History and Updating of South Dakota State University

South Dakota State University was founded in 1881, then known as Dakota Agriculture college. The name was later changed to South Dakota State College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts in 1904, before changing to its current status as South Dakota State University in 1964.
The university has weathered budget cuts and programs cuts throughout its history, but time and time again has regained a new focus and expanded.  Enrollment was about 2,100 in 1954, expanded to about 6,800 in 1980, more than 8,000 in 1997, to more than 12,000 in 2009 and has hovered close to 13,000 today.
Throughout SDSU's history, programs have come and gone, but more and more continue to emerge.  As of 2013, nine colleges exist; College of Agriculture & Biological Sciences, College of Arts & Sciences, College of Education & Human Sciences, College of Nursing, College of Pharmacy, Graduate School, College of Engineering, University College, and the Van D. & Barbara B. Fishback Honors College.  All of them can be checked out here.

Let's take a look at some significant structures erected at SDSU leading up to the early 2000's.

Back in 1929, the Coughlin Campanile was erected at South Dakota State University, as a gift from Charles Coughlin.  The Campanile stands at 165 feet tall, and is the icon of SDSU.  Below is a great video on its roots,

Pugsley Hall(photo courtesy of SDSU Foundation)

Was once the student union.  Unique fact: you can still see the old jackrabbit with the bright orange eye behind some of the framework in the old ballroom(I have a photo somewhere).

Brown Hall(Photo courtesy of SDSU)

Brown Hall was built in 1959.  One of the first residence halls, Brown occupies 400 beds.

Bailey Rotunda(Photo courtesy of http://callinghome.sdstateconnect.org/old-bricks-new-names/)

Opened in 1969 and serves as an instruction and lecture building.  Renamed Bailey Rotunda after Harold Bailey, former VP of Academic Affairs.(see full length interview with Harold Bailey)

Frost Arena(Photo: SDSU Athletics)

Frost Arena opened in 1973, replacing "The Barn" which hosted SDSU athletic events.  Frost Arena is home to SDSU men and women's basketball, wrestling, volleyball, graduation ceremonies, and other events.

Briggs Library

Briggs Library opened in 1979. It was named after the university's longest running president, Hilton M. Briggs.

Performing Arts Center(photo courtesy of SDSU)

Opened in 2003 and is home to theatrical productions and the performing arts department.  The "PAC" Center, as it is commonly known as, has a vision for a second phase.  Check that out via the SDSU Foundation here.

All the new additions to campus have transformed the university.  A full view of the amount of structures is available at the map and directions page.

(Photo Courtesy of thinkconfluence.com)

For a visual description from a man who stepped foot on SDSU more than 60 years ago, Harold Bailey speaks of what is now Admin Lane today.
(video here) 

SDSU has accreditation in many programs.  A full list can be found at SDSU Accreditation.
Alum and former Dean of Nursing Roberta Olson speaks on the importance of accreditation at SDSU, and the success over the past few decades thanks to the SDSU Foundation and private donors.

Roberta Olson has seen a lot at SDSU, from her times as a student back in the early 1960's to traveling through the state to her parents home in Groton, SD, to coming back as the Dean of Nursing in 1995. Olson recapped some of the changes she's witnessed over the years; watch the video below for details.

Academically, SDSU has grown all over.  Chemistry and biology students are enamored with the $40 million Avera Health and Science Center.  The multi-functional building opened in 2010 and has provided a cozy home for biology, chemistry, and pharmacy students to compete with some of the most prestigious schools and programs in the country.

The Davis Dairy plant, completed in 2011, is a new dairy plant which was constructed to help prepare dairy production students for life after college.  The state-of-the-art facility can be checked out below, 

The focus of SDSU has changed over the past decade; changing from a focus on growth and expansion to now wanting to enhance student life.  President David Chicoine and the Students Association made huge efforts in the late 2000's and the past few years to make this a reality.
One of the first changes looked into was student housing, in particular a new dorm, named Caldwell Hall in 2003.

The new residence hall featured suite-style rooms, air conditioning, an elevator, and personal bathrooms for the first time.  Tschetter was excited when the newest dorm in over 30 years was completed.

This reality also included a new Wellness Center for students.  The Wellness Center houses equipment, athletic courts, an indoor track, studios, and offers programs to help students with their physical health and promote a healthy lifestyle.  The $10.4 million building opened to students in the fall of 2008.

During the later 2000's, the SA was also looking at residence expansions yet again paired with additional dining options.  With enrollment increasing from 8,700 in 2000 to soaring over 11,000 in 2005 and more than 12,000 in 2009 and continuing to grow, the need was there.  With plans in the future, Jackrabbit Grove was the vision; three more residence halls to go up on the southeast part of campus. Dining options including Weary Wils Sports Grill and Einstein Bros. Bagels opened in 2009.

