FACULTY & STAFF E-UPDATE
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 18th 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 15th to Woodburn, Rm 302-A. Tags to attach to artwork with artist and artwork information will be available upon drop-off. Artwork pick-up Saturday April 18th at 2pm.
Midterm grades are due by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, March 12. As a reminder, the DEF grade is no longer used. Faculty should record each student’s letter grade as of midterm (A, B, C, D, or F). Please do not assign I or IP grades at midterm. Classes with S/U grading should be graded S or U.
ALL undergraduate courses with the following instructional method types should be graded:
Graduate courses are exempt.
Block courses are exempt. Only full-term courses (Jan 12 – May 8) require midterm grades.
You can enter midterm grades via D2L or Banner Self-Service. Instructions for D2L grading can be found at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Na9ni73gvLhQoyltPu6iwueErLqHJhbTfdqNEv6NjCY/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.kk1966kbedef. Questions related to D2L grading should be referred to Anne.Stevens@bhsu.edu. Instructions for Banner Self-Service grading were sent via email and questions can be referred to April.Meeker@bhsu.edu.
The HR office is pleased to offer another employee benefits fair! The Employee Benefits Trail - Mapping Out What Matters Most will take place on April 1 in the Jacket Legacy Room from 10AM - 1PM.
The South Dakota Retirement System, benefit providers, financial planners, and local community health and wellness providers will be available in the Jacket Legacy Room from 10AM - 1PM to meet with you regarding their products and services. Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Dakota and flex plan benefit providers will be available to discuss insurance options. There will also be opportunities to attend an SDRS presentation. This event is a great way to learn from the experts. A drawing is planned for attending various booths and we have some exciting door prizes; you won’t want to miss out! Stay tuned for more information about our Benefits Fair!!
SDRS will have retirement planners available for one-on-one appointments. If you are considering retirement in the next 5 years, are new to the system, or have other questions about your SDRS benefits, you are encouraged to meet with the Retirement Planners. Please email BHSUHumanResources@bhsu.edu, stop by in person, or call Human Resources at 642-6549 to schedule an appointment with a Retirement Planner. Seating is limited.
This event is open to all Black Hills State University and State of South Dakota employees, their spouses, and students.
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 18th from 11-12 or Wednesday April 1st from 11-12. The library has some awesome items that are waiting for someone to make into a piece of recycled art.
The Lakota Omniciye Indian Taco Fundraiser on 03/04/2026 has been rescheduled to the following Wednesday 03/11/2026.
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.
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 13: Dr. Courtney Huse Wika (Please note the change in date): “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
No policy updates at this time.