On February 25, 1924, the South Dakota Chapter of Alpha Zeta at South Dakota State College was chartered with 19 Charter members, as telegraphed by Harry Potter, General Secretary of Alpha Zeta. This effort began with a December 24, 1919 letter of inquiry from S.D.S.C. President Willis E. Johnson. During the application process, the applying group of approximately 25 men was called the Hopkins Club; this process included 3 failed attempts before success finally came under S.D.S.C. President C.W. Pugsley, who was a member of Alpha Zeta, as were many other S.D.S.C. faculty.

The national Fraternity of Alpha Zeta, the oldest fraternal society in agriculture, was founded on November 4, 1897 at Ohio State University and now is a global network of diverse agricultural and natural resources professionals recognizing, developing and promoting leaders with common values and integrity. Alpha Zeta’s purpose is “to promote agriculture in its broad concept while encouraging and developing its actual and potential leadership, fellowship, service and a spirit of love and fraternity are involved."

In 2016, the South Dakota Chapter of Alpha Zeta is an honorary fraternity for top students in the College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences at South Dakota State University. It’s involved in many campus activities, including Career Fair, Ag Day, etc. Some of its community activities include mentoring youth, visiting nursing homes, fence-mending and invasive weed eradication at the Girl Scout’s Camp Wildwood, fund-raising for community service projects, such as the Harvest Table, the Food Pantry, etc.

The Amateur Athletic Union is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has more than 700,000 members nationwide, including more than 100,000 volunteers.

In 1931, with 37 members, the Brookings Branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) came into being under the presidency of Miss Gertrude Young. However, it was not until 1950, after much effort on the part of the members, that the national group granted current and retroactive membership to all women holding degrees from SDSC.

Throughout the years, activities have been many and varied. One of the first programs was the promotion of a kindergarten. The branch operated and supported a private kindergarten in the basement of the city library from 1932 until 1941 when it was incorporated into the public school system. During World War II, the branch was active in projects to aid the war effort. Members helped distribute gas and sugar rationing cards, did Red Cross work and aided in salvaging materials such as paper and tin cans. Over the years, contributions to the National Fellowship Fund have been made regularly with the branch earning the money through many projects including bridge benefits, style shows, benefit movies, and through the selling of maps, engagement pads, books, calendars, and note cards.

Scholarship and fellowship programs have been of vital concern over the years. A small fellowship to a State College girl in the junior class started the local program. In 1962, the program was replaced with one that awarded a scholarship to a senior in high school and one to an incoming senior at South Dakota State College. In 1964, after the death of Miss Gertrude Young, the names of the local scholarships were changed to the Gertrude Young - AAUW Scholarships to honor the memory of the first president of the Brookings branch.

Over the years, study groups were developed and became more and important. In 1954, three groups - child study, money management, and international relations - joined two established groups - music and crafts. In 1963-64, a new structure was imposed on the study approach. The groups since then have centered in four interests areas - community problems, cultural interests, education and world problems. Many action programs have been the result of these study groups and other special concerns of the members. Some of these have been supporting educational television, promoting books and magazines distributed in foreign countries, and a resolution proposing a room for retarded and emotionally handicapped children in local school systems. Study groups have also concerned themselves with problems in urban space, consumer education, innovations and crises in education and values in society, science and the arts. Interest has also centered on the legislative process, particularly in the areas of education and women's rights.

Founder: Banks, Dennis

The Athenian Literary Society was first organized in 1888, as a branch of the literary society known as Lyceum. The Athenians were chartered by the last session of the Dakota Territorial Legislature in 1888. At that time, membership was limited to men only, but this restriction was soon removed and women were admitted with full membership privileges. The purpose of the Society was to develop its members in oratory, debate, and extemporaneous speaking and to promote social activities. The weekly meeting consisted of essays, debates, extemporaneous speaking, declamations, games and music.