Thorne Hall

Abbot Hall

Spencer Hall

The new additions alleviated congestion within residence halls, but the university went further yet in 2011 with plans to complete "Jackrabbit Grove" with four more residence halls; Ben Reifel, Hyde, Honors, and Schultz Halls.

The four residence halls were completed in the summer of 2013.  Students began moving into the halls on August 23, 2013.  Below is a video I shot and edited for SDSU, 

In addition to additions to Jackrabbit Grove, new dining options within the Student Union were completed as well, including Chick-fil-A, Panda Express, and Extreme Pita.

South Dakota State Athletics have taken giant steps in the past nine years since moving to division one. These include upgrades to the baseball field, the Dykhouse Student-Athlete Center, and coming soon the Indoor Practice and Human Performance Facility.  Below is a story narrated by Tyler Merriam with Athletic Director Justin Sell on just what the facility means to athletics and the university.

Since groundbreaking on August 31, a great amount of progress has been made.  Just last week, support beams for the structure went up.  The video below shows progress over the past three months.

The Indoor Practice and Human Performance facility is scheduled to open the fall of 2014 to student athletes.  The $30 million+ building is one more phase to check off the athletics master plan.  Up next: a new football stadium to replace Coughlin Alumni Stadium.  Two weeks ago, the stadium passed the Board of Regents, gaining approval to move forward the proposal for the $60 million stadium.  Completion on the new football stadium is set for the fall of 2016.

Marketing SDSU is now easier than ever.  I spoke with Marketing Director Mike Lockrem about this.

South Dakota State University now offers 183 fields of study to students, something of appeal to almost everyone.  It draws in students from all across the country, all 50 states, as well as outside of the United States, at least 72 countries.  In the end, it's just another reason to become a jackrabbit and Be Great, Start Here.

For more information on any of the structures at SDSU, check out a complete list at the buildings page online.

South Dakota State University Athletics

This is a bit of a trial post as I am figuring out how I can see my blog posts, but also to update those of you on what I do as a graduate assistant at SDSU.

Yeager Media Center is a high definition studio in Yeager Hall on the campus of South Dakota State University in Brookings, South Dakota.  The studio is home to "On Call", a medical program that airs on South Dakota Public Broadcasting on Thursday nights.  This production was one of the first programs I ever worked with on campus as an undergraduate.  From there I was then integrated a bit more doing post production work with Lowell Haag, coordinator of YMC.  With my experiences with On Call, I then became involved with The Jackrabbit Insider, a weekly television show dedicated to updating viewers on Jackrabbit Athletics.  These two programs were produced in Pugsley hall prior to YMC.  iGrow, an SDSU extension service, also utilizes the studio quite frequently.

As a broadcast journalism student with a lot of video experience, I was asked by Tyler Merriam and Ryan Sweeter and Lowell Haag if I would like to be a graduate assistant with Yeager and SDSU Athletics.  After a few months of pondering the opportunity, I accepted in the summer of 2012 and have had a great run the last 15 months.

So what do I do?  I primarily work over in Athletics, shooting video of all home athletic events.  A big focus is on football, and both the men's and women's basketball teams, but I also shoot wrestling, volleyball, track, cross country, swimming and anything else that is needed.  All the video that is shot is used for archive purposes and of course the Jackrabbit Insider.  When I'm not there of course, I am a student so I have courses to take which is always a battle to stay on top of.  Yeager Media Center also has production work to do as well.  This past summer I was presented with a Mob Grazing project to work on, which emphasizes a new trend in agriculture where ranchers rotate their cattle on pastures for short, intensive time periods which has proven to be beneficial for the cattle and the land.  This project is currently wrapping up.  University Relations at SDSU also has a few projects for student hire(me) through Yeager Media Center as well.(see SDSU freshmen move-in video)  iGrow and SDSU Extension services with crops and other agriculture is another frequent client.

So all of this work the last two years has me more than slightly involved with SDSU.  I feel like I bleed blue and yellow.  I almost don't want to leave after I'm planned to be done in May.  I can't help but hope that a position is created for me at SDSU when I'm done.

Go Jackrabbits!  Or as we like to say, "Go Big, Go Blue, Go Jacks!"

Hello Multi-Media Platform Classmates,

This is going to be the best place for me to create a place to incorporate all of the media- social media, print, video, etc and anything else.  My youtube channel is available for you to view at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1FEC1975A696DA00&feature=edit_ok . My twitter is @justinhansen4 and my Facebook can be found at Justin Hansen(kind of hard to find). Instagram is justindhansen.  
I'm sure I will be tweaking things here as I go along as well so bear with me :)