“This will be a long, long journey. At times, it will be very, very hard. But think of what we have in common and share. Think of the partnerships we can build! Imagine what we can accomplish together.â€
Those words were spoken by me during my inauguration speech as South Dakota State University’s 20th president Sept. 29, 2016, in reference to what would be the launch of the Wokini Initiative.
By definition, the Wokini Initiative is SDSU’s collaborative and holistic framework to support American Indian student success and Indigenous Nation-building. The reality is that the Wokini Initiative’s partnerships and collaborations throughout the state will have a positive impact on the tribal communities of South Dakota. It is a bridge to creating access to higher education for Native American students while embracing culture and creating opportunities to positively impact the communities of South Dakota.
Many individuals at SDSU and throughout the state have come together to meet these challenges and develop the initial pathways to success. Generous donors have helped to fund scholarships and provide a lead gift on our new American Indian Student Center that will open in 2020. Congressional leadership in Washington, D.C., led efforts to include the New Beginning for Tribal Students initiative in the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill to provide a grant fund matching program for land-grant institutions.
SDSU was also awarded a three-year, $1 million grant to create a professional development training series on Lakota/Dakota history and culture for faculty and staff. Faculty are working with tribal elders and students from the Oceti Sakowin on a project to gather oral histories that will create culturally authentic materials in English and Lakota, as well as French, German and Spanish at a regional national monument. These types of initiatives position SDSU as a national resource for the preservation of the Lakota language and history.
As president, I am thankful for the opportunities our students are given and the impact the Wokini Initiative is having on their dreams to pursue degrees at SDSU. Applications from Native American students from fall 2018 to 2019 have nearly doubled to 450 and we have awarded 22 Wokini Scholarships to incoming freshmen this fall. Of those students who came to SDSU as freshmen in 2018, we are projecting a significant increase in retention to a rate similar to the overall student body population.
But while there is tremendous momentum today, there is still much work to be done. The full effects of the Wokini Initiative will not be seen for another decade. It is critical these students graduate from SDSU and have the opportunity to return to their communities or other communities in South Dakota and make a difference in their chosen profession. The impact of the new knowledge they gain at SDSU will make a difference, whether it is in business, education, agriculture, health care or any of the other dozens of majors we offer.
The mission and obligation of our land-grant mission to access will never change. The Wokini Initiative is representative of that mission and the work we have to do in order to make higher education better in South Dakota and support the needs of industry and workforce.
Thank you for your support of SDSU and being part of the Jackrabbits family. I look forward to seeing you soon.
Go Jacks!
Barry H. Dunn
President, South Dakota State University
