This is a reminder that ALL employees are required to submit their monthly timesheets by the designated deadline each month to ensure timely and accurate payroll processing. A quick guide can be found on the experience portal: SDBOR Employee Dashboard Quick Guide - Timesheets. 

 If you supervise student employees, please be sure to clearly communicate timesheet submission deadlines to them and confirm their timesheets are accurate and submitted on time.

Thank you for your attention to this requirement and for your continued cooperation. Please reach out to the System Payroll Center (PayrollSSC@sdstate.edu) for assistance or questions.

Geek Speak is returning in February with a fabulous lineup! 

Please join us on Mondays at 4:00 p.m. in Jonas 110.

(We're also looking for Geek Speakers for fall 2026, too, so please send a note my way if you're interested.)

February 2: Yukari Tadano

“Why Is Japan’s Suicide Rate So High?”

This speech explores the social and cultural factors behind Japan’s historically high suicide rate, including work culture, social expectations, stigma around mental health, and limited access to support. By examining these structural pressures, it aims to promote understanding rather than stereotypes.

February 9: Ezekiel Bucks

“The History and Impact of the Typewriter: An Analogue History.” 

Come and look at some amazing relics from our analogue past! There will be real typewriters on display during this presentation to help connect with a piece of technology that used to rule the world but has become obsolete in less than a century. If you happen to own a typewriter, please bring it to show it off and to learn more about it! Let’s turn Jonas 110 into a LOUD, clicky, clacky newsroom! Together we’ll explore the development of the typewriter during the industrial revolution, its wide acceptance and standardization, and the way it effected society and culture in the twentieth century. The typewriter has had a substantial yet overlooked role in the development of digital technology we take for granted today.

February 23: Dr. Lesleigh Owen

“Race: A Very Serious Fiction”
Spoiler: It’s All Made Up (and Why That Still Matters)

How many racial categories do we recognize in the U.S.? Isn’t “ethnicity” just the PC way to say “race”? What the heck does “Caucasian” mean, anyway? Join Dr. Lesleigh Owen as she hops feetfirst into the messiness, ridiculousness, and consequences of pretending we can divide human beings into distinct “racial” subcategories.

March 2: Dr. Katelyn Kelly

“The Girl at the Edge of the World: What Miyazaki Can Offer Us on Hope”

In a world increasingly unreal and precarious, many to turn to realism or pessimism to stay grounded. However, these frames rarely help us imagine alternatives. In this talk we’ll explore what it might mean to ground ourselves in hope instead. We will look to the animator Hayao Miyazaki and his use of an active demanding hope. His movies hold beauty and violence–ruin and small acts of care–and the young as a model of hope within a damaged world.

March 9: Rosalie Aslesen and Katherine Kemp

“Transitioning the Meier House and Property into the Spearfish Museum”

This Geek Speak presents the dream for a community-run Spearfish Museum and will introduce you to the people fundraising for the project. Hear about their vision for how this museum can contribute to the city of Spearfish and why it matters now.

The Spearfish Museum is an emerging project that will transform the historic Meier House and its property into a museum celebrating the stories, people, and ingenuity that shaped the Spearfish area. Its mission is to acquire, preserve, and share the historic, cultural, and innovative spirit of Spearfish. The goal is to create a museum that feels engaging, memorable, and meaningful for residents, students, and visitors.

The Museum Board’s fundraising mission is to build on the $1.5M+ bequest from Johanna Meier DellaVecchia by rallying community support and raising the matching funds needed to open the museum within the next 4–6 years.

Ultimately, the vision is simple: a museum built by the community, for the community—one that tells Spearfish’s story and strengthens its future.

March 23: Dr. Tina Van Kley

“Hitler's British Fangirl: Unity Mitford and the Appeals of Fascism”

Unity Mitford was an English debutante in the 1930s, the youngest daughter of a minor British aristocrat. Her name is not one that most Americans are likely to know, unless you’ve seen the recent UK tv series Outrageous (2025).  Her story is wild, however, and she is infamous for her commitment to fascism and, most notably, her obsession with Adolf Hitler. At one point, she was rumored to be his fiancée and is thought to have met with him more often than any other British person. Her diaries from 1935-1939 were published in January 2025 in The Daily Mail, and offer new insights into her pursuit of “the dear Fuhrer,” as she referred to Hitler. More broadly, her diaries and letters shed light on the appeal of fascism to young women at the time, and can help us better understand the resilience of this ideology, even after WWII.

March 30: Greg Strobel

“Slow Tourism and Human Powered Travel”

This Geek Speak will discuss the concept of 'Slow Tourism' and emphasize human powered travel as the method for the concept. It will provide insight into understanding the mindset, introduce different methods of travel, and highlight some fun examples from personal experience.

April 6: Dr. Courtney Huse Wika

“A Poet’s Guide to Foraging: Creating Found Poetry”

In honor of National Poetry Month, this hands-on workshop will introduce the art of Found Poetry. Together, we’ll practice two distinct approaches, foraging from texts that already exist: the overheard, the discarded, the official and the everyday, and the overlooked. We will test how meaning shifts when language is lifted, reordered, and reframed. No prior experience is required. Bring yourself (and maybe a friend!)—and a desire to create.

Questions? Contact Courtney.HuseWika@BHSU.edu 

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the founding of Spearfish (1876-2026), the Leland D. Case Library has created a photo exhibit highlighting the first 75 years of Spearfish's history. "Remembering Spearfish: 150 Years of Community" is on display at the Ruddell Gallery through January 23, 2026. All are welcome to attend the closing reception for the exhibit, which will be held on Tuesday, January 20th from 5 - 6:30 p.m. For additional information visit: https://libguides.bhsu.edu/Spearfish150 

The Writing Assistance Center would love the opportunity to visit your class and tell your students about what we do and how we can help them. This presentation takes less than 10 minutes and can be done at the beginning or end of a class. We work with students in all academic fields and can assist them in any kind of writing project. 

