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Richard Wahlstrom graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1948 with a Bachelor of Science in Animal Husbandry. He then attended the University of Illinois, where he earned a master’s degree in animal nutrition followed two years later by a Ph.D. in the same field. While at Illinois, Wahlstrom served as a graduate assistant focused primarily on research. From 1951 to 1952, he pursued research with the Merck Institute of Therapeutic Research.

After his work with Merck, Wahlstrom joined South Dakota State College in 1952 to research and teach animal husbandry, a position he held until 1959. That year he was appointed Head Professor of Animal Husbandry, and in 1960 he became Head of the Department, serving until 1967. He returned again as department head for the academic year of 1987.

Wahlstrom was active in professional and community organizations, including Rotary International, the First United Methodist Church, and the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS), where he was named a Fellow. He received numerous awards during his career, including being named Teacher of the Year three times. Other honors include the ASAS Animal Management Award (1976), the SDSU Gamma Sigma Delta Award for Research (1980), the F.O. Butler Award for Outstanding Research (1986), the ASAS Animal Industry Service Award (1989), and recognition as Distinguished Professor Emeritus by SDSU (1988).

Allen Barnes was born on June 12, 1926, in Newport, Nebraska. He graduated from Hastings College in 1948, pursued further studies at the University of Idaho, and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Madrid in 1952. He held teaching and administrative positions at Chadron State College in Nebraska before serving as Executive Director of the Bi-national Institute in Tehran, Iran, followed by a similar role in Concepción, Chile.

In 1961, Barnes relocated to Brookings, South Dakota, to become head of the Department of Foreign Languages at South Dakota State University (SDSU). In 1967, he was appointed Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, succeeding Frank G. Schultz and serving in that role until 1985. He was followed by Rex Myers.

As Dean, Barnes advocated for the advancement of the College of Arts and Sciences within a university historically centered on agriculture and practical arts. He supported improvements to departmental facilities and led a campaign to establish a performing arts center on campus. He regularly promoted the work of faculty through biannual reports and “state of the college” addresses.

Barnes also emphasized international education, supporting the expansion of foreign language instruction and promoting study abroad opportunities. He assisted international students in their transition to SDSU and the Brookings community. After stepping down as Dean in 1985, he returned to teaching in the Department of Foreign Languages until his retirement in 1989. This collection was donated to the university archives at that time.

Professor Donald Berg earned a B.A. in History from North Dakota State University in 1964 and an M.A. in History in 1966. He completed a second M.A. at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1971 and received his Ph.D. in Geography from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1976.

Berg served in the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1969, including service in the Vietnam War from 1967 to 1968. During the summers of 1970, 1971, and 1972, he was employed as a seasonal ranger naturalist at Sequoia National Park in California.

He joined South Dakota State University as a professor of geography and history in 1990 and retired in May 2011. He also held earlier appointments at SDSU from 1983 to 1986. Berg taught courses primarily in physical geography, world regional geography, and environmental disasters and hazards, as well as seminars in regional geography, transportation, energy, and illegal drugs. His teaching also included courses in the history of the American West and American Indian history and culture. For more than fifteen years, he provided orientation sessions for students participating in the International Partnership for Service-Learning program.

Berg served as secretary treasurer of the Great Plains Rocky Mountain Division of the Association of American Geographers from 1994 to 2008 and was faculty sponsor for the Delta Zeta Chapter of Gamma Theta Upsilon beginning in 1994. He was the first instructor at South Dakota State University to offer live, real time interactive television courses on the Brookings campus and received two Governor’s Grants in 2000 and 2002 for the application of computer technology to online instruction in physical geography.

His research, professional presentations, and publications addressed topics including Native American casinos, the historical geography of railroads, federal defense and water development programs, and related book reviews and encyclopedia contributions. His later work focused on the historical geography of the Dust Bowl era in the northern Great Plains and the development and significance of the American Indian Reservation system in South Dakota.

