David Wright

“David Wright brings with him extensive industry experience as well as a renewed commitment to relevance and high levels of productivity within the department,” said Barry Dunn, Dean of the College of Agriculture and Director of SDSU Extension. “He will do a great job working with the faculty and staff of the Plant Science Department to provide outstanding education for students and serve stakeholders and producers.”

The Plant Science Department is part of the College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences at SDSU. It is a large, diverse department including faculty with expertise in soil science, plant breeding and genetics, genomics, horticulture, landscape architecture, entomology, plant pathology and weed science. Currently, 387 students are pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees within the Plant Science Department.

As department head, Wright will lead the faculty in fulfilling the department’s mission to serve local, regional and national needs through integrated teaching, research, extension and technical service programs that promote excellence, adjust to changing needs and develop solutions.

Along with this, Wright will also lead the Plant Science Department to develop and maintain strong, relevant research, teaching, and extension programs; foster strong working relationships between the department and its alumni, university stakeholders; including commodity groups and other such constituencies, employers and news media; develop and manage budgets; represent the department in communications with the college and the university; have a strong commitment towards faculty development and help promote the department’s growth and success.

“I look forward to working with the faculty, students and SDSU Extension specialists and many stakeholders who are a part of the Plant Science Department at SDSU,” Wright said.

David Wright

Wright received his PhD in Agronomy from Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas and his master’s and bachelor’s of Science in Agronomy from Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. Throughout his career, Wright has been focused on solving production problems for the nation’s grain farmers and has extensive experience in building stakeholder and farmer partnerships as well as, forming and leading multi-disciplinary research teams.

Prior to joining SDSU, Wright was a visiting professor at Iowa State University in the Department of Agronomy. He was responsible for fostering strategic public/private research partnerships and multi-disciplinary research teams for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Before this, Wright worked for 11 years as the Director of Contract Research and Strategic Initiatives at the Iowa Soybean Association. There, he managed a competitive grants program investing $8.3 million annually to support problem-solving research at Land Grant Universities around the United States and the USDA. He also provided national leadership to the soybean research and Extension community and several state, regional and national checkoff boards.

To learn more about the Plant Science Department at SDSU visit, www.sdstate.edu/ps/index.cfm.

Nancy Fahrenwald

Fahrenwald currently is associate dean for research in the SDSU College of Nursing, a position she’s held since 2009. She came to the university in 1995, after serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Malawi, where she was AIDS coordinator for the Zomba district and a nurse educator at the Lilongwe School for Health Sciences.

“I’ve worked with Dr. Fahrenwald for many years,” said Nichols. “Her knowledge, experience and dedication—not only of nursing education, but the essential research and outreach functions that are part of SDSU’s mission—will continue to build upon the college’s long tradition of excellence. I look forward to supporting her leadership of the college into the future.”

Fahrenwald also serves as principal investigator for Culturally Targeted Education on Living Kidney Donation, a research project that is part of a $13.5 million grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Disparities awarded to Sanford Research and its partners, with $1.32 million in funding over five years.

“It is truly an honor and a privilege to accept this leadership role. I am proud to serve students, faculty, and diverse academic and research partners both within and beyond SDSU,” Fahrenwald said.

Fahrenwald says the college is committed to offering high quality academic programs and to meeting the health and quality-of-life needs of rural and diverse populations. “We will achieve these aspirations through growth in research, scholarship, diversity and innovative partnerships,” she said.

Fahrenwald received her nursing doctorate in 2002 from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Neb., and her master’s in 1988 at the University of Portland in Oregon. She received her Bachelor of Science in nursing in 1983 from SDSU.

She is board-certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center in Advanced Public Health Nursing, and was recognized with the Midwest Nursing Research Society Service Award in 2013.

Fahrenwald succeeds retiring Dean Roberta Olson, who led the college since 1994.

The SDSU College of Nursing strives for academic excellence in classroom and clinical experiences that teach students to practice nursing with expertise, professionalism and a passion for helping others. The College of Nursing is nationally accredited by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and offers Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, Doctor of Nursing Practice, and Doctor of Philosophy degree programs in nursing.

