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Sigurd Anderson, the 19th governor of South Dakota, was born on January 22, 1904, on an island near Arendal, Norway. His parents, Karl and Bertha Anderson, immigrated to the United States in 1908, settling on a farm southwest of Canton in Lincoln County. Anderson attended Pleasant Ridge School and graduated high school in 1925, the year his family moved near Bancroft in Kingsbury County.

He enrolled at South Dakota State College in 1925, engaging in public speaking, literary, and journalistic activities. After contracting scarlet fever, he took a year off to work as a farmhand and teach in rural schools. In 1928, he transferred to the University of South Dakota, graduating cum laude in 1931. He taught high school history in Rapid City and Webster before returning to USD for law school, earning his degree in 1937. During this time, he married Vivian Walz of Vermillion; they had one daughter, Kristin.

Anderson established a law practice in Webster in 1937 and was twice elected Day County state’s attorney. In 1950, he won the Republican nomination for governor and was elected, setting a record in 1952 as the only South Dakota gubernatorial candidate to receive over 200,000 votes. His administration established the Legislative Research Council and achieved debt-free status for the state for the first time in 40 years.

After two terms, Anderson was appointed to the Federal Trade Commission by President Eisenhower and reappointed in 1958. He resigned in 1964 to return to Webster and run again for governor but lost the Republican primary to Nils Boe, who later appointed him circuit judge, a position he held until 1975.

Anderson received numerous professional and political honors and was active in various organizations. He died on December 21, 1990.

Einar Jentoft Anderson was born on June 17, 1897 to J. Martin and Nicoline A. Anderson. In 1918 Einar was in the U.S. Army and was stationed at Ft. Sheidan, Illinois. He attended South Dakota State College after the war. Einar married Ethel Lucille Olson, who was born August 27, 1908. On September 5, 1988, Einar J. Anderson died in Catawba County, North Carolina.

The Hoffman-Townsend Post No. 74 of the American Legion was established in Brookings, South Dakota, as a local chapter dedicated to supporting U.S. military veterans and fostering civic engagement. The Post was named in honor of two Brookings servicemen: Orr Hoffman, who died during World War I at Camp Funston, and Edwin Townsend, who died in World War II. Since its founding, Post 74 has played an active role in the Brookings community, sponsoring youth programs, hosting memorial events, and supporting local veterans.

The Post maintains a hall which serves as a venue for public events, fundraisers, and community gatherings. Among its civic contributions, the Post sponsors the Brookings Post 74 Bandits, a Senior American Legion baseball team, and participates in veteran-focused service initiatives and commemorative activities.

The Brookings Branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) was founded in 1931 with 37 members under Miss Gertrude Young. Full membership recognition for South Dakota State College (SDSC) graduates came in 1950 after sustained effort.

Early programs included promoting a kindergarten, which the branch ran in the city library basement from 1932 to 1941 before it joined the public school system. During World War II, members supported the war effort through ration distribution, Red Cross work, and material salvage. The branch has consistently contributed to the National Fellowship Fund through events such as bridge benefits, style shows, and sales of maps, books, and calendars.

Scholarships have long been a priority. A junior-year fellowship evolved in 1962 to awards for a high school senior and an incoming SDSC student. Following Miss Young’s death in 1964, these became the Gertrude Young-AAUW Scholarships.

Study groups have grown in importance. By 1954, groups covered child study, money management, international relations, music, and crafts. In 1963–64, the focus shifted to four areas: community problems, cultural interests, education, and world issues. These groups spurred action programs including support for educational television, international book distribution, special education initiatives, and engagement with legislative issues, particularly in education and women’s rights.

Dr. Alfred Durham, a Kiwanis member, founded the Altrusa Institute in Nashville in 1917 during World War I, recognizing the need for women’s civic organizations. He organized clubs in Nashville, Louisville, and Dayton before meeting Mamie L. Bass in Indianapolis.

Mamie L. Bass, former Superintendent of the Women's Division of the U.S. Employment Services, envisioned a greater purpose for Altrusa. At the first convention in June 1918, Altrusa became a classified service organization for business and professional women, renamed the National Association of Altrusa Clubs. Bass authored the Principles of Altrusa, defining it as “a builder of women,” officially adopted in 1921. By 1922, there were 20 clubs.

Altrusa promoted vocational education for women, later expanding to scholarships and guidance for both young and older women. It became international in 1935 with a club in Mexico and soon expanded to other countries. In 1946, Altrusa sent its first representative to the United Nations.