Joye Ann Billow was born July 28, 1943, in Middletown, Pennsylvania, to Mary Dorothea (Pierce) and Schuyler Elsworth Billow. She graduated from Middletown High School in 1961 and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacy in 1967. She went on to complete a PhD in medicinal chemistry at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Billow joined the faculty of the South Dakota State University College of Pharmacy in 1972, where she served for 30 years until her retirement in 2002. She was a professor of pharmaceutical sciences and a licensed pharmacist throughout her career.

Dr. Billow was faculty advisor to the Chi Chapter of the Kappa Epsilon Fraternity for women pharmacy students for 29 years. During her tenure she received the Kappa Epsilon Outstanding Advisor Award (1991), the Unicorn Award (1991), and the Career Achievement Award (2003). Under her guidance, the Chi Chapter was recognized as the Outstanding Collegian KE Chapter for 2002–2003.

In 2002 Billow was honored with the SDSU Woman of Distinction Award in recognition of her service as a pharmacy faculty member and her involvement in campus and community organizations. Her contributions included coordinating the Bush Project, serving as chair and vice-chair of the Academic Senate, preparing the 1990 self-study for university accreditation, and helping to establish the Brookings Women’s Center, the Brookings Domestic Abuse Shelter, and Brookings Hospice.

After retiring, Billow pursued her interest in art, producing work that was featured in local exhibitions. She also served on the board of the Brookings Arts Council. Joye Ann Billow passed away on December 6, 2013, at the age of 70.

Robert (Bob) Burns was born in Flandreau, South Dakota, in 1942, the youngest of six children of Joseph and Marie Burns. While attending Flandreau High School, he developed a strong record of participation and leadership, achievements that earned him a four-year Briggs Scholarship to South Dakota State University in 1960.

Burns graduated from SDSU in June 1964 with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army through ROTC later that summer. That same year he married Donna Bozied. He was awarded a three-year National Defense Fellowship from the University of Missouri–Columbia, which provided full support for his doctoral studies in political science. He completed his M.A. in 1966 and Ph.D. in 1973 with the aid of this fellowship and Donna’s support.

In 1968, Burns reported for active duty at Fort Benning, Georgia, serving two years as an Army officer, including one year in Vietnam as a captain. For his service, he received the Bronze Star for Meritorious Service and the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster.

While still in Vietnam, Burns was invited by his undergraduate mentor, Professor Hendrickson, to join the SDSU political science faculty on a one-year appointment. That temporary role became a 38-year career. He earned recognition as an outstanding teacher, receiving the College of Arts and Sciences “Teacher of the Year” award seven times, the Burlington Northern Faculty Achievement Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1989, and was named Distinguished Professor of Political Science in 1994 by the South Dakota Board of Regents. In 1995, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching named him South Dakota Professor of the Year for his dedication to undergraduate teaching.

Burns also held key leadership roles at SDSU. He served nearly 20 years as head of the Departments of Political Science and Philosophy and Religion, acted as Director of the USD Farber Center in 1998, and in the last decade of his tenure became the first Dean of the SDSU Honors College while continuing his teaching and administrative duties. Beyond campus, he conducted summer policy research for Governors Kneip, Wollman, and Janklow and served as a Humanist-in-Residence for the South Dakota Committee on the Humanities on three occasions.

Upon retiring in 2008, the South Dakota Board of Regents granted him the titles Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Dean Emeritus of the Honors College. That same year, the SDSU Alumni Association honored him as a Distinguished Alumnus for Service to Education.

In retirement, Burns has remained active as a commentator on South Dakota and national politics, government, and legal issues. He has also continued his service in higher education and civic leadership, including membership on the National Commission on the Cost of Higher Education (1997–1998) and long-term service as South Dakota’s Commissioner on the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (since 1996). Guided by his belief in the importance of citizen engagement and a strong civil society, he has served on and often led numerous boards, commissions, and councils. He continues this work in retirement, including chairing the South Dakota Budget and Policy Institute and the South Dakota World Affairs Council, as well as teaching courses for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Sioux Falls and Brookings.