About South Dakota State University

Founded in 1881, South Dakota State University is the state’s Morrill Act land-grant institution as well as its largest, most comprehensive institution of higher education. SDSU confers degrees from six different colleges representing more than 175 majors, minors and specializations. The institution also offers 29 master’s degree programs, 12 Ph.D. and two professional programs.

The work of the university is carried out on a residential campus in Brookings, at sites in Sioux Falls, Pierre and Rapid City, and through SDSU Extension offices and Agricultural Experiment Station research sites across the state.

Jacob Hofer of Sioux Falls as Ellard Simms and J. D. Ackman of Brookings as Charlie Baker in Prairie Repertory Theater’s production of “The Foreigner,” running nightly June 12-15 at 7:30 p.m. and June 16 at 2 p.m. in the Doner Auditorium in South Dakota State University’s Administration building.

Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 12, and run nightly through Saturday, June 15, with a 2 p.m. matinee Sunday, June 16, in the Doner Auditorium in the Administration Building on the South Dakota State University campus. “The Foreigner” will also be shown in Brandon on July 12-14 and July 17.

“The Foreigner,” an award-winning play that premiered in New York City in 1984, tells the story of British demolition and explosives expert Froggy LeSeuer, played by Chris Ferera, Riverside, Calif., and his friend Charlie, played by J.D. Ackman of Brookings. LeSuer convinces Charlie to accompany him to a fishing lodge in Georgia owned by his friend Betty, played by Emily Phillips, Fredericksburg, Texas.

Charlie, however, is cripplingly shy and uncomfortable around new people, so LeSeuer suggests that Charlie pretend he’s foreign and speaks no English so he won’t have to interact with other guests –- Reverend David Marshall Lee, a two-faced preacher played by Scot Ecker, Fargo, N.D.; his redneck co-conspirator Owen Musser played by Blake Farber, Britton; the reverend’s fiancée Catherine Simms played by Debbie Jones, Chamberlain; and her brother Ellard played by Jacob Hofer, Sioux Falls.

Charlie quickly realizes just how much people will say in front of someone who seemingly can’t understand them and hilarity ensues. Soon, Charlie has heard all the lodge’s secrets –- a plot, a pregnancy and even some Ku Klux Klan activity. It’s up to Charlie and friends to save the lodge and defeat the “bad guys.”

Other actors helping tell the story are Kristian Asfeldt, Sioux Falls; Ezekiel Bockage, Concord Hill, Mo.; Kate Kanne, Redwood Falls, Minn.; Sean McDonald, Yankton; Ryan Ostendorf, Gothenburg, Neb.; Aarron Schuelke, Milbank; Dani Wermedal, Volga, and Caleb Woodring, Tea.

“The Foreigners” is directed by PRT veteran Bob Syslkar.

“Larry Shue’s comedy, “The Foreigner,” is a brilliantly written comedy. It offers delightful comic roles for everyone in the cast. While it is the same play, it takes on new life with each new cast and director. This production is no exception,” said Ackman, who is reprising his role as Charlie for the fourth time in his PRT career.

“Even though I am playing the part of ‘Charlie’ again, the talented actors I am working with make it a different and exciting adventure. We are anxious to present the show to our patrons.”

Tickets for each show are $20 for adults, $18 for senior citizens and military, $14 for SDSU employees, $13 for non-SDSU students and children, and free to SDSU students with IDs.

Tickets can be purchased at the PRT Audience Services Office in the Performing Arts Center at SDSU in Brookings, open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Tickets may also be purchased online or by calling 605-688-6045. For more information on Prairie Repertory Theater, visit their website.

About South Dakota State University

Founded in 1881, South Dakota State University is the state’s Morrill Act land-grant institution as well as its largest, most comprehensive school of higher education. SDSU confers degrees from six different colleges representing more than 175 majors, minors and specializations. The institution also offers 29 master’s degree programs, 12 Ph.D. and two professional programs.

The work of the university is carried out on a residential campus in Brookings, at sites in Sioux Falls, Pierre and Rapid City, and through Extension offices and Agricultural Experiment Station research sites across the state.

