USD Health Sciences Success Spotlight: Madison Lindsey
Madison Lindsey knew nothing about Applied Behavior Analysis when she started her career in education. She found her way to it by doing what already came naturally.
Nurturing New Nurses: How USD's DOL Grant Tackles the Shortage Behind South Dakota's Nursing Shortage
Regardless of our job titles, most of us can attribute a good part of our success to goodmentors. Nowhere is that more true than in nursing, where preceptors are key to training thenurses our rural region so desperately needs. In this month's cover feature, how the Universityof South Dakota School of Health Sciences is supporting both students and those who nurturethem.
USD Department of Social Work to Host Third Annual Mental Health Conference
The Department of Social Work at the University of South Dakota will host its third annual conference for mental health professionals from May 13 to 14 at the USD – Sioux Falls campus.
USD School of Health Sciences Success Spotlight: Ashley Rucker, DNP
Ashley Rucker was just 16 when she became a nurse assistant, her first step into a field that would define her professional life. After working on a medical/surgical ward, a cardiac ICU, and in home hospice (and earning as MSN), Rucker was ready to further her education
USD School of Health Sciences and Southeast South Dakota AHEC Host Disaster Response Training
On Feb. 19, 319 students from the University of South Dakota and South Dakota State University gathered at the Andrew E. Lee Memorial Medicine and Science Building on the USD campus in Vermillion for Disaster Training Day, an annual event that provides hands-on disaster preparedness training.
New USD Student Organization Boosts Stem Cell Donor Sign-Ups
A new student organization at the University of South Dakota is already making a big impact just eight weeks after its launch.
Becca Jordre Receives National Physical Therapy Award
A professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of South Dakota has been honored with an American Physical Therapy Association award.
USD School of Health Sciences Success Spotlight: Eva Kluender, MPH
Eva Kluender, MPH, was working as a dental assistant when she took her first public health course as part of her undergraduate degree program in Health Sciences at USD. "My original plan was to become a dental hygienist," she says. She reasoned that a Health Sciences degree…
Nursing Alumna Selected for 2025 Dole Caregiver Fellow Leadership Program
At just 23 years old, Kylie Briest has spent nearly her entire life as a caregiver. In 2005, her father, U.S. Army Sgt. Corey Briest, was severely injured by an IED explosion in Iraq. The blast left him with a traumatic brain injury, resulting in limited mobility, vision and speech. Kylie Briest was only three years old at the time.
DNAP Inaugural Cohort Earns 100% NCE Success Rate
The University of South Dakota’s inaugural Doctor of Nursing Anesthesia Practice class has achieved a 100% pass rate on the National Certification Examination within 30 days of program completion, including an exceptional 89% first-time pass rate.
USD School of Health Sciences Success Spotlight: Alex Van Voorhis, MSW, CSW
As an undergrad at UND Fargo, Alex Van Voorhis studied music and communications. But, after a half dozen years in sales and marketing, she realized it wasn't her calling.
University of South Dakota Dental Hygiene Alumna Named ADHA President
The American Dental Hygienists’ Association has elected a 1995 graduate of the University of South Dakota Department of Dental Hygiene as the organization’s 99th president.
USD to Launch Radiologic Technology Specialization Beginning January 2026
Students who want to be part of the growing field of radiologic technology (rad tech)—to perform imaging procedures like X-rays, CT scans and MRIs to help physicians diagnose medical conditions and injuries—have an opportunity to obtain a bachelor’s degree in health sciences with a specialization in radiologic technology.
USD School of Health Sciences Success Spotlight: Lucas Seehafer, DPT, PhD
When you ask Lucas Seehafer, an assistant professor at Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, Minnesota, what he thinks about his experience at the University of South Dakota School of Health Sciences, his answer is swift and definitive:
RISE-UP Interns Conclude Program with Successful Initiatives
For many years the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations (SDAHO) has participated as a host organization for the Maternal and Child Health Careers: Research Initiatives for Student Enhancement Undergraduate Program (MCHC/RISE-UP) Program, through a partnership with the University of South Dakota (USD) Center for Disabilities. The RISE-UP Program provides opportunities for enhanced public health leadership training in maternal and child health, focusing on social determinants of health, elimination of health disparities, and developmental disabilities.
USD School of Health Sciences Success Spotlight: Catherine Bilyeu, PT, DPT, PhD
For Catherine Bilyeu, the USD School of Health Sciences made the path from practicing physical therapist in Canada to academic leader in Colorado considerably smoother than it might otherwise have been.
Building Tomorrow's Healthcare Workforce: USD's Grant-Funded Vision for Rural South Dakota
The same vast rural landscapes that many South Dakotans find so beautiful can also make it enormously challenging to deliver health care here. Many rural communities are separated by hours of driving and there are never enough healthcare professionals to serve them.
USD Sanford School of Medicine Announces It Will Move First 18 Months of Medical Program to Sioux Falls
The University of South Dakota has announced that the USD Sanford School of Medicine will move the first 18 months of the Doctor of Medicine program from Vermillion to Sioux Falls starting in summer of 2027.
USD School of Health Sciences Success Spotlight: Karlee Burton, OTD, OTR/L
For Karlee Burton, the journey to becoming an occupational therapist began a long way from South Dakota. Born and raised in central Oregon, Burton studied exercise science and business at a small Oregon college and says she "took a leap of faith" during the pandemic in choosing the USD School of Health Sciences for her doctoral studies.
USD School of Health Sciences Success Spotlight: Lisa Varenhorst, DNP
After 23 years in critical care nursing at facilities from Kansas City to Sanford, this mother of three leveraged USD's flexible DNP program to transform her teaching approach and prepare for future leadership opportunities.