News Release

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:  Thursday, October 4, 2007

SDSMT President Ruch to Retire in 2008

RAPID CITY, S.D. – Charles Ruch, president of the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology since 2003, has announced his plans to retire from the South Dakota public university system next summer. The announcement was made Thursday on the Rapid City campus to faculty, staff, students and community leaders.

Ruch will end his service at the School of Mines on June 30, 2008, Regents Executive Director Robert T. Tad Perry said. “Chuck Ruch has provided exemplary leadership for the School of Mines,” Perry said. “At a time five years ago when he could have retired from his last presidency and taken more time for himself, he agreed to launch another chapter in a distinguished higher education career. South Dakota was indeed fortunate to benefit from his experience.”

“President Ruch gets high marks from the regents for his keen focus on the academic, research and public service missions of SDSMT,” said Regents President Harvey C. Jewett. “The School of Mines has long enjoyed an outstanding reputation in science and engineering fields. When Chuck arrived, he redoubled the school’s focus on research and graduate education, as well as strengthening a quality undergraduate program.” Ruch’s launch of a comprehensive strategic planning process will also position the school to respond quickly to the challenges ahead, Jewett said.

Ruch said he is particularly proud of the efforts under way at the Rapid City campus in research and graduate education. Since he arrived in 2003, the school has doubled the number of doctoral programs offered, and awards for research-related grants and contracts increased to $17.2 million last year from $12.7 million five years ago, a 35 percent increase in four years. A new business incubator on the School of Mines campus also has created important linkages between higher education, economic development and the Black Hills region, he said.

“I am also pleased that the School of Mines has increased its admissions standards so that we can ensure that students who want to be scientists and engineers are well prepared for college work when they arrive on our campus,” Ruch said. As a result, retention has also increased. In just the past two years freshmen to sophomore retention has increased from 72 percent to 76 percent.

Ruch said his time in South Dakota has been especially rewarding. “It has been a great five years because of the people, the community and the opportunities,” he said.

Prior to his service at the School of Mines, Ruch was president at Boise State University for 10 years. He previously held positions at Virginia Commonwealth University as an associate dean, dean, and as provost and vice president for academic affairs and at the University of Pittsburgh, where he was a faculty member and department chair. Ruch holds degrees from Northwestern University and The College of Wooster (Ohio).

Jewett said the Board of Regents will announce soon a presidential search process and timeline for securing Ruch’s successor.

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