Students work with a simulation model as they explore careers in nursing at a camp sponsored by the South Dakota State University College of Nursing.

Registration space is still available. To register, call Barbara Ogaard at 605-394-5390 or 1-888-819-1725.

Camps are divided according to age and take place in June and July.

Students, age 11 to 13, can attend the middle school nursing camp from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday, June 18 and 19 in Sturgis, or Thursday and Friday, June 20 and 21, or Tuesday and Wednesday, July 9 and 10 both in Rapid City.

Young people, ages 14 to 18, can participate in a Rapid City High School nursing camp from 8 a.m. to noon, Monday through Thursday, June 10 to 13, and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Friday, June 14.

The camps will offer hands-on experience in nursing using lifelike simulation models. Participants can also talk to health-care providers to learn more about opportunities in the nursing profession.

For more information, call Ogaard or email her at Barbara.Ogaard@sdstate.edu.

About South Dakota State University

Founded in 1881, South Dakota State University is the state’s Morrill Act land-grant institution as well as its largest, most comprehensive school of higher education. SDSU confers degrees from six different colleges representing more than 175 majors, minors and specializations. The institution also offers 29 master’s degree programs, 12 Ph.D. and two professional programs.

The work of the university is carried out on a residential campus in Brookings, at sites in Sioux Falls, Pierre and Rapid City, and through Extension offices and Agricultural Experiment Station research sites across the state.

Impact Greatness

The university’s six-year comprehensive campaign ended April 25, 2013, with a record $255,736,045 in gifts and pledges. In all, there were 23,014 different donors.

The oldest was a 1928 alumni. That donor was joined by SDSU’s freshest graduates — 50 members of the Class of 2012 made gifts to the campaign.

Nearly one-third of the total donors that supported It Starts with STATE made their first gift ever to SDSU during the campaign.

“The overall campaign total of $255 million stands as a remarkable achievement for the university as the largest higher-education fundraising effort in South Dakota history,” said Keith Mahlum, Vice President for Development for the SDSU Foundation. “We had a goal that was four times higher than our only previous campaign, and we surpassed that by more than $55 million. Jackrabbits everywhere now believe that we can accomplish whatever we set out to do.”

SDSU’s new strategic plan, IMPACT 2018, charts a bold vision for the next five years. Many of the plan’s goals will be dependent upon continued, strong financial support from private donors. The Foundation has introduced a new tagline, IMPACT Greatness, to signal its connection to IMPACT 2018 and its role in promoting the opportunities that still exist to invest in SDSU.

“The culture of giving at South Dakota State is stronger than it’s ever been,” Mahlum said. “People stepped forward in an unprecedented fashion to ensure the success of the campaign, and we believe they are energized to do more.”

According to Mahlum, the generosity of campaign donors will have a profound impact on South Dakota State immediately and well into the future.  “More life-changing opportunities are now available to our students and faculty.  We also recognize that there are tens of thousands of alumni and friends who we have yet to reach. The future is bright,” he said.

Rachael Andersen, Sioux Falls, plays Margy, and Michael Heuer, Watertown, plays her love interest, Pat, in the Prairie Repertory Theatre production “State Fair.”

Characters find love and adventure on the Midway while performing Broadway songs “It Might As Well Be Spring,” “You Never Had it So Good” and “It’s a Grand Night for Singing.”

Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 5, and run nightly through Saturday, June 8, with a 2 p.m. matinee Sunday, June 9, in Doner Auditorium in the Administration Building at South Dakota State University. “State Fair” will also show in Brandon in July.

“State Fair” depicts small-town Iowa farm life in 1946, and features the Frake family and their three-day adventure at the Iowa State Fair.

Frake parents Abel and Melissa, played by Billy Wilburn, Brookings, and Megan Buresh, David City, Neb., approach the Iowa State Fair with serious hopes of winning blue ribbons and cash prizes for their boar and mincemeat.

Their children, Margy, played by Rachael Andersen, Sioux Falls, and Wayne, played by Kristian Asfeldt, Sioux Falls, are seeking romance during their late night escapades on the Midway.

