Academics
Rushmore Public Policy Institution aims to inform students, publish undergrad work
Students will soon be able to publish their own public policy articles at USD. The Rushmore Public Policy Institution, a new student organization on campus, is looking to publish the work of students. Junior Dustin Santjer, the group’s founder, said the organization serves multiple purposes. “(Rushmore Public Policy Institution) is two different things. It is […]
USD to be first South Dakota public university to host TEDx event
USD is in the early stages of planning a TEDx event, the first public university in the state to do so. TEDx is an individually-run TED talk that provides students, staff and faculty with an opportunity to listen to community members speak on important, globally-relevant issues. TED is a nonprofit organization that produces educational content for many different topics […]
Honors students will offer free ACT prep course to high school students
Working to find its niche in the community, the USD Honors Association is working to prepare high school students for the ACT. HA President Joshua Arens, a junior, said he’s excited for the new ACT program to make an impact on high school students, as well as the organization’s progress as a whole. “We’re obviously […]
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 […]
OSU professor presents research on climate change
Ed Brook was asked to play devil’s advocate to his own climate change research at the 17th Lifto Amundson Lecture, presented by the University of South Dakota’s Phi Beta Kappa Society April 19. “Look at this data as if you were a climate change denier,” professor Mary Pat Bierle said. “Could you tell us what […]