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Overview of South Dakota State University
The cultural and physical landscape of South Dakota State University is changing, and changing dramatically. From a student enrollment stretching over 11,000 to the monumental move to Division I athletics, the University is demonstrating once again that “You can go anywhere from here!”
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 The campus proper is seeing a major makeover with the remodeling and expansion of the Student Union. Originally constructed in 1972-73, the Union’s capacity was designed for an enrollment of 5,000. In the fall of 2005, a student population now more than doubled will discover a dramatically enhanced environment with more dining options, more meeting rooms, a larger ballroom, an expanded bookstore, increased office space for student organizations, and more lounge space. Also taking place on campus is the construction of Caldwell Hall, a suite-style residence hall that will accommodate 300 students. The new home-away-from-home building is u-shaped and reflects an innovative and fairly new technology in its construction. Finished within the past year and now open for business is the South Dakota Enterprise Institute, developed by the SDSU Foundation. The Enterprise Institute, built on the western edge of the SDSU campus, helps SDSU and industry resources by encouraging and assisting new businesses in the region. |
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 On the academic forefront, SDSU is welcoming three new doctoral programs beginning in the fall of 2005. State’s doctorates in nursing, geospatial science and engineering, and computational science and statistics engineering are partially inspired by Governor Mike Rounds’ 2010 Initiatives—that South Dakota would become a recognized leader in research and technology development by 2010. Additionally, SDSU has stepped up to the plate with the new Geographic Information Science Center of Excellence. The Center, a new partnership between SDSU and the EROS Data Center (EDC), incorporates the education strengths of SDSU and the EDC, the largest data management, systems development and field center for the geography discipline of the U.S. Geological Survey. |
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 The Jackrabbit Guarantee, a revolutionary student financial aid award, has raised the academic bar of our entering freshmen. Offered to all first-time students who score a 24 or higher on the ACT, the scholarship program guarantees $4,000 in aid over four years ($1,000 per year). SDSU was the first university in our region to present this opportunity to incoming students.
History is in the making as the Jackrabbit athletics program moves from the decades-long relationship with Division II to the exhilarating and challenging arena of Division I sports. One element of this undertaking is the development of the new Dakota Marker rivalry with North Dakota State University. The SDSU Jacks swept the trophy in the first exchange at State’s Coughlin-Alumni Stadium in October. |
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 The University received the 2004 Pro Patria Award for its outstanding support for SDSU students and employees in the National Guard and the Reserves. The national annual award, given to an individual or company, specifically acknowledges the support and encouragement shown by SDSU to its own who are serving the nation during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
SDSU is a National Research Doctoral Granting Institution, and ranked as Level III in the “US News & World Report” annual national listing. The University earns more external research funding than any university in South Dakota. The research endeavors include some of the most exciting current work in aviation grade ethanol, renewable fuels, and wind power. |
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 Just the Facts
Founded in 1881, South Dakota State University is the state’s only land-grant institution and it continues to lead in student enrollment of all the state’s institutions of higher education. Fulfilling its land-grant mission, SDSU advances agriculture and the biological sciences through campus-based research farms and laboratories, 6 bio-diverse experiment stations, 14 interactive technology centers through the state, and Extension specialists and educators in every county. Seventy percent of faculty members hold doctorate or terminal degrees, and fulltime professors teach over 90 percent of the classes. The student to teacher ratio is 17:1. SDSU has the highest student retention rate in the state.
Degrees are offered through eight colleges: Agriculture and Biological Sciences, Arts and Science, Education and Counseling, Engineering, Family and Consumer Sciences, General Studies and Outreach Programs, Nursing, and Pharmacy, as well as the Graduate School. Additionally, the Honors College, operating within the existing university structure, provides highly motivated students with the opportunity to pursue a challenging honors course study as they work toward a degree in any major. |
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| Seventy-five percent of entering freshmen are in the upper half of their high school class and forty-two percent are in the top twenty-five percent. Seventy percent are residents of South Dakota, thirty percent come from fifty states and forty-five international countries.