• Blairstown, New Jersey

The Milwaukee Road, officially the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMSP&P RR) was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and northwest of the United States from 1847 until its acquisition by and merger with the Soo Line railway in 1985–1986. The company went through several official names and faced bankruptcy several times in that period. While the railroad does not exist as a separate entity anymore, it is still commemorated in buildings like the historic Milwaukee Road Depot in Minneapolis, Minnesota and in railroad hardware still maintained by rail fans, such as the Milwaukee Road 261 steam locomotive.

The Milwaukee Road appeared as the Milwaukee and Waukesha Railroad when incorporated in 1847, but soon changed its name to Milwaukee and Mississippi. After three years, the first train ran from Milwaukee to Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, and the first passenger train ran on February 25, 1851. In 1874 the name was changed to Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul. By 1887, the railroad had lines running through Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, and the upper peninsula of Michigan.

The partnership agreement between South Dakota State University and Chungnam National University in Daejeon, Republic of Korea was initiated by Dr. David Hilderbrand, Director of International Programs, and Professor Yong Kook Kim, Chungnam National University. Professor Kim came to SDSU as a doctoral student and earned his Ph.D. degree from the department of Dairy Microbiology in 1990.

When he returned to Korea, he met with administrators at CNU who embraced the idea of a partnership with SDSU. A copy of a letter to Dr. Hilderbrand confirming the interest of CNU administrators in the arrangement is included in this file.

Also included is a letter to Ranny Knutson, Registrar at SDSU, regarding academic credentials at Chungnam National University. The investigation preceded the signing of the formal exchange agreement.

President Duck-kyun Oh and Professor Sung-chul Shin came to South Dakota in February 2001. Following their visit, the formal exchange agreement was signed and approved by the Board of Regents. The first exchange professors from CNU arrived in the fall of 1991. Lists of exchange professors and CNU graduates whose advanced degree programs at SDSU were supported under the agreement are found separately.

Dr. Carl Edeburn, College of Education, Department of Educational Leadership, represented SDSU as its first exchange professor in Korea. A newspaper article about Dr. Edeburn's experiences is included in this file.

While on site, Dr. Edeburn and Dr. Yong Kook Kim organized the first SDSU Alumni meeting. Copies of the invitation and a list of invited guests will be found in the file along with photocopies of pictures taken at the event. This meeting set a precedent for future alumni gatherings held while the Seminar Abroad groups were in Korea.

Dr. Yong Kook Kim and his family continued to be involved with South Dakota State University. Dr. Kim returned to SDSU for post-doctoral research in 1996 and 1997. A Christmas card in which Dr. Kim refers to the arrangements for his post-doctoral work is found in this collection. His daughters, Na Young Kim and So Young Kim, both attended SDSU. Na Yong received a degree in Electrical Engineering in December 1991. Currently, she is nearing completion of a master's degree from the College of Engineering. So Young Kim expects to receive a Pharmacy Doctorate in spring 2005.

Dr. Kim's strongly promoted and supported exchange activities between the two institutions. Each year Seminar Abroad participants were entertained by Dr. Kim and his family in their apartment in Daejeon or at their farm in the country. Photos of these occasions are found in the collection.

At the South Dakota State University dinner in Korea in May 2001, Dr. Kim was presented a plaque in the shape of the state of South Dakota in recognition of his service to SDSU and the exchange relationship. His thank you note for the plaque is found in the file.

Chungnam National University recognized South Dakota State University as its most important partners. Additional documentation of exchange activities can be seen in lists of visitors and students who exchanged, the itineraries for official visits, and social events held in honor of guests and professors which are found in separate files.

Through the latter half of the 20th century, there have been attempts to unionize faculty at South Dakota State University and across South Dakota. Short-lived attempts by the American Association of University Professors and the South Dakota Higher Education Faculty Association ultimately failed, although they did lay the groundwork for the eventual success of the Council of Higher Education.

In 1978, the Board of Regents officially recognized the Council of Higher Education.

The Council of Higher Education (COHE) is the exclusive representative of the collective bargaining unit for the purpose of collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, grievance procedures and other conditions of employment. The bargaining unit includes full-time and regular part-time instructional-research faculty in college and universities, the Agricultural Experiment Station, Cooperative Extension Service, Auxiliary Services, the South Dakota School for the Visually Handicapped and the South Dakota School for the Deaf. These faculty may not be supervisors. The unit does not include the Medical School, the Law School, or the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences.