Wayne meets and instantly falls in love with singer, Emily Arden, played by Megan Gill, St. Charles, Ill., even though he has a girlfriend Eleanor, played by Kristy Kayser, Sioux Falls, waiting back home. Margy meets a reporter named Pat Gilbert, played by Michael Heuer, Watertown, and develops a lasting
relationship.

Characters weave through the twists and turns of their fair romances from the nights in the beer tents to the days at the livestock pavilions.

“As a new member, it took a while for me to get used to the quick pace of Prairie Rep,” said Asfeldt. “It was really hard for me to believe we would be able to put up a show in just about a month, but it is a very achievable goal. We all have good friends within the cast, which makes for a much easier, smoother rehearsal process.

Heidi Heeren, a music educator for Medary Elementary School in Brookings, directs the music and Melissa Hauschild-Mork, a dance instructor at SDSU, choreographs the production.

“We have a diverse company this year; several students from other universities in addition to our SDSU students,” said SDSU Assistant Professor of Theatre W. James Wood, who directs the play. “I am amazed at how quickly these ‘strangers’ have come together to form a cohesive cast. In just a few short weeks, they
have made this classic show so fun and engaging. I am excited for our audiences to enjoy ‘State Fair’ as much as we have.”

Other actors helping tell the story are Natalie Allcock, Britton; Zeke Blocklage, Concord Hill, Mo.; Alexandra Cross, Brewster, Minn.; Scott Ecker, Fargo, N.D.; Chris Fereza, Riverside, Calif.; Whitney Graff, Humboldt; Becca Herman, Sioux Falls; Sean McDonald, Yankton; Jocelyn Meidinger, Jamestown,
N.D.; Maggie Murphy, Wilder, Minn.; Patrick Kloeckner, Fairmont, Minn.; Aaron Schuelke, Milbank; Ainsley Shelsta, Brookings; Bob Sylskar, Brookings; Austin Vockrodt, Brookings; Jennie Vrchota, Jackson, Minn.; Dani Wermedahl, Volga; and Caleb Woodring, Tea.

Audiences of all ages are invited to experience the comedic and lighthearted rendition of the Midwestern musical.

Tickets are $20 for adults, $18 for senior citizens/military, $14 for SDSU employees, $13 for non-SDSU students and children, and free to SDSU students with IDs.

Tickets can be purchased at the PRT Audience Services Office located in the Performing Arts Center at SDSU in Brookings, open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Tickets may also be purchased online at sdstate.tix.com or by calling 605-688-6045.

For more information on Prairie Repertory Theatre, visit prairierep.org.

About South Dakota State University

Founded in 1881, South Dakota State University is the state’s Morrill Act land-grant institution as well as its largest, most comprehensive school of higher education. SDSU confers degrees from six different colleges representing more than 175 majors, minors and specializations. The institution also offers 29 master’s degree programs, 12 Ph.D. and two professional programs.

The work of the university is carried out on a residential campus in Brookings, at sites in Sioux Falls, Pierre and Rapid City, and through Extension offices and Agricultural Experiment Station research sites across the state.

RaVae Luckhart paints Two Sides of a Coin, an oil-on-canvas folding screen. Luckhart will speak at an artist reception at the South Dakota Art Museum from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Friday, June 21. The exhibit will be on display through Sept. 15.

Nineteen oil-on-canvas paintings complete the abstract expressionist’s exhibit. A video of Luckhart painting in her studio, accompanied by rock music, adds to the validity of exhibit.

Luckhart connects viewers to a person or place through her abstract paintings using emotion rather than visual references.

Brush strokes and contrasting colors exemplify the various locations and emotions the paintings were derived from.

Luckhart, a Hartford native, lives in San Juan Island, Wash., where she is a founding and active member of the San Juan Islands Museum of Art.

Luckhart is a retired professor of art from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. She travels frequently, painting her experiences as research for her studio work.

“I hold firmly to lifetime roots established in the soil of South Dakota,” said Luckhart. “Reaching toward the Pacific Ocean water was challenging, much like facing a large, new, white canvas.”

