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Professional Ag Marketing of Luverne, Minnesota, has made a significant gift to the Richard Wahlstrom Endowment Fund at South Dakota State University to enhance students’ knowledge of risk management for grain and livestock producers.

From finance to food, six graduates who have risen to the top in their respective fields have been selected for the 2024 Class of Distinguished Alumni by the South Dakota State University Alumni Association.

By the narrowest of margins — two points out of more than 2,000 — the ������Ƶ Quarter Scale Tractor Team came up just short of winning its third consecutive national title. Competing at the 27th annual International Quarter-Scale Tractor Student Design Competition at the Expo Gardens Fairgrounds in Peoria, Illinois, the South Dakota State University team placed third out of 21 teams.

Competing against the best and the brightest, a South Dakota State University engineering team finished third overall in a NASA contest and again was awarded for building the best prototype. The ������Ƶ students were one of 14 teams selected from 75 higher education entries to compete in the finals of the Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition June 10-12 in Cocoa Beach, Florida.

David C. Earnest, the Odeen-Swanson Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of South Dakota, has been named dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at South Dakota State University. Earnest was selected following a national search and will begin working on the ������Ƶ campus July 8.

Leaders from industry, academia and government are being invited to a one-day conference June 11 in Sioux Falls focusing on expanding the computer chip manufacturing workforce in the United States and enhancing existing South Dakota’s innovation systems.

A Spearfish couple has endowed the Cal and Mary Hayenga Department Head of Animal Science at South Dakota State University. Cal, a 1969 agriculture major, and his wife, Mary, a 1967 sociology major, utilized a gift of land to make a difference at their alma mater. By investing in the department head position, the Hayengas are fueling opportunities and resources for staff and students alike.

A business plan developed by four South Dakota State University students — to manufacture biodegradable, single-use plastic bags out of soybean hulls — has earned them a chance to advance in an international contest with the next stop Nairobi, Kenya.

For the third year in a row, the award for the best student chapter of civil engineering students went to South Dakota State University. The Robert Ridgway Student Chapter Award is presented by the American Society of Civil Engineers to the top chapter nationwide. On April 18, adviser Zach Gutzmer learned that the ������Ƶ chapter was tops among 416 student chapters nationwide and 26 foreign countries. Before its 2022-2024 streak, ������Ƶ also won the award in 1999 and 2004.

Jackrabbits Forensics has just wrapped up a historic season, with several “firsts” achieved by one of South Dakota State University’s longest-running cocurricular teams.