Dr. Brandt is an Emeritus Professor of English whose scholarly specialization is English Renaissance literature, with particular emphasis on Shakespearean studies and Renaissance drama, prose, and poetry. He earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1977, following completion of an M.A. in 1971 and a B.A. in 1969 from the University of Denver. After completing his doctoral studies, Brandt joined the faculty of South Dakota State University in Brookings, South Dakota, in the fall of 1979.

During his tenure at SDSU, Brandt taught and conducted research primarily in English Renaissance literature, focusing on Shakespeare and related Renaissance authors and genres. In addition to his teaching and scholarship, he served in various academic leadership and service roles, including participation on university and departmental committees and the mentoring of students and colleagues.

Brandt’s scholarship has been recognized through multiple awards. He received the F.O. Butler Foundation Award for Excellence in Scholarship in 1992 and the College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Scholar Award in 2015. His publications include articles, books, and contributions to edited volumes addressing topics such as Shakespearean literature, Renaissance drama, and Marlowe studies, reflecting sustained contributions to the field of English Renaissance scholarship.

Dakota Rural Action (DRA) is a grassroots, nonprofit organization founded in 1987 in South Dakota. Its mission is to build leadership and promote social, environmental, and economic justice by organizing rural citizens around issues that directly affect their communities.

DRA supports sustainable agriculture, environmental protection, responsible energy development, and local control of natural resources. Over the years, the organization has been active in campaigns against corporate farming, uranium mining, and the Keystone XL pipeline. It advocates for local food systems, family farms, clean water, renewable energy, and public participation in policy decisions.

The organization operates through a network of local chapters across South Dakota and emphasizes member-led decision-making. Through education, lobbying, and community organizing, Dakota Rural Action empowers individuals to engage in the democratic process and influence policies that shape the future of rural life in the state.

Linda Hall Daschle was born on May 15, 1955. She was the 1976 Miss Kansas, and married Congressman Thomas Andrew Daschle on April 21, 1984.

Daschle began her career in the aviation industry as a certified weather observer and worked her way up to the position of director of federal affairs for the Air Transport Association. She was the first woman to direct the Civil Aeronautics Board Office of Congressional, Community and Consumer Affairs in Washington, D.C. and in December of 1987 was also the first woman to be named vice president of federal affairs for the American Association of Airport Executives. President Clinton nominated Daschle in 1994 to be Deputy Administrator for the Federal Aviation Administration. Her responsibilities included helping administer the FAA’s nearly nine-billion-dollar budget and assessing the FAA’s multibillion-dollar Advanced Automation System. She was only the second woman to have held the post.

Linda Daschle served as chair of the Oglala-Lakota College Foundation and also held committee positions on Women Against Violence, Families for the Homeless, Congressional Spouses Speaker’s Bureau, and the Aero Club of Washington.

Senator Tom Daschle is one of the longest serving Senate Democratic Leaders in United States history and the only individual to serve two separate terms as both Majority and Minority Leader. As Democratic Leader, he co-managed the impeachment trial of President William Jefferson Clinton, the second presidential impeachment trial in the nation’s history. He also directed the Senate’s response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and to the anthrax attack on his office on October 15, 2001.

Daschle was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978, winning by fewer than 200 votes. He was reelected three times before winning election to the U.S. Senate in 1986. He served three Senate terms before his defeat in 2004. Viewed as a populist Democrat, he helped his party remain competitive in a predominantly Republican state. Daschle rose quickly in congressional leadership, becoming Senate Democratic Leader in 1994 and serving in that role until 2004, making him the second longest serving leader in party history. During his congressional career, he served on numerous committees, including the Senate Finance Committee, the Democratic Policy Committee, the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, the Veterans and Indian Affairs Committees, and the Finance and Ethics Committee.

