The South Dakota School of Mines and Technology will hold its Presidential Investiture and 159th Commencement at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 9, in the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Arena.
School of Mines President Robert A. Wharton, Ph.D., will be formally invested as the 18th president of the university. South Dakota Board of Regents President Terry Baloun will perform the investiture. Michael C. Gallagher, Ph.D., past president of Mesa State College, will give the investiture address.
Prior to beginning a career in higher education, Gallagher served during the Vietnam era as a cryptographer in the U.S. Air Force and held management positions with Phillips Petroleum Company and Procter & Gamble. He taught graduate business courses for two years in Europe, was chairman of the Department of Management at the University of Arkansas, dean of business at the University of Houston, and vice president for academic affairs at Idaho State University. Gallagher has served as president at the University of Houston-Victoria, Idaho State University (interim), and Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Colo., where he currently resides.
During the ceremony, more than 200 graduates will receive associate's, bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. In addition, 29 alumni from the class of 1959 will attend the ceremony and receive certificates commemorating their graduation.
Jeffrey Wadsworth, Ph.D. will join the School of Mines as commencement speaker. Wadsworth currently serves as president and CEO of Battelle, the world's largest non-profit research and development organization, executing $5 billion of work annually and employing approximately 21,000 people. He currently leads Battelle's Global Laboratory Operations business, where he oversees the management or co-management of eight laboratories. Six are national laboratories for the U.S. Department of Energy representing more than $3 billion of annual business: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center is a laboratory for the Department of Homeland Security. The eighth is a laboratory in Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia, which is being designed, built, and operated for the private sector.
Wadsworth was educated at Sheffield University in England, where he studied metallurgy, earning a bachelor's degree in 1972 and a Ph.D. in 1975. He was awarded a doctor of metallurgy degree in 1991 for his published work and received the highest recognition conferred by the university, an honorary doctor of engineering degree, in July 2004.
Melanie J. Satchell (interdisciplinary sciences, Pleasant Dale, Neb.) will represent the student body.While attending the School of Mines, Satchell has been directly involved in campus leadership, completing a term as student association president and serving on the School of Mines Presidential Search Committee. She also has been an active advocate for the School of Mines, serving as a student ambassador, testifying before the legislature and appearing before the Board of Regents. In 2008, she was appointed to the South Dakota Board of Regents as the student regent and is a formal member of the board.
Also during the ceremony, the School of Mines will honor an alumnus with the Guy E. March Medal. This medal is awarded annually in recognition of the individual's positive interaction with the students, the institution and the alumni of the School of Mines and who demonstrates the service and spirit of Dr. Guy March. This year the award will be presented to Kenneth G. May.
Upon earning his civil engineering degree in 1961, May was drafted in October of 1961. Following Officer Candidate School, May was promoted through the ranks from lieutenant to captain in the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps, was an officer in charge of the Nuremberg Field Team in Germany and served as chief of special operations.
In the 1970s and 1980s, May's professional career in Rapid City included positions with 1st Federal Savings & Loan, CMI Investment Corp., VEREX Corp, Prairie States Life Insurance Co., Dakota Steel & Supply and Brink Electric Construction Co. It was during these years when his ongoing service and connection to the School of Mines and the SDSM&T Alumni Association began the exemplary record befitting the Guy E. March Medal.
As treasurer of the Alumni Association, May was instrumental in the transfer of $1 million in funds held by the Endowment Association to the newly-formed SDSM&T Foundation. May served two terms as president of the Alumni Association, was the co-chair of the 2000 All-School Reunion, a past member of the Alumni Relationship Committee and is a current member of the Alumni Investment Committee.
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