ADMINISTRATION
DR. DAVID L. CHICOINE • President avid L. Chicoine, Ph.D., has served as the 19th president of South Dakota State University on January 1, 2007, becoming the third alumnus to lead the state’s largest institution of higher education. President Chicoine, who graduated in 1969 with a bachelor of science in agribusiness, also holds an appointment as professor in the Department of Economics.
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President Chicoine has a long association with intercollegiate athletics, and is currently serving a four-year term on the NCAA Presidential Advisory Group. Chicoine also serves as chair of the President’s Council for The Summit League — SDSU’s conference home for 18 of its 21 varsity sports — during the 2011-12 academic year, after filling the role of vice chair for two years. Previously, Chicoine served as the faculty representative to the Big Ten Conference and the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) for the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign. He served as chair of the Budget and Finance Committee for the Big Ten Conference for nine years of his 11-year term. Alma Mater: • South Dakota State, 1969
Upon his arrival at SDSU, President Chicoine implemented an aggressive strategic plan — “Achieving National Distinction, Strengthening Local Relevance.” The plan has four goals: enhancing academic excellence, fostering economic growth, expanding the reach of the university, and creating a sustainable financial resource. During his tenure, enrollment has reached record levels of undergraduate students and Ph.D. candidates. Correspondingly, the amount of research grants and contract awards has jumped nearly 90 percent during that time, and research expenditures will exceed $60 million in the 2010-2011 academic year. To support the strategic plan, the SDSU Foundation in 2008 launched an aggressive comprehensive fund-raising effort — “It Starts with State: A Campaign for South Dakota State University” — with a goal of $200 million. The most visible support for the campaign can be seen in several construction and renovation projects funded primarily by generous donors, all part of the largest campus building boom since the 1960s. The majority of the facilities enhance the university’s research capabilities and allow for new discoveries that drive technology-based economic development in South Dakota. Building a better academic model has also been part of President Chicoine’s agenda. In the fall of 2010, SDSU launched the state’s first architecture program through its College of Arts and Sciences. The program, created without any new state funding, will place a special emphasis on sustainable and renewable design practices. The Chicoine administration also developed the new College of Education and Human Sciences in 2009, a merger of the former College of Education and Counseling, College of Family and Consumer Sciences and the Department of Health and Physical Education. It represented the first significant academic restructuring in more than 40 years. Dr. Chicoine brought more than 30 years of experience in higher education with the University of Illinois to his role as president of SDSU. He is a nationally recognized economist, specializing in public finance, taxation, and rural economics. His higher education administrative experience includes service as Head of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Dean of the College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, at the University of Illinois. He has co-authored four books, 12 book chapters and more than 100 invited and/or peer reviewed academic journal articles. Dr. Chicoine served as an advisor to the Illinois General Assembly on tax issues, farmland property tax assessments, public finance and rural economic issues. He served as a member of the Illinois Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors, and was a member of the board of the Illinois State Treasurer’s Technology Development Fund. Chicoine received an M.S. in agricultural econcomics from the University of Delaware in 1971, and completed an M.A. in economics at Western Illinois University. In 1979, he completed his Ph.D. in agricultural economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The president and his wife, Marcia, live in Woodbine Cottage on the SDSU campus. Their family includes son, Joshua, a Chicago-based musician; daughter-in-law Laura Ellsworth; granddaughter Sylvie; grandson Watson, and their late son, Jason. 2012-13 JACKRABBIT WOMEN’S BASKETBALL MEDIA GUIDE
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