Family Background

Thomas Andrew Daschle was born December 9, 1947, in Aberdeen, South Dakota, the eldest of four sons of Sebastian C. and Elizabeth Meier Daschle. He attended public and parochial schools in Aberdeen and was active in Scouting. At Aberdeen Central High School, he played basketball, served as student council president, and was elected senior class president. His interest in politics grew through participation in American Legion Boys State, and he was influenced by Senator George McGovern, who spoke at his high school graduation.

Daschle became the first member of his family to graduate from college, earning a political science degree from South Dakota State University in 1969. While in college, he participated in Air Force ROTC and the Political Science Club and ran unsuccessfully for sophomore class president in 1965.

He is married to Linda Hall Daschle and has three children: Kelly, Nathan, and Lindsay.

Henry DeLong was born December 9, 1905, in Spink County, South Dakota. He graduated from Redfield High School in 1924. DeLong earned a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture from South Dakota State University in 1928 and a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural engineering in 1938. He completed a Master of Science degree in agricultural engineering at the University of Minnesota in 1941. DeLong married Mary M. Louise Franks on July 28, 1933, in Fulton, South Dakota.

DeLong’s professional career was almost entirely associated with South Dakota State University. He began as a student research assistant and advanced through the faculty ranks, retiring as professor emeritus in 1973. His responsibilities included teaching, research, and departmental administration. DeLong served as head of the department from 1946 to 1956. He was among the first agricultural engineers recognized at the Fifth Annual Distinguished Engineers Banquet at South Dakota State University. DeLong gained international recognition for his classification of rammed earth, a construction method originally developed for affordable poultry housing. He credited this work to his collaboration with R. L. Patty and Patty’s research on pisé de terre, the French term for rammed earth.

Professor Henry DeLong died on November 22, 1988, at Brookings Hospital.

Franklin Edward Denholm was born on November 29, 1923, to John J. and Laura Anna (Mathias) Denholm on his family’s homestead in Scotland Township, Day County, South Dakota. He worked as a farmer, operated an interstate trucking business, and became a well-known auctioneer after completing his public school education. He married Mildred T. Niehaus on June 12, 1950, in Webster, South Dakota. From 1950 to 1952, he served as Day County Sheriff and was a delegate to the South Dakota State Democratic Conventions during the same period.

Denholm earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from South Dakota State College in 1956, with additional coursework in economics, history, and speech. While at SDSU, he won first place in Men’s Oratory at the South Dakota Intercollegiate Forensics competition and national honors at Redlands University in California. He was active in several student organizations, including Delta Sigma Alpha, Toastmasters, the Ag Econ Club, and International Relations, and served as president of the Blue Key National Honor Society. In his final year, he was named to Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities.

He began graduate studies at the University of Minnesota, which were interrupted by his appointment as a Special Agent in the FBI by Director J. Edgar Hoover. He served in the Bureau from 1956 to 1961 in Washington, D.C.

Denholm received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of South Dakota and was admitted to the South Dakota Bar in 1962. He practiced law in Brookings as corporate counsel for the cities of Brookings, Volga, and White from 1962 to 1971. He was authorized to practice before the U.S. District Court (Southern Division), U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, the District of Columbia courts, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the U.S. Tax Court. From 1962 to 1966, he taught economics, law, and political science at South Dakota State University and was a delegate to the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Denholm was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for the 92nd and 93rd Congresses, serving from 1971 to 1975. Among the legislation he supported and saw enacted were the Rural Telephone Act of 1971, the Rural Development Act of 1972, and the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974. The Senate version of his so-called “Denholm Bill” reinstated the Rural Electrification Act in 1973 after its enforcement had lapsed under the Nixon administration.