Two Sides of a Coin, an oil-on-canvas painting on a folding screen, shows the differences between South Dakota and Washington, and expresses how Luckhart has one foot in each state.

The South Dakota side embodies the Black Hills with the colors of the sun and woods, painted with short strokes and brown, yellow and orange hues. The Washington side signifies the mysterious Northwest with flowing brush strokes and blue cool tones.

“I will always observe and enjoy the difference between the warm, bright sunlight of South Dakota and the moist Northwest,” said Luckhart. “Often my work is affected by the light, temperature, air and sounds of the region wherever I am.”

The exhibit opened May 21, and will be on display through Sept. 15. Luckhart will present at the artist reception at the museum from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Friday, June 21.

The South Dakota Art Museum is located at the junction of Medary Avenue and Harvey Dunn Street, 936 Medary Ave. for GPS users, on the west side of the SDSU campus.

Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.

More information is available by calling 605-688-5423 or visiting www.southdakotaartmuseum.com.

About South Dakota State University

Founded in 1881, South Dakota State University is the state’s Morrill Act land-grant institution as well as its largest, most comprehensive school of higher education. SDSU confers degrees from six different colleges representing more than 175 majors, minors and specializations. The institution also offers 29 master’s degree programs, 12 Ph.D. and two professional programs.

The work of the university is carried out on a residential campus in Brookings, at sites in Sioux Falls, Pierre and Rapid City, and through Extension offices and Agricultural Experiment Station research sites across the state.

Danielle Walder

Administered by the Board of Regents, the scholarship is awarded each year to a regental university sophomore, junior, or senior who is pursuing studies leading to a teaching certificate.

Applicants are evaluated on the basis of their GPA, high school and college memberships, services and activities, and statements of personal and educational philosophy.

The Haines Scholarship was established by Douglas Fugitt in memory of his wife, Dora Lee Haines, and her three sisters. The four Haines sisters were all teachers in one-room rural schools in Perkins and Corson counties of South Dakota.

The fund is an open endowment to which additional gifts may be made at any time through the South Dakota Board of Regents.

A graduate of Andes Central High School in Lake Andes, Walder is a senior at South Dakota State University. She currently has a cumulative grade point average of 4.00.

About South Dakota State University

Founded in 1881, South Dakota State University is the state’s Morrill Act land-grant institution as well as its largest, most comprehensive school of higher education. SDSU confers degrees from six different colleges representing more than 175 majors, minors and specializations. The institution also offers 29 master’s degree programs, 12 Ph.D. and two professional programs.

The work of the university is carried out on a residential campus in Brookings, at sites in Sioux Falls, Pierre and Rapid City, and through Extension offices and Agricultural Experiment Station research sites across the state.

Professor Carol Johnston of the South Dakota State University Natural Resource Management Department measures the height of common reed grass in a Lake Michigan wetland. The researcher says wetlands are important to wildlife and human beings.

The wetlands and soil science expert compared Department of Agriculture crop maps with wetland maps from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey.   She identified those areas that were once wetlands but are now cropland to determine the amount of loss and verified her findings using aerial photos.

The study focused on the Prairie Pothole Region in the eastern Dakotas, Johnston explained.  “That’s where most of the wetlands and croplands are.”  Her article was published in Wetlands, the Journal of the Society of Wetland Scientists.

The Prairie Pothole region extends from Iowa through the Dakotas into Canada and provides habitat for more than 50 percent of North American migratory waterfowl.

She compared wetlands maps from the 1980s and 2001 to cropland maps from 2011.  If the area on the earlier wetlands maps was identified as cropland in 2011, Johnston explained, “it was no longer a wetland.”

Comparing  wetlands mapped 30 years ago with those areas in 2011, she documented a yearly loss of nearly 13,000 acres of wetlands.  Considering only the changes in the last decade, those losses increased to 15,377 acres per year.

The 2012 data came out this spring and, Johnston said, “the rate just keeps going up.”

These changes in land use affect not only wildlife but human beings.  “Wetlands provide many ecosystem services,” Johnston explained.  Wetlands improve water quality downstream by trapping sediment and filtering out pollutants such as phosphorus.

