An anti-smoking group is warning of “devastating effects” if South Dakota lawmakers approve Gov. Kristi Noem’s proposal to reduce funding for a tobacco use prevention fund by more than half.
A bill backed by Noem’s administration would drop the Tobacco Prevention and Reduction Trust Fund’s annual allocation from $5 million to $2 million. Legislators will consider the bill during the annual legislative session that began Tuesday in Pierre.
The fund sustains the South Dakota Tobacco Control Program, aimed at preventing South Dakotans from using tobacco products and helping residents quit through the South Dakota QuitLine.
Much of the funding goes toward contractual services for QuitLine. The state currently holds a one-year, $824,000 contract with Avera Health to provide telephone and other tobacco counseling services for Quitline and a one-year, $1 million contract with Pierre-based Vilas LTC Pharmacy to provide medication for QuitLine participants. The state allocated nearly $400,000 toward grants and subsidies last fiscal year for other prevention and counseling initiatives, according to the Bureau of Finance and Management.
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Ben Hanson, North and South Dakota government relations director for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, said the cut “robs” money that was “promised” and overwhelmingly supported by South Dakota voters in 2006, when they passed an initiated measure to increase the tax on tobacco products and create the fund.
“We think it’d have long-term pretty devastating effects on respiratory health and eventually youth smoking rates,” Hanson said.
The trust fund receives revenue from the tobacco tax on cigarette, cigar and chewing tobacco sales. State law currently requires that the first $30 million from the tax goes to the state’s general fund, the next $5 million goes to the trust fund, and any further revenue goes to the general fund. Noem’s bill would keep that formula but change the $5 million trust fund allocation to $2 million.
Noem’s proposal comes as the state faces a tight budget year due to lower-than-anticipated sales tax revenues. Tobacco tax revenues are also falling. Noem’s administration projects the state will collect about $42 million in tobacco taxes this fiscal year, its lowest amount since 2006.
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The QuitLine and other funded prevention efforts extend to non-tobacco nicotine products that have grown in popularity, including e-cigarettes, vape pens and nicotine pouches. But the tax doesn’t include those products. The state Department of Revenue cannot track non-tobacco nicotine product sales, a spokesperson told South Dakota Searchlight in an email.
Between 2022 and 2023, the percentage of U.S. high school students reporting tobacco and nicotine product use — including e-cigarettes — declined from 16.5% to 12.6%, but the percentage among middle school students increased from 4.5% to 6.6%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In South Dakota, 14.7% of high schoolers reported using e-cigarettes last fiscal year, according to the Bureau of Finance and Management, which was three times higher than the percentage that reported smoking and seven times higher than the percentage that reported spit tobacco use.
The Carroll Institute in Sioux Falls received about $17,000 in funding last fiscal year from the Tobacco Prevention and Reduction Trust Fund to purchase prevention curriculum for elementary school students. About 85% of the Carroll Institute’s funding comes from state government, including grants from other sources than the trust fund, said Carroll Institute Executive Director Tiffany Butler.
A decade ago, the institute focused on alcohol. Now, it focuses on vaping education, said Kristi VanDeRostyne, prevention services program manager. She said some students vape in the school bathroom or even the classroom during the day, using devices that look like pens, water bottles or USB flash drives.
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“I know our state and nation are all worried about fentanyl and meth. It’s everywhere,” VanDeRostyne said. “Where do you prevent that from happening? By building those prevention skills at a young age while you still have that captive audience.”
Instead of reducing contributions to the trust fund, Butler said she’d prefer to see the fund’s grants expanded to cover more costs, including reimbursing staff time.
VERMILLION, S.D. (AP) — Terri Miller Jr. scored 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as Portland State beat South Dakota 77-71 on Wednesday.
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Keyon Kensie scored 22 points and added 10 rebounds for the Vikings (5-2). Jaylin Henderson finished with 11 points.
Isaac Bruns led the Coyotes (5-4) with 28 points, nine rebounds and four steals. Cameron Fens added 15 points, six rebounds, two steals and two blocks for South Dakota. Uzziah Buntyn finished with 11 points and two steals.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
South Dakota State University is expanding its graduate offerings with the launch of a new social science Ph.D. program, an interdisciplinary program designed to address complex challenges facing rural communities and society at large.
Approved by the South Dakota Board of Regents in April 2025 and the Higher Learning Commission shortly after, the program will welcome its first cohort of students in fall 2026.
The program is housed in the School of Psychology, Sociology and Rural Studies within the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Rather than focusing on a single discipline such as sociology or psychology, the new Ph.D. brings together faculty expertise from across SDSU’s colleges — including nursing, natural sciences, agriculture, pharmacy and allied health professions — to train scholars equipped to tackle today’s “wicked problems.”
Paul Markel
“The world’s complex issues require interdisciplinary teams,” said Paul Markel, professor and director of the School of Psychology, Sociology and Rural Studies.
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The launch of the social science Ph.D. program also marks a new chapter for SDSU’s historic tradition in graduate social science education. The university’s sociology program dates back to 1925, once producing nearly a quarter of all doctorates on campus during its peak. Admissions to the previous sociology Ph.D. were suspended in 2020 due in part to faculty staffing and shifting academic focus.