In 1966, Altrusa founded ASTRA clubs for young women aged 13–21. Literacy became a permanent service focus in 1977, and in 1997, the Altrusa Foundation adopted Camp Safe Haven for children with HIV/AIDS. In 1989, Altrusa added environmental initiatives to its mission.

Today, Altrusa remains a community-based organization dedicated to local service—supporting shelters, youth, literacy, and housing projects. District Seven includes Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Activity V of the Title III Strengthening Institutions Program grant was designed to improve institutional management and enhance student services by fostering increased connectivity and communication within the academic community on campus.

On February 25, 1924, the South Dakota Chapter of Alpha Zeta at South Dakota State College was officially chartered with 19 founding members, as announced by Harry Potter, General Secretary of Alpha Zeta. This milestone followed an initial inquiry sent by S.D.S.C. President Willis E. Johnson on December 24, 1919. During the application process, the group—consisting of approximately 25 men—was known as the Hopkins Club. After three unsuccessful attempts, the chapter was successfully established under the leadership of S.D.S.C. President C.W. Pugsley, himself a member of Alpha Zeta, along with many other faculty members who were also affiliated with the fraternity.

Alpha Zeta, the oldest fraternal society in agriculture, was founded on November 4, 1897, at Ohio State University. Today, it is a global network of diverse professionals in agriculture and natural resources dedicated to recognizing, developing, and promoting leaders grounded in common values and integrity. The fraternity’s mission is to advance agriculture in its broadest sense, fostering leadership, fellowship, service, and a spirit of love and fraternity among its members.

As of 2016, the South Dakota Chapter of Alpha Zeta remains an honorary fraternity for the top students in the College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences at South Dakota State University. The chapter actively participates in numerous campus activities, including the Career Fair and Ag Day. Its community engagement includes mentoring youth, visiting nursing homes, fence-mending, and invasive weed eradication at the Girl Scouts’ Camp Wildwood, as well as fundraising for local service projects such as the Harvest Table and the Food Pantry.

Ruth Ann Alexander was born in Lansing, Michigan, on February 13, 1924, to Harry and Anne (Green) Musselman, and died in Brookings, South Dakota, on February 1, 2010. She graduated from East Lansing High School and Michigan State University, earning a B.A. in English in 1945. She later completed a master’s degree in American studies at the University of Minnesota and a Ph.D. in American intellectual history at Michigan State University. In 1955, she married William Alexander, with whom she had three children.

Alexander taught English at South Dakota State University for 34 years, rising to the rank of full professor and becoming the first woman to chair the English Department (1981–1989). She introduced the university’s first courses on women writers, as well as African American and Native American literature. She also chaired the committee that established the Women’s Studies major. She received numerous grants and fellowships, including a Bunting Fellowship at Harvard University in 1987, and was recognized three times with SDSU’s Outstanding Educator Award (1971, 1972, 1974). Upon her retirement in 1989, she was named Professor Emeritus and continued to research South Dakota women writers and women in the Episcopal Church.

From 1994 to 2002, Alexander wrote a column for the South Dakota Church News titled All Sorts and Conditions of Women, which was later collected and published in 2003 as Patches in a History Quilt: Episcopal Women in the Diocese of South Dakota, 1868–2000. She also published scholarly articles on South Dakota writers such as Elaine Goodale Eastman and Kate Boyles Bingham. Beyond her scholarship, she participated in the Great Plains Chautauqua series, portraying Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1989–1991) and later serving as series moderator (1998–2001).

An advocate for women and girls, Alexander was the first woman elected to the Brookings School Board (1970–1975), where she promoted equal funding for girls’ and boys’ activities and raised academic standards. In 1972, Governor Richard Kneip appointed her to the first South Dakota Commission on the Status of Women, where she served until 1979. She also served on the Board of Directors of the South Dakota Historical Association (1988–2000), the Episcopal Church History Association (1992–1997), and the Episcopal Women’s Church History Project (1991–1997). She helped establish the Brookings Food Pantry and chaired the Emergency Services Commission from 1983 to 1999.

Jane Alexander was born in Brookings, South Dakota, to Ruth Ann and William Alexander. She began her journey of community engagement during her high school years while volunteering at the Brookings Retirement Center. Here she formed a lasting friendship with Neva Harding. This connection inspired her to delve into Neva's life, eventually leading to the expansion of Neva's autobiography.

