South Dakota State University. Office of International Affairs

The Office of International Affairs serves as the administrative unit at SDSU where programs and activities designed to assist the entire university and its constituents in gaining an international perspective are initiated, coordinated, and managed.

The Office of International Affairs was established in 1988 as the Office of International Programs with Dr. David Hilderbrand as its first director. Dr. Hilderbrand served until fall 1993, when he was appointed Director of SDSU Sioux Falls Programs. During Dr. Hilderbrand's tenure, it concluded its first international agreements, establishing exchanges with Yunnan Normal University, in Kunming, China; with Chungnam National University, in Taejeon, South Korea; and with Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, England, among others.

In November 1993, Associate Professor Harriet Swedlund became Acting Director of International Programs and later, in May 1994, became Director. She served in that capacity until her retirement from SDSU in fall 2003. Under Swedlund, OIA saw dramatic growth, both in numbers of students and faculty traveling internationally, as well as in the number and scope of international agreements concluded with overseas partner institutions. During her nearly 10 years of service to OIA, she oversaw the development of agreements with more than a dozen different international institutions and with two consortia partners: the College Consortium for International Studies (CCIS) and the Cooperative Center for Study Abroad (CCSA).

The Office of International Affairs third and current director is Dr. Karl J. Schmidt. Trained in international affairs and history with a specialty in Asia, Dr. Schmidt came to SDSU in September 2003 from Missouri Southern State University, where he was Associate Professor of History and International Studies. Holding a joint appointment between the MSSU Department of History and the Institute of International Studies, Dr. Schmidt taught courses in the history of India and China, as well as international studies, and developed both summer study programs and faculty seminars to India. Under the current director, SDSU has seen an increase in the number of semester-abroad students, and has joined the American Council on Education's Internationalization Collaborative, the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE), and the International Student Exchange Program (ISEP).

The Office of International Programs officially changed its name to the Office of International Affairs in September 2005 to better reflect the variety of its activities.