Greetings Fellow Jackrabbits –
As you read this, it will be nearly one full year since our university first felt the impact of COVID-19 and our employees and students went home for the remainder of the 2020 spring semester before returning in the fall. 
A lot has certainly happened since but our university has not wavered in its commitment to fulfill its educational mission and keep our students, faculty and staff on campus during the 2020-21 academic year. As I reflect on the events of the past 12 months and the challenges presented by COVID-19, I could not be more proud of what we have accomplished together.
Our accomplishments to date could not have been done without the efforts of the Brookings community. We partnered to institute similar health and safety protocols designed to keep our university, the Brookings School District and the local businesses open.Â
While still challenging, our combined efforts gave the local health care systems the best chance at not being overrun during the fall spike in cases, our K-12 school district was one of a few in the state that did not have to move to remote learning for a period of time, and we completed our semester on campus while other universities in the U.S. had to send their students home.
Keeping our university operating also let us enjoy many other accomplishments during the semester. As you will read in this edition of STATE Magazine, Hattie Seten became SDSU’s first Rhodes scholar since 1952 and Kendra Alvizures is the university’s first ever Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship Program recipient.Â
We continue to launch new programs and build facilities to train and educate students and conduct important research. We are launching our professional program in veterinary medicine next fall through a partnership with the University of Minnesota, and our world-class Raven Precision Agriculture Center will be ready for students and faculty to move in this summer.Â
The SDSU Foundation had its single-largest fundraising year with more than $70 million in gifts. Faculty and students won other prestigious awards, and our academic programs continue to be ranked among the nation’s best. In all, our academic year has provided many highlights and achievements during the most unprecedented of times.
We know we must continue to remain vigilant in our efforts to stay on campus, and we are committed to completing our spring semester together. Plans are being developed to hold in-person commencement ceremonies at Dana J. Dyknouse Stadium in May with this year’s graduates, while affording those who did not have the opportunity to walk across the stage last year a chance to come back and have that experience.
Graduation is a signature moment for our university and a chance to recognize the hard work of our students and share in a special moment that is the culmination of our journey together. It will be a time for celebration, and what we have learned in the past year and how we have managed an ongoing pandemic affords us that opportunity.
Thank you for being a friend and supporter of South Dakota State University. I do look forward to future opportunities where and when we can be back together, enjoying larger events that make our university so great.
Sincerely,Â
Barry H. Dunn
