South Dakota
As SDSU aims for top-tier research designation, South Dakota poised to reap benefits
This paid piece is sponsored by South Dakota State University.
Iowa native Kennedy Roland grew up more than five hours from Brookings but chose to attend South Dakota State University as an undergraduate “on a leap of faith” after college visits were canceled during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“South Dakota State checked all my boxes; it is a midsized university and allowed me to attend college out of state at an in-state price,” she said.
Four years later, Roland again found herself faced with figuring out her next move. She earned an undergraduate degree in biology but wasn’t sure about graduate school.
“I never wanted to pursue a Ph.D.,” she added. “However, I wanted to be part of this program in particular.”
So Roland is staying at SDSU. She’s pairing a passion for teaching that she discovered through coaching gymnastics with her enjoyment of human anatomy and roles as a tutor and teaching assistant for the course.
Her doctorate program “will help me become an expert on both anatomy and education,” she said. “Additionally, I’m excited for guest lecture opportunities to prepare to be an effective professor. Earning a Ph.D. will also allow me to be a competitive candidate for professor positions.”
SDSU aims to attract many more doctoral students such as Roland.
One of the goals of the university’s 2023 Pathway to Premier strategic plan is research, driven by a plan to obtain R1 Carnegie Classification, which would be a first for South Dakota.
The classification framework was developed by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education in the early 1970s to support its research program. The R1 designation indicates the highest level of research activity and is achieved based on factors such as how much the university invests in research and how many research-based doctoral graduates are produced.
South Dakota is one of just five states without an R1 university.
“R1 really isn’t about SDSU,” President Barry Dunn said. “South Dakota needs SDSU to do this so our state and region’s economy can compete on a national scale.”
For SDSU, which currently is classified as R2, “we’re already exceeding how much is spent on research — but where we need to grow is in educating future researchers at the highest level and creating a research and development workforce,” said Daniel Scholl, vice president for research and economic development and an SDSU professor.
“That’s a big focus of ours.”
Like Roland, Brandon Scott also became somewhat of an accidental SDSU doctoral student. After receiving his undergraduate degree in biochemistry at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania, he stumbled upon SDSU at a conference and decided to apply. He ultimately earned his graduate degree and Ph.D. in biochemistry, spending seven years in Brookings and advancing his research in microscopy techniques.
“When I came out, I was very impressed,” he said. “I couldn’t have gone to a better place, actually, especially with my mentor, Adam Hoppe. It couldn’t have worked out any better for me.”
He’s now an assistant professor in nanoscience and biomedical engineering and a CZI imaging scientist at South Dakota Mines.
SDSU’s pursuit of R1 classification is more about what it takes to earn the distinction than the number itself, he added.
“What you have to do to get there and maintain it is the biggest thing,” Scott said. “You look at R1 institutions, and they keep turning out graduates and research because they have that momentum behind them. It’s not just the students you attract but the faculty you’re able to attract once you reach that status. I’m still very much integrated into what’s happening at SDSU, and I think some of the labs there, especially in biochemistry, already are rock stars.”
Achieving the R1 classification would reflect both a learning and business environment powered by research and its impacts. More research tends to drive business spinoffs, resulting in economic growth and a more educated workforce.
That’s already starting to happen in South Dakota, Dunn said. He points to companies such as animal vaccine developer and manufacturer Medgene, which “has well over 100 employees and is innovating how we protect our nation’s food supply,” he said.
“Its platform technology started on our campus with our facility. R1 will help us multiply those kind of successes in the private sector.”
SDSU typically graduates about 50 doctoral students and needs to reach 70 annually to achieve R1 classification.
The first step in that direction “is remarkably simple and affordable,” Dunn said.
“We have to offer graduate assistants benefits. Think about it. They’re typically around 25 years old and coming off their parents’ health insurance. Often, they’re starting families of their own. If you’re one of those students, are you going to pursue a doctoral degree at SDSU, an R2 university with no benefits, or are you going to seek out a prestigious R1 that covers your health insurance?”
The classification also helps in recruiting and retaining faculty, Scholl added.