The unit excludes deans, directors, department chairpersons, department heads, principals, superintendents, program managers, and others who are supervisory and managerial, and also emeritus faculty; teaching and research assistants, clinical faculty; county agents, county home economists and ROTC personnel.

Five members of the South Dakota State University [SDSU] basketball team took part in a 1977 trip to Cuba as part of a South Dakota Delegation. The first mention of such a trip to Cuba came after Sen. George McGovern's 1975 trip to that country. Dave Martin, the SDSU sport's director, was in contact with Sen. McGovern almost immediately after his return from Cuba, interested in what sorts of sports exchanges would be possible with the broadening of relations with the communist country. Despite the numerous diplomatic troubles requisite in such an exchange, by March of 1977 plans for such a trip were well underway. Due perhaps to the continuing influence of Sen. McGovern and Sen. James Abourezk, the trip became a joint venture between the University of South Dakota and South Dakota State University, and was finally taken on April. 4-8 1977. Twenty people were a part of the South Dakota delegation, among them five students and five advisors from SDSU.

An agricultural college for the Territory of Dakota was established February 21, 1881. At the Fifteenth Legislative Assembly, provision was made for a Board of Regents of six members, exclusive of the governor of the Territory, who was the ex-officio President of the Board. A board was selected with three members serving terms of three years and three members serving terms of four years. This board was formed to establish and organize the Dakota Agricultural College.

In 1887, the Legislative Assembly of Dakota Territory established a method of government for the Dakota Agricultural College. This method established a governing board made up of five appointees, the governor and one member of the Territorial Board. The Territorial Legislature approved the appointees biennially, while the Territorial Board member served a one-year term. An elected president and treasurer ran the board, and the president of the college served as a non-voting secretary. The board held up to six meetings, totaling no more than 24 days, each year, and board members received compensation for attendance.

For two years, this Board of Regents governed the Dakota Agricultural College [D.A.C]. In 1889, in anticipation of statehood, the legislative assembly dissolved the Board of Regents and established a five-member Board of Trustees to govern the institution through the transition period.

The Dakota Farmer first began as a newspaper in 1881, eight years before North Dakota and South Dakota were granted statehood. / It was first published in Alexandria in what is now Hanson County, S.D. The first owner, James Baynes, sold it within the first year of existence to Augustine Davis, and the publication moved to Huron, S.D. Davis sold a half-interest in Dakota Farmer to William Bushnell in 1883. Bushnell became sole owner of Dakota Farmer in 1885. / As editor and manager, Bushnell led Dakota Farmer into its early prominence. The publication, moved to Aberdeen, S.D. in 1893, supported all sorts of agricultural organizations and promoted the development of quality livestock and crops for the Dakotas. Bushnell himself was active in politics and eventually became state statistician for South Dakota. / Over the next century, Dakota Farmer survived and thrived with farmers through good times and bad, and became a well-respected source of information. / Webb Publishing, which published The Farmer, saw Dakota Farmer as a natural fit and purchased the magazine in 1979. / Today, Dakota Farmer is part of Farm Progress Companies. Farm Progress publishes 18 state farm magazines similar to Dakota Farmer. It owns and operates eight farm shows across the nation, including the largest in the nation, The Farm Progress Show.