Jane graduated from Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, where she majored in history. Alongside her studies, she dedicated her time to volunteering as a tutor and aide to children in the Holyoke Schools.

After graduating in 1980, Jane embarked on a career dedicated to helping others. She worked at the Parker Street shelter with unhoused adults in Boston, and later at the Pine Street Inn women’s clinic. It was during her time at the women’s clinic that she, along with her colleague Eileen Reilly, conceptualized the idea of a daytime shelter for women. In 1982, they brought this vision to life, establishing the Women’s Lunch Place in the basement of the Church of the Covenant, with Jane serving as the Executive Director for the next two decades.

Throughout her career, Jane received numerous accolades for her work, including the Mount Holyoke College Mary Lyon Award and the Boston Celtic’s “Heroes Among Us” award. In 2002, she transitioned to roles at Renewal House and East Boston Ecumenical Community, while also volunteering for disaster relief efforts with the Red Cross and providing medical aid in Haiti.

In 2004, Jane married Mark Johnson of Jamaica Plain, and they relocated to New Orleans in 2007. There, she pursued her passion for social work, earning her master’s degree from Tulane School of Social Work. She then served as the Executive Director of Churches United in Moorhead, Minnesota, until 2016, where she pioneered initiatives for permanent housing and winter expansion at the shelter.

Jane returned to Massachusetts, settling in Dracut with her sister Sarah Alexander. There, she devoted herself to caregiving, providing assistance to elderly individuals and their families.

Jane passed away on July 26, 2022, in Lowell, Massachusetts.

J. M. (John Merton) Aldrich was born on January 28, 1866, in Olmstead County, Minnesota, to Levi O. and Mary Moore Aldrich. He was educated in the county and high schools of Rochester, Minnesota. In 1885, he enrolled at Dakota Agricultural College in Brookings, South Dakota, and became the first student to specialize in zoological sciences. He graduated in 1888, receiving his B.S. degree during the institution’s first formal commencement ceremony.

Following his graduation, Aldrich remained at Dakota Agricultural College as an Assistant in Entomology (1889–1890), then as an Assistant in Zoology (1890–1892), and also assisted the Agricultural Experiment Station Entomologist during this period. He pursued further academic credentials, earning additional B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Kansas, and later, in 1906, a Ph.D. from Stanford University. His doctoral dissertation was his influential Catalog of North American Diptera, which he began while serving as Professor of Zoology at the University of Idaho (1893–1913).

After leaving the University of Idaho in 1913, Aldrich joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture Bureau of Entomology in West Lafayette, Indiana as an Entomological Assistant. In 1918, he was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., where he served as Custodian of Diptera and Associate Curator in the Division of Insects. He was the first Dipterist hired at the Smithsonian who had previously served in the USDA.

Aldrich was internationally recognized for his ability to collect rare insect specimens across the western United States, Alaska, and Guatemala. Many of his finds were previously unknown to science. His expertise in North American Diptera positioned the National Museum as a leading research center for New World Diptera. In 1923, he donated his personal collection of over 45,000 insect specimens, representing more than 4,000 taxa, along with a detailed card catalog of North American Diptera literature. This resource became one of the most valuable general Diptera collections in the museum.

He published extensively on entomological subjects and served as President of the Entomological Society of America in 1921. He received numerous accolades during his lifetime. Aldrich passed away in 1934. His legacy endures, notably through the Aldrich Entomology Club, founded in 1961 at the University of Idaho, which continues to promote engagement in insect biology among students, faculty, and the public.

The Academic Women's Equity Coalition began in 1983-84, developing out of informal discussions on equity issues among some women faculty members at South Dakota State University. Membership was open to all female faculty members at South Dakota State University and other persons, male or female, who supported the purposes of the Academic Women's Equity Coalition. The purposes of the coalition included working to identify, investigate and seek solutions related to issues of equity at South Dakota State University; to providing opportunity for the exchange of information and ideas related to academic women's issues; and to serving as support and action group for faculty women. The coalition's area of activity included the promotion of non-sexist language, equality in hiring practices, salaries and promotions and tenure, and encouraging women to move into administrative positions at South Dakota State University.

Occupation: Legislators; Lawyers
Associated Groups: Democratic Party (U.S.); American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee; United States. Congress. House, 19710103-19730103; United States. Congress. Senate, 19730103-19790103