More than 200 majors, minors and options are available with more than 6,000 course offerings. Master’s degrees are offered in more than thirty areas, and doctorates are available in eight fields. The University also offers degree programs through USDSU in Sioux Falls. Evening, DDN, Internet, off-campus courses and classes through the Cooperative Extension Service Learning Centers are available through the Outreach Programs Office.
South Dakota State University is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. Supplementing classroom instruction are the Harding Distinguished Lecture Series, the F.O. Butler Lectures, Sewrey Colloquium, and the Joseph Nelson, Amdahl, Schultz-Werth, Ethel Austin Martin, and Griffiths endowments. Students also have an extraordinary opportunity for growth and development in choosing from the nearly 200 clubs and organizations active on campus.
The University reaches all corners of the state through the Cooperative Extension Service and the Agricultural Experiment Station, offering service that seeks to improve the quality of rural life. Also at SDSU are the programs within the Engineering Resource Center: Engineering Extension, Office of Remote Sensing, South Dakota Local Transportation Assistance Program (LTAP), and the South Dakota Space Grant Consortium. Additionally, the Product Development Center, the Water Resources Institute, the Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory, and the Northern Grain Insect Research Laboratory units all help strengthen the University’s commitment to research in areas of energy and water resources, and support of state and local economic development efforts through agricultural research and information transfer.
Other Campus Facilities
SDSU is also home to the South Dakota Art Museum, the first fully accredited museum in the state to be recognized by the American Association of Museums. SDAM’s collections include early masterpieces of Sioux Indian Tribal art, the famed Harvey Dunn paintings of pioneer life, and an extensive collection of Oscar Howe and Paul Goble’s American Indian art. The exclusive Vera Way Marghab Linen Collection, the world’s largest complete collection, features nearly 3,000 pieces of the exquisite, handstitched linen.
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 In only two years of operation, the Performing Arts Center’s acoustics, its many uses, its flexibility, the number of events it hosts, and the high-caliber performances witnessed by audiences have given the facility a well-deserved reputation. The Performing Arts Center with its state-of-the-art Concert Hall with room for 1,000 and its 280-seat Studio Theatre, has become a bragging right not only of SDSU and Brookings, but, arguably, of the entire region.
The State Agricultural Heritage Museum transformed the former Stock Judging Pavilion into a home for exhibits that record and preserve the agrarian heritage of South Dakota. Visitors come from all fifty states and forty-five foreign countries.
Hilton M. Briggs Library, the state’s largest, was opened in 1977. Briggs Library is a founding member of the South Dakota Library Network (SDLN), which provides electronic access to the holdings of forty academic, public, school, and special libraries in South Dakota. The SDLN Online Catalog provides bibliographic access to a database of approximately 2.5 million volumes available at the cooperating libraries. Through the network, library users have access to holdings from all ten of the State libraries, including official documents and more than one million other holdings at Briggs. |
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 The seventy-acre McCrory Gardens and South Dakota Arboretum provide a beautiful setting for area residents and tourists to enjoy a stroll through the radiant colors and fragrances of one of the most beautiful small ornamental gardens in the nation. The South Dakota Arboretum's purpose is to test woody plants needed to protect agricultural fields and livestock from the region's harsh environment, to provide hardy trees to shade our towns and cities, and to test ornamental shrubs for both durability and beauty. Both the arboretum and gardens are managed by the SDSU Horticulture, Forestry, Landscape and Parks Department.
The media are well represented at SDSU. South Dakota Public Radio KESD-FM and KSDJ, State’s student-run radio station, have studios on campus. Local cable access channel 2 provides SDSU events listings and limited televised course offerings to subscribers. SDSU also has the state's largest circulation weekly newspaper, the student-run Collegian. SDSU also produces “Today’s Ag,” a nationally syndicated weekly agriculture program; “On Call,” a weekly medical program produced in cooperation with the South Dakota Medical Association which airs on SD Public Broadcasting and commercial stations across the state; and “Garden Line,” a weekly call-in program which airs on SDPTV.
For more information, please contact University Relations at 605-688-6161, or the Admissions Office at 605-688-4121. Visit the university web site at: www.sdstate.edu
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