higher education

In The Moment ... April 26, 2018 Show 324 Hour 2

Jackie Hendry is SDPB's healthcare and education reporter. She's been working on a monthlong series about international students in higher education in South Dakota.

After a seven month search the University of Sioux Falls announced Brett Bradfield as its 23rd president.

Bradfield has worked at the university for 16 years and in 2007 became the university’s provost and vice president for academic affairs.

Bradfield says he recognizes the challenges higher education institutes face but is hopeful the University of Sioux falls will stay strong into the future.

The scene was festive in the student commons. Students, faculty, staff and trustees mingled in anticipation of the announcement.

University Sioux Falls officials say their school can fill a void left when a community college closed. USF is preparing to launch a program aimed at helping people learn English so they can go to college or become skilled workers. A program that used to help those students ended earlier this year. Now USF leaders say they’re resurrecting the opportunity.

Higher education leaders are working to get students on track for college-level courses without adding to their years in school. Not all students are prepared for college or tech programs after high school. Now educators are offering them opportunities to catch up while taking normal class loads.

Representatives from the Board of Regents and South Dakota’s technical institutes are talking to lawmakers about retaining students – especially when their skills are shy of normal requirements. State colleges and tech schools now have versions of co-remediation.

Lawmakers from districts in and around Sioux Falls are previewing their priorities for the 2016 legislative session. Wednesday morning a couple hundred people attended an annual breakfast from the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce to hear what lawmakers anticipate in the coming weeks.

Education

The state Board of Regents has appointed a task force to look at potentially allowing beer and wine to be sold at campus events for the state's six public universities. 

Janelle Toman  is the director of communications for the board of regents. She says the task force is in its early stages of discussions about allowing alcohol to be sold during events such as sporting games and fine art performances. 

Augustana College in Sioux Falls is receiving a name change. The private liberal arts institution gathered Tuesday to officially unveil its new name as a university.

Augustana students wait in the Kirkeby-Over Stadium as professors file in and freshman take in their surroundings.

Alumni Carol Oakland says she is exciting her alma mater is expanding programs to become a university.

“I think it’s wonderful. It actually makes our degrees worth more- we are now university graduates,” says Oakland.

The President of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology had died.  School officials confirmed Robert Wharton’s death this morning (September 19, 2012).  South Dakota Board of Regents C-E-O Jack Warner says Wharton’s tenure brought the School of Mines into regional and national prominence.