Following an unsuccessful re-election campaign in 1974, Denholm returned to his legal practice in Brookings. He remained active in civic and professional organizations, including Phi Kappa Delta, the American Bar Association, the American Trial Lawyers Association, the South Dakota Peace Officers Association, the Izaak Walton League, and St. Thomas More Catholic Parish. He also served as president of the Kiwanis Club and as a trustee of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Denholm was recognized in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in Government, Personalities of the West and Midwest, and Men of Achievement.

He died on April 7, 2016, in Brookings, South Dakota.

Matthew Cecil received his B.S. in History from South Dakota State University in 1995. He earned an M.A. in History from Minnesota State University, Mankato, and completed a Ph.D. in Mass Communication at the University of Iowa in 2000, specializing in public relations.

Cecil’s career includes work as a political reporter and columnist, as well as a media relations practitioner in South Dakota and North Dakota. His teaching career began as a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Iowa. From 2000 to 2002, he served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at Purdue University. He then joined the University of Oklahoma before returning in 2005 to his hometown of Brookings, South Dakota, to teach at South Dakota State University. At SDSU, he is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Media Production Emphasis in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication. He teaches a variety of courses, including Introduction to Mass Communication, basic video production, new media, and public relations skills.

Cecil’s areas of expertise include new media and media history, with a particular focus on FBI public relations during the J. Edgar Hoover era. His scholarly work has appeared in American Journalism, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, The Journalism Inquiry, and other national and international journals.

The Milwaukee Road, officially known as the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMSP&P RR), was a Class I railroad that operated across the Midwest and northwestern United States from its founding in 1847 until its merger with the Soo Line Railroad in 1985–1986. Over its history, the company underwent several name changes and periods of bankruptcy. Although it no longer exists as a separate entity, its legacy is preserved through landmarks such as the historic Milwaukee Road Depot in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and through preserved equipment like the Milwaukee Road 261 steam locomotive.

Originally incorporated as the Milwaukee and Waukesha Railroad in 1847, the company soon changed its name to the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad. Its first rail line, connecting Milwaukee and Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, opened in 1850, with passenger service beginning on February 25, 1851. The name was changed in 1874 to the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, and by 1887, it had expanded lines through Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Lt. Ward B. Bates was born on February 17, 1895, in Yankton, South Dakota. His father, Charles Homer Bates, served as a U.S. Deputy Surveyor and conducted boundary surveys between South Dakota and North Dakota from 1891 to 1892. Bates attended the State University of Iowa in Iowa City.

He enlisted in the Army National Guard on December 1, 1912, and was honorably discharged on December 1, 1915. With the onset of World War I, Bates re-enlisted and was commissioned as a second lieutenant of field artillery on August 15, 1917. He served in the American Expeditionary Force (A.E.F.) in Europe and traveled across the United States with other newly commissioned officers during his training and assignments. He was honorably discharged on August 1, 1919.

Following the war, Bates moved to California, where he met and married Eunice Morey Wolcott. They had one daughter, Nancy Farley. Ward B. Bates died on October 21, 1946.

Sherwood O. Berg was born and raised near Hendrum, Minnesota, where he actively participated in 4-H and took on responsibilities managing the family farm after the death of his father. He began his post-secondary education at the University of Minnesota's School of Agriculture before transferring to South Dakota State College (SDSC) in 1940, drawn by the strength of its agricultural program. His education was interrupted by military service in World War II, during which he served in the U.S. Army as a field infantryman and later as a Military Government Food and Agricultural Officer.

Following the war, Berg completed his B.S. degree at SDSC in 1947, earned an M.S. from Cornell University in 1948, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1951. He served internationally as Agricultural Attaché to Yugoslavia, Norway, and Denmark (1951–1957) before returning to academia as Professor and Head of Agricultural Economics at the University of Minnesota. In 1963, he was appointed Dean of the Institute of Agriculture at the same institution and served as chair of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s National Advisory Commission on Food and Fiber.