“Because this is a place where they can visualize having a successful career in their field,” he said. “That serves as an added attractor for Ph.D. students, and it all adds up to greater research activity. And when we do research, the funds we bring in through grants and contracts are spent locally, so it stimulates the local economy and the knowledge spills over into the economy.”
The Research Park at SDSU further supports its progression to R1 classification.
“It serves as a place where the private sector can be very close to the university without being in the university,” Scholl said. “You’re very close to the faculty expertise and expertise of the doctoral and undergrad students who are potentially recruitable.”
Companies such as General Mills, POET and Raven Industries, which is part of CNH Industrial, regularly use the research park for their work and to build relationships at SDSU, he said.
“Having things like a university research park and having the private sector close at hand will help us grow research and research education to perform like an R1 university,” Scholl said.
The good news is, achieving R1 classification isn’t far out of reach, Dunn added.
“From the strength, scope and scale of our academic programs to our beautiful, modern campus to our outstanding faculty, we are well on our way to achieving this status, which will benefit the entire state.”
To learn more about research at SDSU, click here.
Under state law, any “interested person” can petition state boards to change administrative rules.
But South Dakota citizens and organizations don’t qualify as “persons” under that chapter of state law. The existence of that limitation surprised some members of the state Board of Elections on Wednesday during a meeting called for the express purpose of voting to advance or defeat a rules package the body spent two hours pondering last week.
The League of Women Voters leaned on what it believed to be its right to petition state board earlier this month when it offered the board a series of rule changes the group argued were necessary to standardize the administration of a new state law that requires first-time voter registrants to provide proof of U.S. citizenship.
The board dismissed the petition in a 5-2 vote on Wednesday after one of the board members told the group that the advocacy nonprofit lacks the legal standing to ask for the changes.
Last minute check of statutes calls petitioners’ status into question
The definition of a “person” able to petition a state board for a rule change only includes political subdivisions or agencies of the state, board member and retired Rapid City attorney Scott McGregor said.
McGregor did not attend the initial board meeting last week when the petition was presented, but he reviewed the matter over the weekend, he told South Dakota Searchlight after the meeting. With a 40-year career “making legal arguments based on statutory interpretations,” McGregor also reviewed relevant laws regarding the petition process.
McGregor said he wanted to see if “interested person” had a broad enough definition to include organizations such as the League of Women Voters.
“‘Person’ in various contexts has an awful lot of definitions,” McGregor said. “It depends on the section of the law you’re dealing with and the level of government you’re dealing with.”
McGregor spoke with the Secretary of State’s Office and its legal counsel earlier this week to confirm his interpretation. Deputy Secretary Tom Deadrick told McGregor that other agencies have accepted rule petitions from individuals.
“Even if other agencies have done it,” McGregor told Searchlight,” that doesn’t change the law.”
McGregor told board members he was “shocked” by the limitations.
“That may be an oversight, but that’s all that’s in there,” McGregor said during the meeting.
Board member Kent Alberty said he was “disappointed” that the law’s restrictions on petitioners wasn’t shared with board members earlier. Alberty, during last week’s meeting, said that he saw a need for at least some standardization in procedures in the administration of the citizenship requirement.
Alberty voted against the dismissal on Wednesday, as did Dewey County Auditor Jamalia Franzen.
McGregor told South Dakota Searchlight that the law should be reviewed legislatively.
“There is a certain unfairness to it,” McGregor said.
Acceptable documents for proving one’s citizenship under the new law in question on Wednesday include a birth certificate, passport, driver’s license, non-driver’s identification card or tribal identification card, or “any other type of acceptable documentation” under federal law. Photocopies of most of those documents are acceptable, but registrants using state- or tribally issued identification cards must have the physical cards with them.
If a voter does not provide necessary documentation, they are registered as federal-only voters and cannot participate in local or state elections.
The League of Women Voters proposals included:
- Allowing photocopies of identification cards, such as tribal IDs and driver’s licenses, to be used as proof of citizenship.
- Recognizing tribal identification cards from any federally recognized tribe, rather than just the nine tribes in South Dakota.
