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Four Ģ����ý soon-to-be graduates will be featured speakers at the university’s 140th commencement May 9 at First Bank & Trust Arena.

When Laura Diddle arrived at Ģ����ý in 2003, she stepped into a role that would allow her to bring together her talents in teaching, conducting and mentorship. Over the next two decades, that role would grow into something greater, shaping not only a choral program, but generations of SDSU students and the musical life of the region.

Ģ����ý, which has built a name for itself in the building of lunar rovers and prototypes, has found success in one of NASA’s longest-standing student challenges. An SDSU team consisting of five sophomores and one freshman finished second in the Human Exploration Rover Challenge at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, April 10-11. “In our first year of participating in the NASA HERC competition, we got second place in the remote-control division,” adviser and associate professor Todd Letcher said. First place went to the University of Alabama at Huntsville.

Lisa Ulvestad, a teaching program assistant for the Department of Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science, has been named Ģ����ý’s Civil Service Employee of the Month for April.

Transitions are always a great time to reflect on all that we have accomplished over the past year, including bringing our entire Rapid City team under one roof with our Black Hills State University partners, renovating new space at the SDSU Metro Center in Sioux Falls, increasing nursing research and scholarly activities, and implementing a new competency-based curriculum across our undergraduate and graduate programs.

SDSU's growing teacher education program — including a newly designed elementary education degree — is preparing future educators through early hands-on classroom experiences and a curriculum built to meet today’s varied student needs.

Ģ����ý’s College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions hosted its annual Public Health Day on April 7, focusing on the complex health challenges veterans face while also recognizing their resilience.

Ģ����ý’s Jackrabbits Forensics team capped another landmark season with a historic showing — including two students’ national championship and another’s All-American honor — at the 2026 American Forensic Association National Speech Tournament.

Ģ����ý’s respiratory care program has been recognized with two major awards from the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care.

The Music Teachers National Association has honored Ģ����ý’s Mark Stevens as the recipient of the 2026 Gary L. Ingle State Leadership Service Award.