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Groton Daily Independent
Saturday, July 29, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 029 ~ 10 of 67
News from the
South Dakota university centers spend less money on teachers
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota’s university centers in Sioux Falls, Rapid City and Pierre are spending less money on instructors, and it’s not just because they have fewer students.
The Argus Leader reports the decrease in spending is also due to a strategic push to offer fewer courses and hire part-time adjunct instructors.
“All of the centers have been using adjuncts to control costs,” said Mike Rush, executive director for the Board of Regents.
Paul Turman is the Board of Regents vice president for academic affairs. He said Capital University Center is using this strategy because it doesn’t have enough students to employ many full-time faculty members. “You couldn’t be a full-time math teacher at CUC in Pierre because they only offer one to two math sec-
tions per semester,” Turman said.
Most classes at Black Hills State University’s Rapid City center are taught by adjuncts.
“That’s always been a measure that has helped hold down our instructional costs,” said Greg Bilodeau,
executive director.
Adjuncts make up about 30 percent of the instructional staff in Sioux Falls’ university center. The center
hasn’t made any concerted efforts to increase the number of part-time staff.
Executive Director Craig Johnson said most of the cost savings in Sioux Falls have been the result of a
strategic effort to decrease the number of courses offered.
The center offered 290 courses in the fall of last year. Only 166 are scheduled this fall. Jake Moir, a Sioux Falls student, said it has become more challenging to schedule classes. “I had to settle for some classes that I didn’t want to take,” Moir said.
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Information from: Argus Leader, http://www.argusleader.com
Oglala Sioux Executive Director celebrates 3 years at job By ABBY PETERSEN, Rapid City Journal
PINE RIDGE, S.D. (AP) — At rst glance, Darrell Brown Bull’s of ce resembles a college dorm room.
The walls are painted bright orange; a mini fridge buzzes in the corner; whiteboards hold lists of important names and tasks; and a Darth Vader bowl lled with Jolly Ranchers candies rests comfortably on his desk. But behind his chair, there’s a dead giveaway that Brown Bull is not a student anymore: Three framed degrees from the University of Minnesota Duluth hang on the wall (though even the degrees are hugged
by Star Wars movie regalia).
At 32, Brown Bull is the youngest executive director the Oglala Sioux Tribe has ever had. With July 24
marking his third year in the post, he’s also the longest serving director in tribal history.
Brown Bull’s of ce sits in the middle of Pine Ridge, the largest community on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, which is the second-largest Native American reservation in the nation. As executive director, Brown Bull’s job on paper is to ensure that 75 tribal programs comply with tribal policies and get their jobs
done. He answers to the tribal president, Scott Weston.
Informally, however, Brown Bull also listens to complaints, meets with department heads and does what
he calls “ re ghting” to ensure those in tribal administration and elected government get along.
They often do not, Brown Bull told the Rapid City Journal (http://bit.ly/2v9Zgxb ).
Brown Bull was born in 1984 in Kyle but traveled around the U.S. for the rst few years of his life because
his father was in the Marines. His mother, Edwina, is the head counselor at Little Wound School in Kyle, where Brown Bull attended school as a child.
He’s affectionately known as “Tiger” by family and friends, after his grandmother gave him the nickname