Contacts: Jack R. Warner, Executive Director and CEO
jack.warner@sdbor.edu

Janelle Toman, Director of Communications
Janelle.toman@sdbor.edu

Telephone: (605) 773-3455
Fax: (605) 773-5320
www.sdbor.edu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  Wednesday, June 11, 2014

BHSU President Receives Honorary Doctorate

VERMILLION, S.D. – The South Dakota Board of Regents awarded its highest honor Wednesday to Kay Schallenkamp, who retires later this month as president of Black Hills State University.

The honorary degree, Doctor of Public Service, was presented to Schallenkamp in “recognition of extraordinary service and leadership to the South Dakota system of public higher education.”

The degree was conferred at the Board of Regents’ meeting in Vermillion. Regents’ officials say this title is reserved for individuals whose exceptional personal and professional contributions have merited special acknowledgement.

“Under Kay Schallenkamp’s leadership as president for the past eight years, Black Hills State University has come to distinguish itself as a dynamic and growing comprehensive university in our region and beyond,” said Regents President Dean M. Krogman. Focused on innovation in education, President Schallenkamp partnered Black Hills State with the nearby Sanford Underground Research Facility to develop a world-class science laboratory that will pay dividends for years to come.

During her tenure, BHSU has steadily increased enrollment and graduation rates, added new undergraduate and graduate degree programs, and increased grant funding and scholarship donations. President Schallenkamp has built and strengthened collaborations with business, industry, and government agencies to meet regional workforce needs, the regents noted.

As one of South Dakota’s own, President Schallenkamp began her higher education experience as an undergraduate student at Northern State University in Aberdeen. She later returned there to embark upon an academic career that has spanned more than 40 years. She has also distinguished herself in public service outside the borders of South Dakota, as president of Emporia State University in Kansas and in senior-level academic positions at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and at Chadron State College in Nebraska.

 -30-

Photos available upon request