Funds for Excellence: Enriching the Jackrabbit Experience

Enriching the Jackrabbit Experience – SDSU’s strategic planning carries an objective of “Achieving National Distinction While Strengthening Local Relevance.” Students and faculty are enriched by the breadth of cultural and life-changing opportunities offered by our university. The Funds for Excellence will support programs and places that complement a student’s academic pursuits by providing our university with the flexibility to act on timely opportunities as they emerge. Examples include seed money and discretionary funds for research, student engagement, lecture series, visiting scholars and artists, museums, and the performing arts.

Economics and Management Initiative
SDSU will harness its resources in economics, management, entrepreneurial studies, and other academic fields to create a robust program with emphasis on Financial Engineering and Financial Economics; Management Science and Management Studies; and Economics, Agricultural Economics and Entrepreneurial Studies. Endowments ($5 million) are being sought to support the undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, scholarship, and leadership of the Economics and Management Initiative.

Thomas A. Daschle Center for Leadership and Public Policy
Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a 1969 alumnus, donated his congressional papers and artifacts to his alma mater to enable SDSU to create an intellectual home ($9.7 million) for faculty, students, visiting scholars, and researchers. As an active and living hub for the academic study of public policy, the Daschle Center will facilitate an ongoing dialogue on pertinent regional and national issues and rely on a synergistic relationship with key academic programs on campus. SDSU archivists continue to process the Daschle Collection.

Research, Leadership, and the Arts

• Jackrabbit Forever Fund, which helps support the activities of the Alumni Association;
• Lecture Series, which allow SDSU to attract speakers of national and international significance to campus;
• Success Academy, an innovative program that encourages students from the Flandreau Indian School to continue their studies at SDSU;
• The Pride of the Dakotas, one of the region’s premier collegiate marching bands;
• Student Performances, including the acclaimed Prairie Repertory Theatre;
• Student Communications and Media, including The Collegian, the student-run newspaper, and KSDJ, the student-run radio station.

Honors College Residence Hall — In the fall of 2013, SDSU will open its first Honors College Residence Hall. The Residence Hall will bring together SDSU students’ academic and residential experiences in an integrated, dynamic way. Residents will enjoy living near fellow Honors students who share their desire for academic excellence and who know when and how to have fun. The Hall will be home to a seamlessly integrated academic and co-curricular experience that includes innovative spaces for classes, workshops, seminars, colloquia, social and enriching educational experiences.

Honors College
Proceeds will support enhanced programs and activities designed to recruit and retain highly accomplished students for the Honors College.

Professional Architecture Program
SDSU launched the state’s first accredited program in architecture through a partnership between alumni and industry leaders in the fall of 2010. The program will consist of two degrees: a four-year undergraduate bachelor’s degree in architectural studies and a two-year master’s degree in architecture. Scholarships and program assistance are needed to support the new degree.

Museums
This new funding, in the form of annual gifts and endowments, will support visiting artists, initiatives, and activities at the South Dakota Art Museum and the South Dakota State Agricultural Heritage Museum.