Dear Friends,
At a special meeting on Friday, February 22, the Board of Regents named Dr. Robert A. Wharton, as the 18th president of the School of Mines, effective July 1, 2008. Dr. Wharton comes to the campus from Idaho State University, where he is currently the provost and vice president for academic affairs. http://news.sdsmt.edu/stories/8260. I am delighted with Dr. Wharton's selection and look forward to working with him over these next few months to assure a smooth and successful transition.
The South Dakota Legislature is wrapping up their 2008 session. Several of the bills directly affecting the School of Mines were passed and will make a tremendous, positive impact on the future of the university. Among the bills passed was HB1085, the "bond bill", which will authorize the Board of Regents to sell $74.5M in bonds, of which $7 million will apply toward the construction of a new paleontology center and $18M toward a new Chem/ChemE building ($8M bond bill plus $10M HEFF funds). Groundbreaking should occur during the 08-09 academic year. These two buildings will form the centerpiece for the number of projects now in planning that will greatly enhance and modernize the campus.
The School of Mines Baja SAE team took part in the Winter Baja Competition sponsored by SAE and Michigan Tech over the weekend. They placed 3rd and 4th (out of 25 cars) behind two Central Michigan cars and, since the trophies go by team, they brought home the second place trophy. The full results may be viewed at: http://www.baja.mtu.edu/winter_baja_files/Winter%20Results%2008.pdf .
Students, faculty members and representatives from the Alumni Association attended the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration (SME) annual conference in Salt Lake City earlier this week. The School of Mines SME student team competed against fifteen universities in an event that involved developing a plan to open a new quarry in California. This was the first time the School of Mines team participated in this competition, and we are proud to announce that they captured third place!
On Monday, March 3, from 3-6 pm, the School of Mines will host the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour (EET) in the Surbeck Center Ballroom. The EET brings the country's top young entrepreneurs to college campuses, and is designed to help students pursue their own vision in a world of rapidly evolving technology and globalization. In addition to students; faculty, staff and members of the community are welcome to attend. http://www.extremetour.org/
The public is invited to attend an open house from 2-4 pm, next Tuesday, March 4 at the Office of Technology Transfer (OTT), located in the EE/P building room 109. There will be a brief welcome at 2:30 pm. This will be an opportunity to view the recently remodeled area and furnished OTT offices. OTT Director, Dale "Butch" Skillman (ME73) will assist in all matters relating to Intellectual Property (IP) on campus: non-disclosure, disclosures, searches, patent applications, licensing, and more. The role of OTT is to enhance each of these activities by establishing policies, practices and procedures that are widely understood and disseminated amongst those in our community who create new technologies.
Ninety-nine employers from around the country attended the School of Mines Career Fair on Tuesday, February 12th, making this the universities' largest spring career fair in campus history. Darrell Sawyer, director of the Career Center at the School of Mines stated that, "Even though we're a small school
and far away, companies spend considerable resources and time to come here. That speaks for itself and industry's high regard for the School of Mines."
For more information on the event and a list of employers who attended, please visit: http://sdmines.sdsmt.edu/cgi-bin/global/a_bus_card.cgi?SiteID=108618
As always, I welcome your thoughts and comments. I can be reached at charles.ruch@sdsmt.edu.
Charles Ruch