From 1973 to 1975, Berg directed The Indonesia Project of the Midwest Universities Consortium and later returned to SDSU as its President on August 1, 1975, becoming the first alumnus to hold the role. His presidency was marked by institutional growth, international partnerships in Syria, Botswana, Senegal, and Mauritania, and increasing numbers of international students. He also facilitated the creation of SDSU’s first endowed faculty position—the Ethel Austin Martin-Edward Moss Martin Chair in Human Nutrition. He retired in 1984 as President Emeritus.

Berg married Elizabeth Ann Hall in 1952. They had two children.

Willibald C. Bianchi was born on March 12, 1915, in New Ulm, Minnesota, to Joseph and Carrie Bianchi.

He enrolled at South Dakota State College in 1937 and joined the R.O.T.C. program. Upon graduating in 1940, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and entered Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia, later earning promotion to First Lieutenant.

In April 1941, Bianchi was assigned to the 45th Infantry Regiment of the Philippine Scouts to assist in training Filipino soldiers. He remained in the Philippines after the U.S. entered World War II and was wounded during the Battle of Bataan on February 3, 1942. Despite multiple injuries, he continued fighting until he was incapacitated by an explosion. For his actions, General Douglas MacArthur awarded him the Medal of Honor, making Bianchi the third recipient of the medal during the war.

Promoted to Captain, Bianchi was captured on April 9, 1942, during the fall of Bataan. He endured the Bataan Death March and worked to aid fellow prisoners in the camps. After over two years in captivity, he died on January 9, 1945, when an unmarked prison ship was bombed by American forces.

Bianchi’s remains were never recovered. He is commemorated on the Wall of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines, with a grave marker at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.

In 1998, South Dakota State University honored Captain Bianchi with a memorial plaque in the Student Union, a commemorative ceremony, and the establishment of a scholarship in his name.

The George Biggar Papers document the career of a South Dakota-born broadcaster whose work in agricultural communication and radio production spanned from the 1920s through the 1960s. The collection likely includes materials related to Biggar’s early education and student publications at South Dakota State University, his professional correspondence and scripts from WLS in Chicago and WLW in Cincinnati, and documentation of his contributions to rural broadcasting and wartime agricultural reporting. His involvement in creating the National Barn Dance program and his oversight of farm and entertainment programming illustrate his role in shaping early American radio.

George Biggar played a significant role in the development of rural and agricultural radio in the United States. His work bridged the fields of agriculture, mass communication, and entertainment during a formative period for radio broadcasting. His participation in international agricultural tours during World War II reflects the connection between media and agricultural policy. Biggar’s career demonstrates the influence of South Dakota State University alumni in national broadcasting history and agricultural outreach.

Dona Brown was born on May 25, 1909, in Brookings, South Dakota. She graduated from Huron High School in 1927 and earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from South Dakota State College in 1931, followed by a master's degree in education in 1937. Brown dedicated 43 years to education as a teacher and counselor in Woonsocket and Huron, South Dakota.

She served on the South Dakota Board of Regents from 1957 to 1969 and held leadership roles including chairman of the board of trustees at Huron College. Brown was active in numerous organizations, including the SDSU Benefactors Club, South Dakota Centennial Commission, South Dakota Personnel and Guidance Association, Salvation Army, Red Cross, and First Federal Savings and Loan of Huron. She was also a member of the American Association of University Women, Huron Chamber of Commerce, and the South Dakota Education Association.

In recognition of her contributions, Brown was awarded an honorary doctorate and Distinguished Alumnus Award by South Dakota State University in 1970. She was inducted into the South Dakota Cowboy and Western Heritage Hall of Fame in 1980.

Dona Brown passed away on May 25, 1996.

Elizabeth Cook-Lynn was born in 1930 in Fort Thompson, South Dakota, on the Crow Creek Indian Reservation. An enrolled member of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, she currently resides near Rapid City, South Dakota. Cook-Lynn earned a B.A. in English and Journalism from South Dakota State College (now South Dakota State University) in 1952 and completed an M.Ed. in Psychology and Counseling at the University of South Dakota in 1971. She also pursued doctoral studies at the University of Nebraska in the late 1970s.

