Dear Friends,
With mid-August upon us, thoughts and activities—though not necessarily the weather—are building toward the opening of the fall semester. There are telltale signs across campus. The fall sports teams—men’s football and women’s volleyball, have returned and begun season practice. Residence hall staff are arriving this weekend for training. The summer’s capital construction projects—renovations to locker rooms and construction of skyboxes at O’Harra Stadium/Dunham Field, site preparation for mobile Paleo laboratories, renovation of the mining department lab, and renovations to the Tech Transfer Office—are about completed.
Events on the calendar for the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year include: - A welcome convocation for faculty and staff on Monday, August 27th at 10 am in the Surbeck Center Ballroom.
- Cheer on the Hardrocker football team at their first game of the season versus Trinity Bible College on Saturday, September 1st at 6 pm at O’Harra Stadium/Dunham Field.
- The fall 2007 semester begins on Tuesday, September 4th with registration and an opening convocation for students at 9 am. Classes officially beginning at 4 pm.
The women’s volleyball team kicks off their season at Black Hills State at 7 pm on Wednesday, September 5th. Their first home game will be with Dakota Wesleyan on Friday, September 7th in the King Center at 7 pm.
Graduates from the School of Mines continue to be in high demand. Our fall career fair will be held on October 2nd, and is at capacity with companies on a waiting list. Darrell Sawyer, Director of the SDSM&T Career Center, reports that, as of this date, 82% of our 06-07AY undergraduates have been placed with overall average salaries of $54,205—up from $49,331 last year. This placement rate (which includes employment, graduate/professional school, and military service) is comparable to last year at this time. Currently, 98% of the FY05/06 graduates are placed.
Dr. Patrick Zimmerman, President and CEO of C-Lock, Inc. and Chief Technical Officer of C-Lock Technology, recently testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environmental and Public Works on “Green Jobs from Action on Global Warming”. C-Lock uses a patented process to measure and verify greenhouse gas reduction credits so they can be bought and sold credibly on the world’s emerging carbon markets. Dr. Zimmerman, former SDSM&T Professor and Director of the Institute of Atmospheric Science, invented the C-Lock technology while at SDSM&T.
As we welcome the incoming class of 2011, we begin recruiting for the class of 2012 (fall ’08). We are always looking for talented high school seniors who are interested in science and/or engineering. If you know of any such young person, please send his/her name our way—we’ll follow up and share the excitement of the School of Mines.
As always, I welcome your thoughts and comments. I can be reached at charles.ruch@sdsmt.edu.
Charles Ruch