Alumni News - Black Hills State University

More documents

Recommendations

Info

University News BHSU people in the news Diamond receives coveted Mark Twain award David Diamond, professor at BHSU, recently received the Mark Twain Award for his distinguished contri butions to Midwestern lit erature. The Mark Twain Award is the highest and most respected literature prize givenbythesociety. Diamond, when asked to comment on the award, said: "I was totally stunned. You work in solitude when youwriteandhavenoidea if there's anyone out there reading or admiring your work. This is confirmation that all the lonely hours and hard work have paid off. This is perhaps the pin nacle of my writing career." Diamond's latest novel, "Cool Hand in a Hot Fire," was cited in the award. He is also the author of the "Slade Western Series," written under the name Black Hills State University Alumni Magazine Page 24 Link Pennington. His book of short stories, "Street Scenes," was adapted into a suc cessful play in Los Angeles that received excellent reviews. He is also, as Claudia Davison, the author of the "Unholy Ghost" series, a suspense thriller series pub lished by Lynx Books in New York City. Diamond is a South Dakota native who teaches classes in writing, broadcast journal ism, and radio and television produc tion at BHSU. He has bachelor's degrees in journalism and Diamond received the Mark Twain award. Retirees honored history from the University of Southern Mississippi. His Several faculty and staff members retired this year and were honored at the annual employee recognition reception. Among those hnored were: Dr. Sharon Strand, associate English professor; Valerie Hawkins, assistant library professor; Dr. Thomas Flickema, former BHSU president; and Dr. Earl Chrysler, business professor. Other retirees were: Jim Bechtold, facilities services; Deatta Chapel, student support services; Arlene Denker, facilities services; Barbara Hale, assistant business professor; and Gary Hunt, facilities services. graduate degrees are from Northwest Missouri State University and the University of Southern California. Diamond, who joined the BHSU staff in 1995, is planning to retire after the 2006 2007 school year. Wheaton is now alumni director at BH Tom Wheaton, Class of 87, was recently named director of alumni at BHSU. Wheaton, who is both an alumni and longtime employee of the university, is looking for ward to the opportunity to extend the BHSU alumni family. IcametoBHSUasstu dent from Florida, so I was without a family. The peo pleofBHSUweresowon derful to me that they became my family. Now it Wheaton seems fitting that I take on the responsibil ity of maintaining and preserving the BHSU alumni family. Steve Meeker, vice president of institu tional advancement, says he s fortunate to have an alumni director with Tom s expe rience and background. Tom is a perfect fit for this job. As a BHSU alumnus who has also worked at the university, he comes to this job with significant knowledge about the universi ty and is already making plans for future alumni gatherings, Meeker says. Tom previously served as assistant director of enrollment at BHSU. He has also held several other positions at BHSU including time as a hall director and apart ment director and sports information director. Tom has a strong communica tions background including past employ ment as a radio personality and informa tion specialist. Tom earned a speech degree with minor in music 1987 and has also taken graduate level courses. In his spare time, Tom serves as an official for high school football games in South Dakota. Tom and his wife, Kristin (Schamber), Class of 99, and their daughter, Kylie, live in Spearfish.
BHSU people in the news Dr. Randall Royer, Black Hills State University music professor, was recently chosen by his peers to receive the prestigious Distinguished Faculty Award. Royer teaches music courses and presently directs the BHSU Jazz Ensemble and the Dakota Chamber Orchestra in res idence at BHSU. Since joining the BHSU faculty in 1997, Royer has taught nine different classes ranging from freshman level music class es; to non music major general education courses, to upper division, almost gradu ate, seminar type classes. Royer's teaching and service also includes leading music ensembles; doing one on one lessons for students on the following instruments: flute, clarinet, oboe, saxophone, bassoon, guitar, string bass, bass guitar and percus sion; and supervising student teachers. Royer is described by his peers as an Steve Meeker, vice president for institu tional advancement at BHSU recently received a national award recognizing his fundraising work. Meeker, was presented the College Division of the Year Fund Raiser of the Meeker Year award. Meeker has worked at BHSU, his alma mater, for 20 years. He oversees an effort that has increased the annual athletics