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Contacts: Robert T. Tad Perry, Executive Director
tadp@sdbor.edu
Janelle Toman, Director of Information & Institutional Research
janellet@sdbor.edu
T: 605.773.3455
F: 605.773.5320
www.sdbor.edu
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, June 23, 2006
USDSU Report Shows Progress
BROOKINGS, S.D. – USDSU, the public higher education center in Sioux Falls, capped a history-making academic year with legislative approval for new permanent facilities and a fall 2005 enrollment that topped previous records.
Executive Dean Mark Lee delivered his annual report on USDSU activities to the South Dakota Board of Regents meeting this week in Brookings. Lee said USDSU served a total of 3,247 students in the three academic semesters ending this spring.
Fall 2005 enrollment numbers were up 1.4 percent over the previous fall, as was the percentage of total credit hours delivered last fall—3.1 percent higher. However, Lee reported that total spring 2006 enrollment was down from the previous spring, and the number of credit hours delivered also declined somewhat in both the 2005 summer term and 2006 spring term at USDSU. When combined into the three-semester reporting period, total enrollment for the year at USDSU was down about 3.7 percent from the 3,372 served in 2004-05.
“Our core enrollment however, that is students taking only classes at USDSU, increased when you look at both the fall and spring terms,” Lee explained.
With legislative action earlier this year to acquire property to establish public higher education in Sioux Falls permanently, Lee said USDSU is on track to meet the education needs of the area’s non-traditional students and working adults. The Great Plains Education Foundation provided $5.8 million to the state to buy a 263-acre tract of land near Interstate 29; a second law provided $8 million in state funds for construction of a classroom building on the site.
Other highlights of the past year at USDSU:
· Received a $300,000 Osher Foundation grant to create the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at USDSU targeting education needs of older adults;
· Hired a financial aid counselor and business office assistant to provide student services on site;
· Moved nursing education programs into the new Health Sciences Center on the Southeast Technical Institute campus in summer 2005;
· Added availability of undergraduate majors in criminal justice, marketing, and finance from USD, and in banking and financial services from NSU.
· Began offering two Ph.D. programs—nursing from SDSU and computational science and statistics, jointly offered by USD and SDSU.
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