Academics
Politics class offers ‘platonic buffet of knowledge’ through alternative learning methods
In Marshall Damgaard’s South Dakota Politics course, there are no tests, quizzes or lectures. Class meets just once a week, and students aren’t required to attend. But the classroom is always full with students ready to learn something new. Damgaard said that’s because students have been learning in classrooms since they were very young, and […]
USD physics team uses germanium to detect dark matter
Throughout the universe a substance exists that can’t be detected with a telescope, and the only evidence of it is the effect it has on visible objects in space. A team of USD research faculty, undergraduate students and graduate students are growing germanium crystals to make detectors that will help detect and study dark matter […]
Printing press class looks to publish works
USD students looking to a pursue a career in publishing now have a hands-on class in which to improve their skills. The Astrophil Printing Press is an independent publishing house created by USD lecturer Duncan Barlow. Its establishment goes back six years, but this is its first year being taught as a class on campus. […]
School of Education hosts first of new monthly events
After returning from a mission trip where she worked with children and adults with disabilities, sophomore Whitney Barnes determined she had found her passion to be a special education teacher. “I kind of just realized it was something I want to do for the rest of my life, so hopefully that’s the direction I’m going […]
ROTC gets new commanding officer
The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program at USD has a new commanding officer. Lt. Col. Michelle Bunkers, a USD alumna, took the reins from Capt. Jerry Zevecke this August. Zevecke became the interim commanding officer after Lt. Col. Ross Nelson was selected to be a battalion commander at Fort Rucker in Alabama. Bunkers is originally from Dell […]
English Department adopts literary press to publish work
When Duncan Barlow first read Philip Sidney’s “Astrophil and Stella,” it was heartbreak that captured his attention. Years later, he kept the sequence of English sonnets about unrequited love in mind when he began his own “sacrificial art” — a literary press. “I always saw (Astrophil) as this oddly heroic character. I knew even before launching the […]