- Allowing voters designated as federal-only an opportunity to cast provisional ballots for local elections while appealing their eligibility.
- Adding specific language to the state’s voter registration form to explain that not offering a physical South Dakota address would cause them to be designated as federal-only voters.
- Adding language to notifications confirming a voter’s registration clearly saying if the registrant is a federal-only voter, as well as language explaining how to remedy the situation.
South Dakota Secretary of State Monae Johnson was ill during last week’s board meeting, at which the group took testimony from supporters of each rule. No one from her office was on hand to rebut the supporters, but her staff did file written responses in opposition.
On Wednesday, Johnson told the board that the new law, as written, does not allow photocopies of driver’s licenses, only the original card. She added that while no formal appeal process exists for voters registered as federal-only, they can remedy their status by resubmitting their registration with proper documentation.
“The League of Women Voters and other concerned organizations could look at amending the current law in the 2027 legislative session, if that is their wish,” Johnson said.
Johnson will not be seeking re-election for secretary of state in November. She lost the Republican nomination at last month’s state party convention to state Rep. Heather Baxter, who supported the bill that created the new law during the legislative session and will oversee its administration if elected. Baxter will face Democratic nominee Terrence Davis in the general election.
Baxter submitted public comment ahead of Wednesday’s meeting and compared the proposed changes to presenting a photocopy of identification to get through security at the airport or purchase alcohol. The state Department of Public Safety does not accept photocopies of identification documents, Baxter said.
“So why allow the League to make such changes to what law already clearly states as well as other state departments?!” Baxter wrote.
Amy Scott-Stoltz, president of the League of Women Voters of South Dakota, said the organization is “disappointed” in the board’s decision and “reviewing our options” regarding advancing its proposals and challenging the board’s dismissal.
The group’s petition was meant to make sure the new law is “uniformly implemented across the state and that voters and county auditors alike would have clear guidance about their obligations under the law in advance of the November election,” Scott-Stoltz said.
“We intend to continue our work in South Dakota to ensure that every American citizen can access the ballot box,” Scott-Stoltz said.
— This story was originally published on southdakotasearchlight.com.
The South Dakota Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at July 8, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from July 8 drawing
12-29-37-43-55, Powerball: 18, Power Play: 4
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lotto America numbers from July 8 drawing
17-26-31-32-37, Star Ball: 01, ASB: 02
Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Dakota Cash numbers from July 8 drawing
07-11-18-31-33
Check Dakota Cash payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from July 8 drawing
16-18-43-48-50, Bonus: 01
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your prize
- Prizes of $100 or less: Can be claimed at any South Dakota Lottery retailer.
- Prizes of $101 or more: Must be claimed from the Lottery. By mail, send a claim form and a signed winning ticket to the Lottery at 711 E. Wells Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501.
- Any jackpot-winning ticket for Dakota Cash or Lotto America, top prize-winning ticket for Lucky for Life, or for the second prizes for Powerball and Mega Millions must be presented in person at a Lottery office. A jackpot-winning Powerball or Mega Millions ticket must be presented in person at the Lottery office in Pierre.
When are the South Dakota Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky for Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
- Lotto America: 9:15 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Dakota Cash: 9 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 10:15 p.m. CT daily.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a South Dakota editor. You can send feedback using this form.
LARCHWOOD, Iowa (KIWA) – A Tea, South Dakota man has been arrested on a felony domestic abuse charge after an incident near Larchwood.
According to a criminal complaint filed with the Lyon County Clerk of Court’s Office by the Iowa State Patrol, 45-year-old Beau Christensen of Tea is accused of assaulting his girlfriend in their hotel room at Grand Falls Casino & Golf Resort near Larchwood. He was arrested on Wednesday, July 8.
In his statement, the state trooper who filed the report says Christensen put his hands around the victim’s neck. The victim stated she could not breathe while this was happening.
Christensen was charged with domestic abuse assault – impeding air or blood flow, a class D felony. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison. He also faces a misdemeanor charge of possession of marijuana.
He faces a preliminary hearing on Friday, July 10.
At last report, Christensen remained in the Lyon County Jail in Rock Rapids in lieu of a $6000 bond.
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