News from the President's Office

Happy Holidays to all Dakota State University alumni and friends! I hope everyone enjoys this holiday season.

DSU had some welcome news as the Career & Placement Services office announced a 95% placement rate for the Class of 2001 which is even a 1% increase from last year. With the slowing economy, this was great to hear and evidence that DSU graduates are in very high demand.

Many degree programs continued with 100% career placement: Computer Information Systems, Computer Science, English for Information Systems, Elementary Education/Special Learning Behaviors, Health Information Administration, and Respiratory Care.

It is also interesting to note that there was a 10% increase in those that chose to remain in South Dakota, with an 80% rate for the Class of 2001. Salaries continued to look good for our graduates as the starting average rose 4%, and the Computer Science graduates garnered the highest average salary at $38,243.

Again, the factor that helps DSU graduates even with the nationwide recession is the leading edge technology environment. Employers continue to state that is one of the main reasons they recruit so actively at Dakota State. I am confident this trend will continue in future years.

I would also like to encourage our alumni to nominate prospective students to DSU. Each year, DSU grants almost $500,000 in scholarships. We realize that alumni are an important part of our recruitment process and we want to provide personal attention to those students that are nominated. I thank you for taking the time in the past to nominate individuals and invite you to continue to call in student names to the Admissions Office at 1-888-DSU-9988, the DSU Foundation at 605-256-5693 or by sending an email to yourfuture@dsu.edu.

Other news on campus includes the new degree program in Computer Graphics. The major and minor will be offered through the College of Liberal Arts. A degree in Computer Graphics is a direct fit for our DSU mission and we expect it to be very attractive to prospective students.

We have also hired two new administrative executives. Rick Smith will begin his duties as Vice President for University Relations on January 1. Marilyn Fowlé has accepted the position of Vice President for Business and Administrative Services, effective January 15. I look forward to working with both Rick and Marilyn.

As always, I encourage alumni and friends to visit campus and see first hand the exciting world of Dakota State!

Jerald A. Tunheim,
President

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