Colleges and universities are dynamic places, constantly changing and adapting to the demands of students and our world. During your time at South Dakota 
State you learned, you experienced, you grew—you changed. Institutions change as well. The College on the Hill has changed every day since you left. Some changes have been small and some have been stadium-sized changes. In the pages of STATE, we try to tell you about big and small changes we think may interest you.
On the big changes front, a committee of people is currently working to identify the 20th president of SDSU. As an institution, we have benefited greatly from the long service of many who have done so much to advance SDSU. At the end of 2015, President David Chicoine ’69 announced he would be stepping down as president, later that week the University of Wyoming announced that it was hiring Provost Laurie Nichols ’78 as its next president. Both announcements follow the departure earlier in the year of Vice President of Student Affairs Marysz Rames who is now the president of Wayne State College after a 27-year career on campus. While not alone, it is undeniable the impact these three administrators have had on “the home of the Yellow and Blue.â€
Changes are coming to the west side of Medary Avenue as we plan to break ground on the Alumni Green project this summer, preparing a new home for the next president of SDSU and a new place for you to call home on campus—a new Alumni Center. Saying goodbye to Tompkins Alumni Center will be bittersweet as we build our new home on the shoulders of giants. What Keith Jensen worked to build here at 905 Medary Avenue made a vision a reality and the Alumni Association wouldn’t be where it is today without his vision and the gifts of so many alumni whose names are on plaques in and around Tompkins. In this issue, we invite you to put your name on this new place and we hope you will join us in this effort.
As we embrace the changes ahead, I take inspiration from the 1926 Jack Rabbit yearbook when State was just 44 years young. “The Spirit of State College that intangible, yet powerful influence which changes our viewpoint on life and molds our ideals on a higher, finer plane; that something which we gain from our associations within her time-hallowed halls which has a never failing influence on the remainder of our lives and binds us in close relation to our Alma Mater …â€
Andi Fouberg
President & CEO
SDSU Alumni Association
