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As you sit down to read this newsletter, we are nearing the halfway point of the semester already. We have many things to celebrate as we continue to be a thriving and innovative College of Nursing.

The South Dakota State University College of Nursing added five new employees to its rolls this fall, with the new faces spread out between the college’s sites in Brookings, Sioux Falls and Rapid City.

South Dakota State University, Black Hills State University and Monument Health celebrated the grand opening of the newly renovated and expanded nursing facility at BHSU-Rapid City on Sept. 30. The event marked a significant milestone in a collaborative effort to strengthen health care education and workforce development in western South Dakota.

One hundred and fifty-five people took advantage of free health screenings offered by pharmacy students from South Dakota State University at the State Fair Aug. 29.

Two South Dakota State University colleges and another South Dakota Board of Regents institution have teamed up to offer a revamped bachelor’s degree program with two new specializations at SDSU. The new Bachelor of Science in health studies is a partnership between SDSU’s College of Education and Human Sciences and College of Nursing, with help from Dakota State University. The South Dakota Board of Regents approved the program in December, and it started this fall.

As technology and medical treatment methods have advanced, quite rapidly in recent years, the methods of presenting the Bachelor of Science in Nursing curriculum also need to adapt.

Motivated by the opportunity to conduct research, Abby Seydel switched from South Dakota State University’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program to the Doctor of Philosophy in nursing program in fall 2023. In May, she became the 50th and most recent graduate of the program that started 20 years ago this fall.

Selma Kendrick ’69 founded two bone marrow transplant programs during her 48-year nursing career and held executive positions at large Phoenix hospitals. However, she never forgot what she witnessed going to school on the reservation at Eagle Butte, and that experience impacted the way she gave back through South Dakota State University later in her life.

On Dec. 13, 2008, Barbara Condon cemented herself in the history of the South Dakota State University College of Nursing. Seventy-three years after the first nursing students were admitted into what was then the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Nursing was ready to graduate its first Doctor of Philosophy in nursing graduate. That graduate would be Condon, who was part of an initial cohort of 13 that began 20 years ago — fall 2005.

Dianne Smith, simulation education specialist for the South Dakota State University College of Nursing, has received the Excellence in Healthcare Innovation and Education Award for the 2024-25 academic year.