Her professional career began in secondary education, teaching in South Dakota and New Mexico, before transitioning to higher education. From 1971 to 1990, she taught English and Native American Studies at Eastern Washington University, where she was instrumental in founding Wicazo Sa Review: A Journal of Native American Studies alongside Beatrice Medicine, Roger Buffalohead, and William Willard. She later served as a visiting professor at the University of California, Davis, and remains active as a speaker and mentor, co-organizing the Oak Lake Writers’ Retreat for Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota writers in South Dakota.

Following her retirement from academia, Cook-Lynn became a full-time writer. Her work spans multiple genres—including fiction, poetry, and nonfiction—centered on Native American experiences, sovereignty, and identity. Her first publications, Then Badger Said This and Seek the House of Relatives, appeared in 1983, followed by The Power of Horses and Other Stories (1990), and the novel From the River’s Edge (1991), which evolved into Aurelia: A Crow Creek Trilogy (1999). Notable nonfiction works include Why I Can’t Read Wallace Stegner and Other Essays: A Tribal Voice (1996), The Politics of Hallowed Ground: Wounded Knee and the Struggle for Indian Sovereignty (1998, with Mario Gonzalez), and the poetry collection I Remember the Fallen Trees (1998).

Cook-Lynn’s writing has been featured in major anthologies such as Harper’s Anthology of 20th Century Native American Poetry and Reinventing the Enemy’s Language: Contemporary Native Women’s Writing of North America. Her scholarship, book reviews, and editorials have contributed significantly to Native American literary and political discourse.

In recognition of her work, Cook-Lynn has received numerous honors, including a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship (1978), the Oyate Igluwitaya Award from South Dakota State University’s Native American Club (1995), and the Mountain Plains Library Association’s Literary Contribution Award (2002). Her essay collection Why I Can’t Read Wallace Stegner was also cited by the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights. Cook-Lynn is widely recognized for her leadership in advancing Native rights and scholarship through literature and education.

Elizabeth Cook-Lynn died on July 5, 2023 at Monument Hospital in Rapid City.

Lonita Joyce Gustad was born on May 19, 1928, at Sacred Heart Hospital in Yankton, South Dakota, and grew up on a farm near Volin with her parents and younger sister. She began keeping a diary in 1945 at the age of 17, inspired by the historic events surrounding the end of World War II. Gustad graduated from Yankton High School in 1946 and attended South Dakota State College, earning a pharmacy degree in 1950. She was one of eight women in a graduating class of sixty-four pharmacy students, with a minor in chemistry.

Following graduation, she worked at Woodward Pharmacy in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and later in Sioux City, Iowa, where she resided for many years. In 1951, she married Thomas Edward Corothers, whom she met during college. They had one son, John, born in 1952, who died in a motorcycle accident in 1972. Thomas Corothers passed away in 1998. Lonita Corothers maintained a lifelong practice of journaling and writing, ultimately donating her extensive personal and literary papers to South Dakota State University.

Caryl Crozier was born on August 1, 1938 to Raymond Lyle Kinkner and Elvera Violet (Erickson) Kinkner and raised on the prairies of Southeastern South Dakota, where her grandparents and parents operated farms near Beresford, SD, surviving the Depression. She attended a one-room country school through 8th grade, graduated from Beresford High School, and earned a BS in Home Economics from South Dakota State University.

Caryl and her husband, Ed Crozier, have two daughters, Michelle Kegler and Cherise Barnes, and three grandchildren, Rachel, Claire, and Nathan Barnes. Her career has included roles as an Extension Home Economist, a Home Economics and adult education teacher, and a long-term care administrator for 13 years. She also owned and designed for her pattern business.

