South Dakota Board of Regents approves new program minors, cuts Theater M.A.

The South Dakota Board of Regents approved three new minors at the University of South Dakota to be implemented next spring during their December meeting in Rapid City.

The minors, to be offered on-campus only, include Child and Adolescent Development, Inter-professional Disabilities Services and K-12 English as a New Language.

Chuck Staben, provost and vice president of academic affairs, said the process for implementing the new programs has been in the works for awhile, since the academic governing structure is somewhat extensive.

“Faculty are always involved in this process of implementing or terminating these programs,” Staben said. “Typically the provost or a dean will say ‘Hey, this seems like a good idea. Maybe we should be doing this program,’ and occasionally we are asked by the Board itself to review certain programs.”

According to the university’s request proposal, the new Child and Adolescent Development minor will benefit students pursuing health careers as well as students pursuing human service careers.

The Inter-professional Disabilities Services minor is expected to “enhance the marketability of students entering the job market” and increase students’ preparedness to enter graduate studies in the health and helping professions, the same request proposal said.

In an effort to prepare students in teaching majors, the K-12 English as a New Language minor is designed to further prepare students who may be teaching foreign learners whose first language is not English.

None of the three minors required additional funding from the SDBOR, as all of the courses needed to complete the programs were already available.

“Sometimes there are fairly rough estimates of people who already take the bulk of that coursework (needed to fulfill the program),” Staben said. He added this occurs more often with program minors compared to program majors.

The SDBOR also approved USD’s request to terminate the Master of Arts in Theater program, effective fall 2013.

Staben said the reason for cutting the masters program was because of low enrollment throughout the past few years.

Staben also cited “the expected credentials today of an M.F.A (Master of Fine Arts)” for the low program enrollment, which fulfills much of the requirements needed for the Master of Arts in Theater program.

“Cutting it doesn’t affect any students and save any resources,” Staben said. “It was a technical cleanup.”

Sports complex approved

Other actions made by the SDBOR consisted of the construction approval of an academic and sports performance enhancement facility, arena and an outdoor track and soccer complex.

The project, estimated to cost $65 million, could begin as early as spring 2014 if the final fundraising goal of $9.5 million can be met in time, according to a USD press release.

“This is exciting in that it puts us one step closer to making those projects a reality,” said David Herbster, USD athletics director, in the same release.

The redesigned sports complex the SDBOR approved includes a 6,000-seat arena for basketball and volleyball, an outdoor facility for soccer and track and a science, health and research laboratory. The entire facility will be located south of the DakotaDome.

The new complex will be built east of the DakotaDome, adjacent to the current softball complex and will feature two soccer fields, a nine-lane, NCAA-certified track and seating for 2,000 spectators.

Student federation

As required by new pieces of federal legislation aimed at improving the way universities handle sexual misconduct on college campuses, the SDBOR approved revisions to their sexual harassment policy.

Wording clarifications and procedural technicalities are the most common changes amended to the policy.

Dennis Smith, executive director for the SDBOR Student Federation, said the new policy complements the Federation’s anti-cyber bullying bill, since the policy addresses technology usage in relation to harassment.

“By them implementing this new harassment policy, it creates a safer environment for everyone,” Smith said.

He added the anti-cyber bullying bill might need to undergo revision due to the revised harassment policy.

According to Smith, the SDBOR Student Federation is preparing two other major legislative pieces for the upcoming 2014 Legislative session — a needs-based scholarship bill and a bill implementing the Good Samaritan Alcohol Policy.

The needs-based scholarship bill would essentially ask the State Legislature for a $3 million buy-down, which would be used as a bond to collect interest. According to Smith, that interest would be used to assist students with lower incomes attend college in the form of a scholarship.

In his budget proposal, S.D. Gov. Dennis Daugaard told lawmakers Dec. 3 he wants to provide the six regental universities with about $4 million to freeze tuition for the 2014 school year at current levels.

The SDBOR Student Federation’s needs-based scholarship was not accepted into Daugaard’s budget proposal.

“We’re going to be fighting for this come Legislative session and Students for Higher Education Days,” Smith said.

The SDBOR Student Federation and student representatives from all six regental institutions passed a resolution relaying that the students of their campuses were in support of both the tuition freeze and a needs-based scholarship, Smith said. Letters from each student representative and the SDBOR Student Federation were sent to Daugaard’s office explaining these resolutions.

Smith said he is hopeful the upcoming Legislative session will be a successful run for the SDBOR Student Federation, especially since they have recruited help from House Minority Whip Peggy Gibson and Assistant Majority Senate Leader Billie Sutton.

“Both of them have a huge passion for higher education,” Smith said.

The 2014 S.D. Legislature will begin its session Jan. 14.