Rather than simply reviving the former program, faculty and administrators chose to reimagine it. The resulting social science Ph.D. program addresses the current, complex research needs of the university in alignment with Pathway to Premier 2030 and the “R1 Our Way” initiative — SDSU’s commitment to reaching high research activity designation. The program not only advances interdisciplinary research but also increases the number of research doctorates SDSU produces, a key benchmark in the journey toward R1 status.
“The interdisciplinary approach allows complex problems to be taken seriously and explored in depth, so that you can come up with real practical solutions in a way that no single discipline could do alone,” Markel emphasized.
The program’s creation involved a working group of faculty representing multiple disciplines and colleges, including:
Abigail Tobias-Lauerman, School of Psychology, Sociology and Rural Studies
George Tsakiridis, School of American and Global Studies
Heidi Mennenga, College of Nursing
James Amell, College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions
Jason Zimmerman, College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Jennifer Zavaleta Cheek, Department of Natural Resource Management
Kimberly Johnson Maier, Department of Geography and Geospatial Sciences
Londa Nwadike, College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences
Shola Aromona, School of Communication and Journalism
Stephanie Hanson, College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions
Tyler Miller, School of Psychology, Sociology and Rural Studies
Members met regularly to design curriculum, define core requirements and develop the program’s first two proposed specializations: 1) environmental and rural development and 2) rural well-being.
“At one point we had rural sociology on our campus,” Markel said. “So even with this program, both specializations represent a rural theme, specifically rural development and rural well-being. It’s honoring and rejuvenating our rural studies roots.”
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The program’s structure allows students to ground themselves in social science theory while applying research methods to practical challenges like sustainable land management or rural health disparities. It also aims to revive SDSU’s historic partnership with SDSU Extension through renewed attention to rural vitality, echoing SDSU’s land-grant mission.
“The rural environment is very complex, and there are incredible challenges in the rural space,” Markel explained. “When we identify a problem in a rural community, whether it’s health care, access to food, education or workforce development, it’s not enough for any one discipline to focus on the problem because we really need to bring in teams and have multiple disciplines looking at the same problem to make a difference.”
From concept to approval, the Ph.D. in social science moved with rare speed in higher education. The initial proposal, written by Markel in collaboration with faculty such as School of Communication and Journalism Director Josh Westwick, School of American and Global Studies Director Christi Garst-Santos and MaryJo Benton Lee, adjunct faculty member and evaluation specialist, was submitted to Dean David Earnest of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences in September 2024. By December, the curricular paperwork was complete, and the program received final Board of Regents approval by April 2025.
The program is now included in SDSU’s Graduate Catalog, with recruitment and marketing underway for the first cohort’s admission in fall 2026. An advisory council composed of faculty from across participating colleges will oversee program evolution and ensure continued interdisciplinary collaboration.
The social science Ph.D. program positions South Dakota State University as one of the few institutions in the nation — alongside models like Syracuse University and Johns Hopkins — to offer an interdisciplinary social science doctorate.
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Dennis Hedge
“I am excited about the impact that the social science Ph.D. program will have on our local communities and university,” SDSU Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Dennis Hedge said. “While providing a significant boost to our university’s Carnegie R1 designation pursuit, this interdisciplinary Ph.D. program will importantly provide graduating students with a solid foundation of perspectives and methods in the social sciences that will serve as a framework for addressing complex issues faced by communities in our state and region. By doing such work, our communities will ultimately be stronger.”
Markel summarized the program’s aim this way: the doctoral training will ground students in social science theory and research methods while requiring them to work with interdisciplinary advisory committees and teams so their research and solutions are applied and relevant to an ever-changing, complex world.
“We want to be able to take the research that comes out of this program and apply it in meaningful ways to the people of South Dakota and the region who are living in rural environments,” Markel said.
South Dakota State Jackrabbits (4-4) at Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (4-2)
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Flagstaff, Arizona; Wednesday, 8 p.m. EST
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Jackrabbits -2.5; over/under is 149.5
BOTTOM LINE: Northern Arizona faces South Dakota State after Ryan Abelman scored 20 points in Northern Arizona’s 79-72 victory over the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks.
The Lumberjacks have gone 4-0 at home. Northern Arizona scores 81.2 points and has outscored opponents by 5.5 points per game.
The Jackrabbits are 0-2 in road games. South Dakota State ranks seventh in the Summit League shooting 30.9% from 3-point range.
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Northern Arizona makes 47.9% of its shots from the field this season, which is 7.5 percentage points higher than South Dakota State has allowed to its opponents (40.4%). South Dakota State averages 71.6 points per game, 4.1 fewer than the 75.7 Northern Arizona allows.
TOP PERFORMERS: Zack Davidson is shooting 62.1% and averaging 16.8 points for the Lumberjacks. Abelman is averaging 2.5 made 3-pointers.
Jaden Jackson is averaging 12.1 points and 1.5 steals for the Jackrabbits. Joe Sayler is averaging 11.1 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