Established on December 9, 1968 with $200,000, Daktronics, Inc., was founded by two SDSU Electrical Engineering professors (Dr. Aelred Kurtenbach and Dr. Duane Sander) to offer university graduates an alternative to leaving the area for permanent employment. By 2006 (38 years later), it employed 1,400 full-time/700 part-time (April, 2006), had netted $21 million on revenue of $329 million (12 months preceding October, 2006), and was “the world’s leading supplier of electronic scoreboards, large electronic display systems, marketing services, digital messaging solutions and related software and services for sports, commercial and transportation applications.” / Initially, Daktronics intended to develop biomedical instrumentation, but following its first major contract (1970) for the Utah legislature’s electronic voting system (later in 40+ state assemblies and the UN General Assembly), it serendipitously moved into scoreboards with the three-sided pyramid “Matside” brand wrestling scoreboard (1971), which evolved into the most complete line of “All Sport” scoreboards and timing systems (later found in every state and foreign countries). This solid-state circuitry was then utilized in time/temperature and message/animation systems at banks, shopping centers, motels, high schools, colleges, civic centers, etc. Combining the scoreboards and messaging boards resulted in custom-designed scoring and information systems popular in universities and arenas across the country. / Daktronics uses new and existing technology to improve its products. “Glow Cube” reflective light technology (which are high intensity electromagnetically controlled individual lights approximately one-inch square) enabled Daktronics to offer the most complete line of information systems available in 1989. In the 1990’s, Daktronics enhanced its “Starburst” incandescent color technology, using new reflector and lens design to present up to 16.7 million colors. It also acquired and enhanced technology for LED displays. / Daktronics has made scoreboards for many Olympics, beginning with the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid and continuing with the 1988, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2002 Olympics. “It’s fun to be involved in the Olympics, but they come only every two years, so it’s not something to build your business around,” said Jim Morgan, Chief Executive of Daktronics. In 2006, 35% of Daktronics sales were to the commercial market, such as Walgreens, CVS, Times Square, Las Vegas strip, and billboard operators, including Lamar Advertising. / Daktronics’ initial public offering was in 1994. In 2006, Daktronics was one of only four public companies in SD with more than $300 million in sales. Also, in 2006, Daktronics opened a 100,000 square foot plant in Sioux Falls, SD, its first major expansion outside of Brookings, SD, its home. At that time, 55% of Daktronics staffers were current SDSU students or alums. / “We established our culture in those early days.” said founder Al Kurtenbach. “We became very customer-oriented. That was extremely important to us. We did everything possible to meet their commitments. We have a lot of great war stories about what our people do to make sure things work well for our customer when the big moment comes.”

Started in 1955, the Eastern South Dakota Science and Engineering Fair is held annually, each spring, at South Dakota State University. Eastern South Dakota Science and Engineering Fair is an affiliated fair for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair put on annually by the Science Service of Washington, D.C. Students in grades 6-12 from area schools are eligible to submit scientific research projects, and each year, several Grand Champion winners receive an all-expense paid trip to compete in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, which is hosted by a different city each year. Students are also competing for a wide variety of medals, trophies, and monetary awards. / The Science Fair is operated by a Fair Director and Committee, as well as the SDSU Chapter of Sigma Xi scientific research society. Sponsorship comes from Sigma Xi, South Dakota State University, the Division of Continuing Education (SDSU), The Greater State Fund, and the South Dakota State University Foundation.

The Forum was organized in Brookings, South Dakota in January 1906. It was then called the Ethical Culture Club; according to one of its historians. It held its original meetings on Sunday and "was to be a substitute on a basis of liberal theology for church going". These early days notwithstanding, the Forum, as it became known after October 14, 1910, was essentially a meeting for the free discussion of any topic of interest. Topics included, child labor laws, the establishment of a public library, promotion of a league to enforce peace, and the use of metric measures. Many of these topics, particularly the building of a library, actually became calls to action.

The Forum was made up of members of both the college and the town with the majority being drawn from all parts of the College. According to William Powers, Forum historian, the outside membership has been distributed among different professions, including clergymen. Membership seems to have only been limited to men, with the added provision that all members were expected at some time to present a paper.

Governance of the organization was made up of a president, vice president and secretary treasurer who made up the executive committee. There were also two standing committees for programs and for membership.

In the fall of 1952, a group of interested faculty members with the active support of the administration, decided – in view of the growth of the South Dakota State College – to make more housing facilities available. A private stock corporation was organized for the purpose of acquiring a site and erecting one or more apartment buildings for rental, primarily to faculty members. The corporation was developed with the aid of the Federal Housing Administration. The corporation owned two six-unit apartments located north of Sixth Street between 16th and 17th avenue, across from Hillcrest Park. The company lasted until a special meeting was held on January 21, 1963 where the stockholders voted for dissolution of the Corporation.