FACULTY & STAFF E-UPDATE

Celebrate Earth Day with a day full of exciting events focused on sustainability, community, and environmental awareness!

Guest Presenter

Kick off the day with our guest presenter, Spearfish Trails Coalition, in Meier Hall. Enjoy a social hour from 9:30–10:00 AM, followed by the presenter from 10:00–11:00 AM. Learn, get inspired, and engage in meaningful conversations about protecting our planet.

Earth Day Festival

Immediately after our guest presenter, we will kick off the Earth Day Festival on April 18th from 11:00-2:00 PM on the Campus Green. This year's theme is “Think Global, Act Local,” and there will be educational booths, food trucks, a free plant giveaway, solar panel tours, and much more!

We hope to see you all there!

If you have any questions, please contact Taryn.Davis@yellowjackets.bhsu.edu

The BHSU campus community is invited to join us on April 8th from 2:00–5:00 PM at the Joy Center for a special reception celebrating the continued national CAEP accreditation of our teacher preparation programs.

Stop by to enjoy food and refreshments as we recognize this important milestone and the collective effort that made it possible. We look forward to celebrating with you!

BHSU College of Education

Students, faculty, and staff are invited to submit recycled artwork as a part of BHSU’s Earth Day celebration! Display of artwork and community voting for winners of the art competition will take place Saturday April 18^th from 11am to 2pm. First place and runner-up awards for students and first place and runner-up awards for faculty/staff.

Artwork should be made primarily of repurposed /recycled/found materials. All work must be dropped off by April 15^th to Woodburn, Rm 302-A (9am to 5pm). Tags to attach to artwork with artist and artwork information will be available upon drop-off. Artwork pick-up Saturday April 18^th at 2pm.

An Audience Interactive Murder Mystery-Comedy

By Billy St. John

Directed by Josiah Sabrowski-Johnson

A Dinner Theatre Fundraiser for Scholarships

April 11, 2026

Turn the game Clue into a play and you have the masterfully entertaining Murder’s in the Heir!’ Almost every character in this hilarious mystery has the weapon, opportunity, and motive to commit the unseen murder.

And it’s up to your audience to decide who actually did it! Each of the heirs to the tyrannical billionaire Simon Starkweather has the means and the motive to do away with him. Starkweather gathers his family and employees to announce the contents of his will. His lawyer, Lois van Zandt, reveals that he has bequeathed vast fortunes to his befuddled niece Fiona, her playboy son Jordan, his great-niece Paula (a Southern belle) and his grandson Simon III, as well as to his many servants. Then Lois delivers the bombshell! Within hours this will becomes invalid. Of course, the rejected heirs are not pleased, so it’s not surprising when they roam the old mansion carrying such items as an ax, a gun, and poison. Predictably, the lights go out, and Simon is discovered murdered. Simon III (played by the same actor who plays the elderly Simon) is determined to find his grandfather’s killer, with the help of detective Mike Davis. The play’s unique ending, utilizing secret ballots gathered at intermission from the audience, determines the killer in this Billy St. John maze of murder.

Purchase Tickets

https://app.arts-people.com/?show=297187

Thursday, April 2 | 5:00–7:00 PM

Informal artist talk at 5:30 PM

Please join the Fine Arts Faculty at the Ruddell Gallery for an evening reception celebrating My Place in the Universe: Prints and Drawings by Lindsay Twa. Twa’s work explores connections between the infinite and the intimate, moving through plant life cycles, human history, and geologic time. Through printmaking and drawing, she reflects on care, resilience, and the accumulation of experience across scales of time.

Lindsay Twa is Professor of Art at Augustana University, where she teaches art history and leads study abroad programs. She also directs the Eide/Dalrymple Gallery and has curated over 130 exhibitions, overseeing a permanent collection of more than 4,000 objects. This event is free and open to the public, light refreshments will be served.

Come support the Lakota Omniciye as they host the last Indian Taco Sale fundraiser of the semester.

Tacos will be sold 04/01/2026 under the BHSU Student Union bookstore at 11 am until sold out.

All proceeds will support the annual Wacipi held in April 18th, 2026. Thank you!

Don't miss this awesome opportunity to hear from investigative journalist, Delia D'Ambra, the creator of CounterClock, for our 26th annual Black Hills Research Symposium's Keynote Address. Delia's talk, "From Print to Podcasting: Why Intentionality and Integrity in Your Research Matters," is sure to be entertaining and educational.

Delia is an investigative journalist, writer, and storyteller who has covered gripping stories for local, national, and international audiences for more than a decade. Her curiosity, ethics, and compassionate approach to reporting have set the standard in an industry that requires a precise balance of transparency and tenacity. Delia has created, hosted, or executive-produced more than half a dozen chart-topping true-crime podcasts that are streamed by millions of listeners drawn to detailed, heart-pounding interviews.

This event will be held in Meier Hall on April 2nd at 4:00 pm.

Other opportunities to participate in the research symposium include stopping by Meier Hall rooms 203 and 207 between 9:00 am and 2:00 pm on April 1st to hear oral presentations from our students, and then swinging by the student union to see all the poster presentations from 3:00 - 5:00 pm. Please come support all the great research happening at BHSU!

Please join us for American Indian Awareness Week April 13th - 17th!

Our guest speakers will be presenting in Jonas Academic Room 107

This year's theme is "Elevating Native Voices: Embracing Our Collective Impact."

Monday April 13^th

1. 11:00am - 11:50am Cante Heart - “8th Generation”
2. 1:00pm - 1:50am Bobbie Koch - “Indigenous Placekeeping: Culturally-Responsive & Community-Driven Architecture”

Tuesday April 14^th

1. 2:00pm - 3:15pm Dew Bad Warrior-Gange - “Zuya Sica Consulting"

Wednesday April 15^th

1. 9:00am - 9:50 Marty Two Bulls - “Breaking Stereotypes: Lakota Public Artworks and the Importance of Self Representation”
2. 11:00am - 11:50am Dr. Brittany Bearstail - “Monument Health"
3. 1:00pm - 1:50pm Bobby Pourier - “Intergenerational Healing: How to Drive Community Change Across Time”

Thursday April 10^th

1. 2:00pm - 3:15pm Tasha Peltier - “Restoring Balance: Women, Kinship, and Community Wellness”

Want to make some art with recycled materials but need a little help coming up with an idea? Or have a few cool items that are repurposed and need some hot glue to stick them together? Join art professor Bridget Beck in the library Wednesday March 18^th from 11-12 or Wednesday April 1^st from 11-12. The library has some awesome items that are waiting for someone to make into a piece of recycled art.

Please join us on Monday, April 13 at 4:00 p.m. in Jonas 110 for the final Geek Speak of the semester:

April 13: 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