal budget request in early February for ºù«Ӱҵ and the South Dakota Board of Regents. This period will undoubtedly be filled with a flurry of activities, and I appreciate your dedication and hard work as we navigate through it.
Mark your calendars for Brookings Day at the Legislature Jan. 22. More information will be shared soon, and I encourage many of you to participate and support our university's initiatives during this important event.
I also want to take a moment to recognize the efforts of the web services team in University Marketing and Communications. During the break, they made significant progress on the rebuild of sdstate.edu, including providing extensive training to web editors so that they may begin updating and building pages prior to the launch that is still on track for Jan. 21. It will be exciting to unveil the new website, showcasing the hard work and commitment that has gone into this project over the past 18 months.
Lastly, as you may already know, we announced on Dec. 31 the hiring of Dan Jackson as our new football coach, following Jimmy Rogers’ departure to Washington State. I want to extend a warm welcome to Coach Jackson, a Jackrabbits alum and former assistant under Coach Stiegelmeier. His return is highly anticipated, and we are confident he will be a tremendous ambassador for our university and an inspiring leader for our student-athletes. I also want to thank Coach Rogers for his many years of dedicated service to SDSU and wish him the best in his new endeavor.
Thank you for all you do to make ºù«Ӱҵ a wonderful place. I hope everyone has a great spring semester.
Best regards,
Barry Dunn
President, ºù«Ӱҵ
Above and Beyond recognizes individuals and groups of ºù«Ӱҵ employees, faculty and students for individual and team efforts that go Above and Beyond to make the campus community a better place.
SDSU is home to over 250 student organizations. Each gives students the opportunity to develop leadership skills and build community across campus. This week we feature a student leader whose involvement is making an impact.
A senior nursing major, Olivia Tagart serves as president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council, an organization representing student-athletes from the 19 NCAA Division 1 athletic programs at SDSU.
The Denver native is a member of the SDSU women’s swimming and diving team and is in her fourth year of involvement with the Student-Athlete Advisory Council.
She values the ability to advocate for student-athletes and see the changes made to benefit the student-athlete experience at SDSU.
As president of the organization, Tagart runs meetings and plans events for student-athletes. Activities range from networking events between the various sports to community service opportunities.
A priority for Tagart is getting more athletes involved and increasing meeting attendance. The Student-Athlete Advisory Council consists of selected representatives from each team, though all student-athletes are able to participate in the activities.
She says she appreciates the people at SDSU and in the community, noting that when she’s in the community wearing her SDSU gear, community members often ask her about her experiences. The nursing program and the ability to compete in swimming brought Tagart to Brookings. When her time at SDSU comes to an end, she hopes to work as a pediatric nurse in a larger city.
Thank you, Olivia, for all you do to lead fellow student-athletes and enhance their experience at SDSU.
The Monday Message appears weekly during the academic year and less frequently during the summer months and holiday breaks.
Information for the Monday Message, including nominations for Above and Beyond, can be submitted online.
Professional Staff Awards
The Professional Staff Advisory Council is now accepting nominations for the 2024-25 award cycle for the Presidential Awards of Excellence and the Rising Star Award.
Six award recipients will be selected for the Presidential Awards of Excellence, one in each category of the professional staff classifications. Each recipient will be provided with a plaque and a monetary award of $3,000 courtesy of the Office of the President. The categories include academics, athletics, business administration and facility management, Extension and outreach, research and student affairs.
For the Rising Star Award​, one recipient will be selected, which includes a monetary award of $1,500 supported by the Offices of the Provost and Vice President for Student Affairs.
The deadline for submission is Jan. 31. .
IDS Spring 2025 Training Schedule
Instructional Design Services will host training seminars during the spring 2025 semester.
The trainings will include online community building, accessible eLearning and teaching in the generative AI era. Some featured workshops include the D2L accessibility checker (Panorama) and the newly added D2L gradebook feature allowing instructors to publish grades directly to Banner.
These workshops, eLearning applications, weekly webinars and the Online Teaching Certification Program will help prepare for successful teaching in spring 2025.
All SDSU faculty, academic staff and graduate teaching assistants are encouraged to attend these training sessions. .
FY26 RSCA Challenge Fund
The Office of Academic Affairs and the Division of Research and Economic Development jointly invite proposals to the RSCA Challenge Fund for fiscal year 2026. This seed grant supports the growth of sponsored research, scholarship and creative activity (RSCA) at ºù«Ӱҵ. SDSU faculty and professional staff are eligible to apply individually or in teams. The full request for applications is available on the RSCA Committee page on InsideState.
Proposals are due Feb. 3 at 5 p.m. CST.
Updated Policies
New and updated university policies continue to be adopted and published. For the most recent updates, visit the New and Recently Revised Policies page on sdstate.edu.
