History, Affiliations and Rankings
South Dakota State University (SDSU) was founded as a land-grant Agriculture College in 1881 and received university status in 1964. Located in Brookings, the South Dakota State University is the largest and most comprehensive educational institution in the state. It is a member of space grant colleges. SDSU is ranked 196th in the record 312 schools in Sierra magazine's 14th annual Cool Schools ranking. The College of Nursing of ADSU is ranked 13th in the College Factual’s Best Value Nursing Schools 2021. It is recognized among the top 5% of the colleges that offer the best bachelor’s degree in nursing. It also ranked Ranked 272nd in National Universities in 2020 by US News, 241th in Top Performers on Social Mobility in 2020 by US News, ranked 135th in top Public Schools in 2020 by US News, 471 among 4,300 institutions in Forbes’ America’s Top Colleges 2019, 40th in Best Colleges for Agricultural Sciences in America by Niche in 2020, 117th in Best College Athletics in America by Niche in 2020.
Infrastructure, Campuses, and Courses
SDSU’s campus extends across an area of 386.7 acres. The campus has 179 buildings including residential buildings that accommodate around 4600 students. The university is divided into nine colleges to offer a wide range of undergraduate, graduate, and doctorate-level courses. Currently, the university offers 82 majors, 35 specializations, 94 minors, 36 master’s, 15 PhD, and 2 professional doctorate courses. The university is also known for its distance education offered through the Office of Continuing and Distance Education. The area of study includes Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Education and Human Sciences, Natural Sciences, Nursing, Pharmacy, Allied Health Professions, and Engineering.
Accomplishments and Alumni
South Dakota State University is a premier land-grant university recognized for creative, innovative, and engaging education. The university creates a positive impact on the lives of students through its student-centric and career-oriented educational programs. The Alumni community of SDSU comprises more than 96,000 graduates, most of whom can be found working and living in the United States. The SDSU Alumni Association emphasizes recognizing its alumni who have outstanding achievements in different fields. Some of the notable alumni of the university include Gene Amdahl- inventor of the IBM 360, Adam Vinatieri- NFL kicker and 4x Super Bowl champion, Ben Reifel, "Lone Feather”- first Lakota Indian member of Congress and Theodore Schultz- Nobel Laureate for Economics.
Student Diversity and Visiting Companies
SDSU enrols more than 11,000 students for each academic term. Students at the university represent more than 49 states and over 70 countries. International students at SDSU represent around 5.3% of the total student population. Students of SDSU get an opportunity to participate in an on-campus job fair handled by the Office of Career Development. The on-campus fair is conducted for different departments and held in accordance with the capacity limit of the university. Some interviews are also scheduled virtually. A number of employees participated in the job fair and offered employment opportunities to deserving candidates.