Additional ways the WAC can assist faculty include:

• Client Reports: following every appointment, the consultant composes a brief narrative of the session.
  • Students can indicate on their appointment to have the client report sent to the instructor as evidence of their attendance. The client report also provides the instructor valuable information about what was discussed and the student's level of participation.
• Guest lectures: in-class workshops on writing skills and conventions: Grammar, sentence construction, paragraphs, thesis, topic sentences, incorporating outside sources, documenting sources, MLA, APA, Chicago Style. We can accommodate your needs for other writing issues too.
  • Excellent alternative to cancelling classes if you’re going to a conference or have any planned absence. We can fill in and use the class time productively.
• Access to style or documentation manuals for professional and scholarly work.

Please email Matthew.Bauman@bhsu.edu to make an in-class visit or for any other questions. Have a great semester!

Many get phone calls asking if the VITA program will be offered this year.  We are excited to say “Yes”!

Please give the phone number (605) 206-3814 and/or email:  BlackHillsStateVITA@gmail.com

to schedule an appointment.

Thank you!

It is with sadness and a heavy heart that BHSU shares the loss of one of our students, Sean Goodyear, who passed away last week unexpectedly.  Sean grew up in Texas and then moved to the Black Hills several years ago.  This past spring, Sean graduated from BHSU with a degree in Outdoor Education.  While taking an Adaptive PE class, Sean found his passion for working with folks with disabilities when he volunteered at Northern Hills Training Center.  This new found passion led Sean to continue his studies at BHSU as a masters student studying Special Education.  He was a dedicated and engaged student in class as well as in discussions with professors.  When he wasn’t studying, he loved spending time in the outdoors and working with local youth doing ninja-style obstacle course-based learning and training. 

The family is planning a private service and celebration of life for Sean.  Here is the obituary link: Sean Thomas Goodyear Obituary January 4, 2026 - Kinkade Funeral Chapel  We ask that you keep the Goodyear Family in your thoughts and prayers.     

Please note, Student Health & Counseling Services is available should you need to process this information.  You can call 605-642-6520 or stop by the office, located in the lower level of the Student Union, to set up an appointment to talk. 

The new minimum wage of $11.85 was effective January 1, 2026. We have now updated the Student Employment Guidelines document to reflect the new pay structures. Please see Article - Supervisor Guide to Student... for more information.

If you have any questions reagarding this, email BHSUHumanResources@bhsu.edu.

Plans are underway for BHSU's  6th Annual Joy of Learning Series. The goal of this program is simply to bring the campus and community together through the joy of learning new things. We will offer twenty sessions--talks, presentations, performances, and tours. Topics from previous summers have included the origins of English, beer making, finding local mushooms, Black Hills geology, filmmaking, bird migration, cancer research, and uses of AI for composing music. We also include sessions with practical information on topics of general interest like navigating the health care system and how weight loss drugs work, for example.

All sessions are free and open to the public.This year's event will be June 24-26 and 29-30. 

If you have an idea for a presentation you could give--or if you have a topic you want to see covered--please contact Amy Fuqua, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts:  Amy.Fuqua@BHSU.edu 

The Send-a-Thanks platform was developed for employees to be able to send a special thank you, or kudos, to one of their colleagues across campus.  Employees who receive a send-a-thanks are entered in to a monthly drawing for either a Bookstore gift card or a mug and gift card courtesy of Einstein's. We would like to give a shout out to the recipients who have received a kudos! Recent recipients were:

If you would like to send a special recognition to someone please click the quick link on the main e-Update email.
Thank you all for everything you do!

There is now an article in Jacekt Connect under the Business Office section, named as Certificate of Coverage of Insurance Information Sheet.  When you have an off campus event and you are requred to have a Certificate of Insurance for the venue you are going to use, you need to click on the link in this article.  It will take you to the template that you need to fill out to get a Certificate of Insurance.  When this form is filled out it will be sent to the state and they will issue a Certificate of Insurance.

INTRODUCING: JacketAccommodate!!    This is a new software that will be ustilized to manage and negotaite students disabilty accommodations.  

Please follow this link to learn more about JacketAccommodate:  https://support.bhsu.edu/TDClient/30/Portal/KB/ArticleDet?ID=657

Please reach out to BHSU/Disability Services for any questions and/or concerns.  We are in this togehter, we will make this transition to the new system a seemless and possible for Faculty and Students.

We will roll out this new accommodate process begining this semester, Spring 2026.

I have been asked to share this information:

Dear staff, faculty, student organization/club faculty advisors, athletic coaches, etc.

If you are interested in forming a team for the 2026 Spearfish Polar Plunge to benefit Special Olympics South Dakota, which is set for Saturday, February 21^st at the Spearfish Rec Center,  please click “Plunge” at https://charity.pledgeit.org/spearfishpp26.  Individuals can register (as an individual or to create a team) to get started on fundraising before the big day.  If you have questions please contact:

Kaija Swisher, Public Safety Records Manager

Department of Public Safety

k.swisher@spearfish.gov

Phone: (605) 642-1300

Black HIlls State University will be hosting a Military Appreciation Day event on Saturday, January 17th for our Active Military and Veterans.  You're invited to come out to watch our BHSU Basketball team take on Ft Lewis College.  The Womens game starts at 1 PM, and the Mens at 3 PM (at the Young Center--Spearfish Campus).   If you are Active military or a Veteran you will get (3) three free tickets to the game, one for yourself and two extra tickets for guests.  Just be sure to let the ticket agent at the door know your status (Active Duty or Veteran).