Alumni Green

The Alumni Green Project, which is located to the west side of campus across Medary Avenue, is in progress.

The South Dakota State Foundation and Alumni Association expect the project to be completed by summer 2017.

The project started mid-May, and this summer’s rain slowed the progress of the project by a couple of weeks, but the completion time should not be affected, according to SDSU Foundation.

The project’s goal is to attract more alumni to visit SDSU and create more connections.

A university house, which will be used by the university president, is being built to re-place the Woodbine Cottage. The current cottage will be re-purposed into something else.

he new president’s house is expected to be completed the same time as the Alumni Green.

In addition to the Alumni Green Project and the new president’s house, there will also be landscape modifications.

The clock tower will be relocated to the center of the Alumni Green to be more “historically accurate.” The relocation will recreate the concept of the previous Old Central clock tower and create a focal point of the new landscape, said Steve Erpenbach, president and CEO of SDSU Foundation.

A new project will create a monument out of two limestones, which were salvaged from the Campanile restoration project 16 years ago. The monument will be dedicated to donors and placed next to the clock tower.

Dana J. Dykhouse

Construction on the Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium is almost complete.

Work continued throughout the summer while students were away. Seats were installed, new turf was put down and the Jacks football team started practice in the stadium Aug. 4.

The stadium will hold up to 19,000 fans, which is 8,000 more seats than Coughlin-Alumni Stadium.

Three sections of seating are available on the west side of the stadium including regular seating, club seating and executive suites. The club seating has its own concourse and restroom while the executive suites have food, beverages, indoor restrooms and outdoor seating.

South Dakota State University announced beer and wine may be sold at some events in the stadium. The university announced this after a state law was changed so that the sale of alcohol was no longer prohibited on state campuses.

A public open house on Aug. 27 from 2 to 4 p.m. will allow students and Brookings community members to tour the facility and watch the Jacks football team practice.

Officials plan to finish construction by Sept. 8 for the Jacks Bash celebration. The first football game in the stadium will be against Drake University Sept. 10.

Administration Changes

South Dakota State saw a wave of administrational changes over the summer.

Barry Dunn transitioned to his new role as president of SDSU. He attended an intensive training session on becoming a president in San Diego and visited towns around South Dakota.

Karyn Weber followed Dunn in joining the Office of the President. She is the new assistant to the president.

Daniel Scholl replaced Dunn as dean of the College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences.

Michaela Willis joined the SDSU community in July as vice president of Student Affairs. Willis previously served as the vice president of enrollment management and students affairs at Peru State College in Nebraska.

Rebecca Bott took charge of the Honors College in August as interim dean of the Honors College. Bott filled former dean Tim Nichols’ position after he followed his wife and former SDSU Provost Laurie Nichols to the University of Wyoming. Bott was an assistant professor and extension equine specialist before she accepted the interim dean position.

Dennis Hedge took place of former Provost Nichols as interim provost. Hedge looks to maintain efficiency and smooth operations in his new position. He served as dean of the College of Pharmacy before he transitioned to interim provost.

Bummobile

The Bummobile took South Dakota by storm this summer.

The Hobo Day Committee spread the word about Hobo Day by taking the Bummobile across South Dakota.

Towns visited during the Hobo Day Committee’s summer parade tour trav-els were Volga for their “Old Timers” celebrations, Tabor for “Czech Days,” Philip for “Scotty Philip Days,” Dell Rapids for “Quarry Days,” Watertown, Mitchell for the Corn Palace Stampede Rodeo, Custer for “Gold Discovery Days,” Madison for “Madison Discovery Days,” Clark for “Po-tato Days” and Scotland for the “Scottie Stampede Rodeo Days.”

During their travels, the Bummobile was featured in parades during various celebrations in South Dakota towns.

The Bummobile will be seen more frequently across campus as Hobo Day approaches.

This year’s Hobo Day is Oct. 22 and the theme for Hobo Day is “Living the legacy.”