“Wetlands are called the kidneys of the landscape,” Johnston said.  The soil microbes in wetlands convert nitrate, a form of nitrogen dissolved in the water, into harmless nitrogen gas.  Nitrates can pollute well water, making it unfit to drink. Without the filtering effects of wetlands, these nitrates can also encourage the growth of algae.  When these algae decompose, they decrease the oxygen available for fish and other aquatic organisms.

Wetlands help recharge groundwater supplies in many places, Johnston explained.  Because these shallow reservoirs hold excess water, they can also reduce flooding downstream. Johnston cited an instance in which wetlands along the Charles River in Massachusetts were bought and maintained specifically for the purpose of reducing floods in the city of Boston.

Near Hillsboro, N.D., a 160-acre area that was once a shallow pond is now completely cropland, Johnston explained.  “Many wetlands dry up naturally during droughts like we had last year, but I did my study at the end of a three-year wet period, so I’m sure the wetland loss was not due to drought.”

The combination of higher commodity prices and a drop in the number of acres enrolled in the Conservation Reservation Program, known as CRP, have contributed to the conversion of wetlands into croplands.  This program pays landowners to set aside land as wetlands and grasslands.

“Many acres are going off of CRP in both the Dakotas,” Johnston said. Contracts on 105,387 acres of land in South Dakota and 253,746 acres in North Dakota are set to expire in September, and U.S. Department of Agriculture officials expect that many of these acres will be converted to cropland.

Johnston explained that wetland losses in the Dakotas affect a much larger area.

“Loss of nutrients as a result of wetland drainage can increase the amount of nitrogen going downstream,” she explained. “What we do in South Dakota impacts people all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico.”

About South Dakota State University

Founded in 1881, South Dakota State University is the state’s Morrill Act land-grant institution as well as its largest, most comprehensive school of higher education. SDSU confers degrees from six different colleges representing more than 175 majors, minors and specializations. The institution also offers
29 master’s degree programs, 12 Ph.D. and two professional programs.

The work of the university is carried out on a residential campus in Brookings, at sites in Sioux Falls, Pierre and Rapid City, and through Extension offices and Agricultural Experiment Station research sites across the state.

SDSU President David Chicoine, Provost Laurie Nichols, and representatives of the SDSU Foundation and

SDSU President David Chicoine visits with members of the Rapid City community during the 2011 “On the Road” tour.

SDSU Alumni Association will visit with local officials and members of the communities to share details of the university’s new strategic plan, IMPACT 2018, and what that will mean for them and other South Dakotans.

“It was beneficial to get out and talk with stakeholders in the northeastern part of the state last week,” said Chicoine. “We look forward to continuing those meetings. The strategic planning work last spring included listening sessions with constituents in several communities around South Dakota. This tour gives us the chance to report back to them about the direction of the university.”

The SDSU contingent will divide into a yellow group and blue group, led by the president and provost respectively, for morning stops in Salem and Madison. They will come together in Mitchell for a lunch event hosted by President Chicoine and Provost Nichols at the Mitchell Technical Institute.

They’ll split again into blue and yellow groups for mid-afternoon visits to Wagner and Freeman, then reconvene in Yankton for an evening reception hosted by First Dakota National Bank.

The morning stops in Salem and Madison are open to the public and will offer coffee and conversation. The afternoon visits to Wagner and Freeman, also public events, will feature samples of SDSU’s famous Dairy Bar ice cream. A complete schedule appears below.

Additional visits around the state will be scheduled during the summer and into the fall.

About South Dakota State University

Founded in 1881, South Dakota State University is the state’s Morrill Act land-grant institution as well as its largest, most comprehensive school of higher education. SDSU confers degrees from six different colleges representing more than 175 majors, minors and specializations. The institution also offers 29 master’s degree programs, 12 Ph.D. and two professional programs.

The work of the university is carried out on a residential campus in Brookings, at sites in Sioux Falls, Pierre and Rapid City, and through Extension offices and Agricultural Experiment Station research sites across the state.