The College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences found its dean this week in John Killefer, professor and department head of animal and rangeland sciences at Oregon State University.

Killefer has served in his current role since 2012. During that time, he successfully merged the departments of animal sciences and rangeland, ecology and management to form the Department of Animal and Rangeland Sciences.

Killefer also completed construction on three facilities as well as renovations to others. He established $3.5 million in endowments to support teaching and research, in addition to support for livestock farms and education opportunities in cattle production. He will begin his duties at South Dakota State in late March.

The search continues for deans in the Colleges of Engineering, Pharmacy and the newly realigned Colleges of Natural Science and Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. These two colleges will be the result of separating the College of Arts and Sciences into their own entities, which will be implemented July 1, 2018.

SDSU has also begun its search for its Wokini Director. The director will collaborate with campus to coordinate student recruitment, success, retention, fundraising and programming support for Native American students.

Four finalists were announced today for dean of the Van D. and Barbara B. Fishback Honors College. The finalists will visit campus in January. They will each spend one day interviewing where they will meet with university leadership, deans, researchers, faculty, students and staff. There will be open forums for each candidate to engage with other key stakeholders, including community and university members.

Read here for information on the candidates and their interviewing sessions.