scholarship program from $44,000 in 1990 91 to $435,000 this year. He has brought in close to $3 million in athletics scholarships and, in the last five years, has increased the amount of scholarship money awarded by 92 percent. In 2005 06, he secured a $100,000 pledge for football scholarships and, to create equality, he secured a matching gift for the women's department. He has also cemented close to $1 million in future gifts to BHSU athletics. Recently he initiated an effort to raise funds to create the Yellow Jacket Hall of Fame room which opened this spring. When he served as the university's athletics director, in addition to fund outstanding teacher who shows excellence in teach ing, active research, schol arship and other creative endeavors. Royer says the award is a great honor but knows the real reward for him and other teachers is the differ ence they make in the lives of their stu dents. "The real reward is seeing students suc ceed either in the classroom or out of the classroom. Then you can say I had a little part in that. That's the reward," Royer says. Royerisinvolvedinmanyprofessional activities including serving as a guest con ductor for local and regional groups. He has judged music contests and/or guest conducted music clinics in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota. He was guest raising, he guided the department to six individual national champions, one national champion runner up, five Region III team championships and six conference championships. Meeker was honored in 2001 when he was selected as the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrator's Marketer of the Year. University News Royer named distinguished faculty Meeker receives national award conductor for the International Music Camp in the summer of 2002. Royer remains an active performer. His major instruments are oboe and English horn, but he also performs frequently on guitar, bass, saxophone and flute. He has given or conducted many concert and jazz performances for the university and com munity. Royer received his bachelor's degree from SDSU in Brookings, his master of arts degree from the University of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyo., and a Ph.D. in music edu cation from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. He also has a degree in audio engineering from the Institute of Audio Research in New York City. Before joining the BHSU faculty as a woodwind specialist and band director, Royer taught and directed public school instrumental music in Wyoming for over 17 years. Prior to his development work, Meeker worked with the BHSU admissions department for four years as the enroll ment management coordinator and direc tor of admissions and records. He received his bachelor's degree in speech from BHSU in 1984. Mutter earns Spirit of BH award Mutter Royer The BHSU Alumni Association honored Theresa Mutter, a senior political science and mass communications major from Oehningen, Germany, with theSpiritofBHAward. While completing all of her course work in three years, Mutter maintained a grade point average of 3.9. She has been involved in many campus organizations and has served as a resident assistant. Mutter's leadership roles have included offi cer positions of University Programming Team; the Swarm Days Committee; the Honors Program; the Honors Advisory Committee for Academic Affairs; the Student Ambassadors; and the Today Newspaper. In addition to her leadership responsibilities, Mutter has also been a member of the Chi Theta Xi sorority, KBHU FM staff, and Student Senate. She has volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, the OXFAM Hunger Banquet, Make a Difference Day, Relay for Life Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child, Make a Wish, and the Salvation Army. Mutter was the first student to win the prestigious Chiesman Foundation Award for her research on American foreign policy.
Page 1 and 2: Fall 2006 Black Hills State Univers
Page 3 and 4: Alumni News Schallenkamp begins pre
Page 5 and 6: Dr. Kay Schallenkamp (center) visit
Page 7 and 8: eceives Milken award in teaching tu
Page 9 and 10: Outstanding Scholar Program at Moun
Page 11 and 12: Alumni News Kudos & Announcements R
Page 13 and 14: Alumni News Kudos & Announcements S
Page 15 and 16: Alumni News Engagements & Marriages
Page 17 and 18: Alumni News Obituaries Olive Peggy
Page 19 and 20: 50-year reunion Alumni News Those g
Page 21 and 22: Let us know what you are doing. We
Page 23 and 24: Creating a legacy re than 45 former
Page 25: Creating a Legacy Fidler donation i
Page 29 and 30: BHSU in the news University News BH
Page 31 and 32: Yellow Jacket inductees named Five
Page 33 and 34: The BHSU cross country teams are lo
Page 35 and 36: Calendar of Events Looking ahead Ho

Alumni News - Black Hills State University

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?