The couple has lived in Wisconsin, North Dakota, Illinois, and for over 40 years in the Twin Cities, Minnesota area. Caryl enjoys gardening, boating, and fishing. She has traveled extensively throughout the United States, Central America, and much of Europe, often for genealogy research for the seven family history books she and Ed have written.

The Dakota Agricultural College Board of Regents was established in 1881 by the Dakota Territory to oversee the founding and governance of a land-grant college in Brookings, later known as South Dakota State University. During the territorial period, the Governor of Dakota Territory served on multiple institutional boards, including that of the agricultural college, actively shaping educational policy between 1883 and 1889.

The board appointed George W. Lilley as the college’s first president in 1884, under whose leadership the first permanent buildings were erected and academic programs were initiated. In 1885, James Plummer Day, a Civil War veteran and legislator, was appointed to the college's Board of Trustees and remained involved through the transition to statehood.

Following South Dakota’s admission to the Union in 1889, the newly formed South Dakota Board of Regents assumed oversight of all state higher education institutions, including Dakota Agricultural College. Day and other early trustees continued their service under the restructured governance model. This early board laid the foundational policies for curriculum, facilities, land use, and administrative structure that would shape the development of the institution for decades to come.

Jay Dirksen graduated from General Beadle High School in Madison, South Dakota, where he won the State Class B Championship in the mile.

He attended South Dakota State University, earning a bachelor’s degree in Physical Education in 1968 and a master’s degree in 1969. Following graduation, he served as the men’s cross country and track coach at South Dakota State University, where he also established a women’s cross country program. In 1977, he became the assistant men’s track coach at the University of Illinois. In 1982, he accepted a position as the head women’s track and field coach at the University of Missouri. After one year at Missouri, Dirksen joined the University of Nebraska–Lincoln as head cross country coach and assistant head track coach, overseeing distance runners. He spent 29 seasons at Nebraska before retiring in 2011.

Jay Dirksen married Diane Stewart in 1972. They have two children, a son, Derek, and a daughter, Kristi.

James Norman Dornbush was born February 16, 1928, in Aberdeen, South Dakota, to Isaac Henry and Beatrice (Yocum) Dornbush. He grew up in Pollock, South Dakota, where he graduated from high school. He received his bachelor’s degree from South Dakota State College in 1949 and taught for two years at the college. On August 7, 1952, he married Maxine Biggar in Brookings. Shortly after, he served in the U.S. Army from July 18, 1952, to September 7, 1953.

Dornbush earned a master’s degree in public health and sanitary engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1959 and a doctorate in environmental and sanitary engineering from Washington University in St. Louis in 1962. In 1964, he and his family returned to Brookings, where he joined the Civil Engineering Department at South Dakota State University as a professor. His career was devoted to research and consultation in water pollution control and sanitary engineering.

He was an active member of the First Presbyterian Church, Rotary International, the Elks, and several professional organizations.

Amy Dunkle spent nearly 20 years working in community journalism as a reporter, news editor, and managing editor. She later worked as a freelance writer for newspapers, magazines, and trade journals for over a decade. Dunkle is the author of The College on the Hill, an anecdotal history of South Dakota State University. She also served as communications coordinator for Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR, writing about research and education initiatives funded by the National Science Foundation.

Poet David Dwyer grew up just north of New York City and commuted to Manhattan for high school. He later settled in Lemmon, South Dakota, with his wife, writer Kathleen Norris, after she inherited her maternal grandparents’ farm.

Dwyer’s debut poetry collection, Ariana Olisvos: Her Last Works and Days, received the Juniper Prize and was published in 1976 by the University of Massachusetts Press. His second collection, Other Men and Other Women, was supported by a $20,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and published in 1988 by Sandhills Press in Ord, Nebraska. His work also appeared in leading literary journals and anthologies, including The New York Quarterly, The Agni Review, and The Virginia Quarterly Review.

David Dwyer died in 2003 at the age of 57 after a long illness, leaving a legacy of reflective and evocative poetry.