DSU Commencement to be held May 11

Madison – Over 190 graduates will receive their diplomas during the 118^th Commencement of Dakota State University. The event will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 11, at the DSU Fieldhouse.

Speaking on behalf of the graduates this year is Barb Asleson of De Smet.

Delivering the commencement address this year is Mark Conway of PeopleSoft. Conway joined PeopleSoft as the Academic Programs Director in November 1998. He develops and manages academic-focused initiatives to integrate PeopleSoft products and technology into the curriculum of college and universities. This includes managing PeopleSoft’s On Campus Program, consulting with faculty to prepare training, curriculum integration and technology support plans and developing materials to facilitate using enterprise management software in an academic setting.

Conway’s 25-year career has consistently focused on the intersection of technology and industry-academic partnerships. Prior to joining PeopleSoft, Conway served with Compaq Computer Corporation as Director of Internet Service Provider Marketing and held similar senior-level administrative positions with Digital Equipment Corporation.

Conway is a board member of the Lincoln Extended Education/ Activities Program and served on the board of the Northeast Independent Living Program. He served as chair of the Massachusetts Department of Education’s School-Business Partnership Committee, the business association that helped frame Massachusetts's education reform legislation. He has served as Executive Director of the Job Placement Project, a National Demonstration Project of the Department of Commerce.

Conway’s educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Merrimack College, a Master’s in Technology, Strategy and Policy from Boston University and a Master’s in Education from Northeastern University.

This year two Distinguished Alumnus Awards will be presented, one to Theodore O. Berven and the other to Thomas A. Farrell.

Bervan is an Iowa native who grew up on a farm and graduated with a teaching degree from Dakota State University (then Eastern State Normal School) in 1927. Berven taught for a short time before going on to pursue his Master’s degree at the University of Minnesota. While there, he was offered a position with the Federal Land Bank of Minneapolis. His farm background soon made him a valued appraiser of farmland for the bank.

In 1931, Berven quit his job at the Federal Land Bank, taking his life savings to travel around the Midwest buying fertile farmland that was in the process of being lost to foreclosure. Over the next 40 years, he owned and managed farms over a six state area, offering assistance to the displaced farmers by allowing them to rent the land. Within a few years, the annual income from his farms more than equaled the investment he made purchasing them.

During the depression years, Berven also saved seven farm families from economic ruin by securing their mortgages, assisting them with his knowledge and funding, and then deeding the land back to the family, without any personal gain for himself.

In his 90’s, Bervan still believes in and lives the values with which he was raised. He is a respected entrepreneur, philanthropist and humanitarian. Bervan and his wife, Louise, live in St. Paul, MN.

Tom Farrell is a 1970 graduate of Dakota State University with a degree in health and physical education and a minor in business education. He earned his Master of Science degree from South Dakota State University and has completed additional post-graduate work at several universities. Farrell has spent all but one year of his professional career at Dakota State, where he currently serves as Associate Professor of Computer Science/Information Systems.

When the DSU mission changed in 1984, Farrell took a career change and sought retraining in the technology field. He has become a leader in delivery of courses via distance. He was the first faculty member in the state to use video-streaming in course delivery.

Farrell is also a successful business man. He and his family have managed a Minnesota campground for the past twenty years, he has done consulting for businesses and schools and he is the author of technology-related textbooks and manuscripts.

Farrel’s community involvement includes leadership roles in his church and the Madison Kiwanis. He and his wife, Joyce, a Dakota State graduate, live in Madison with their daughter, Susan, a DSU freshman and son, Jim.

Mr. Bruce Huxford will be awarded an honorary Master’s degree from the Master of Science in Education. Huxford was enrolled in the master’s program at the time of his death due to a massive stroke in December 2001. Huxford was a well-respected computer educator who worked with the Department of Transportation and taught in the community college environment in Pierre.

Dakota State University will broadcast graduation live on the Internet at www.dsu.edu.