The SDSU Graduate School is soliciting nominations for the Distinguished Master's Thesis Award. The award is to recognize and reward distinguished scholarship and research at the master's level. SDSU is seeking nominations in the two broad categories of Social Sciences OR Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering, which align with the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools Distinguished Thesis Awards. The effective date of degree award, or the completion of master’s degree requirements, must fall within the period of July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2024. Degree completion must be confirmed by SDSU. Students who have already received a Ph.D. or comparable research degree in any discipline prior to their master’s degree program are not eligible. However, recipients of a first professional degree awarded prior to writing the thesis may be nominated. Deadline: Oct. 4, 2024.

Submit a nomination and brief letter of recommendation

The Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring Award was established by the Graduate Council in 2010 to honor faculty members who have truly shown excellence in mentoring graduate students. The award honors faculty for efforts in supporting, encouraging and promoting their graduate students' research, education, professional and personal development and career plans. Nominate a faculty memberfor this award. Deadline: Dec. 1, 2024.

The SDSU Graduate School is pleased to announce the Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award, in recognition of graduate students who exemplify excellence in the teaching/learning mission of SDSU. The purpose of this award is to raise the attention given to excellence in teaching and mentoring as a component of graduate education and the preparation of graduate students for future service as college and university faculty.

The SDSU Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award competition is open to all graduate students who have graduate teaching assistantships and are actively enrolled students. Nominations must include a letter of support from the department head, a current curriculum vitae, the nominee’s teaching portfolio, which includes: statement of teaching philosophy, evidence of instructional design for improved student learning, video clip of “teaching in action", evidence of effective student/colleague mentoring and evidence of professional development. Nominations are limited to six pages double spaced excluding the nomination form, letter of nomination and curriculum vitae.

Primary consideration will be given to nominees with an excellent teaching portfolio and student evaluations. Nominations must be submitted electronically before 11:59 p.m., Dec. 6, 2024.

Evaluation Criteria

• Letter of support from the nominee’s department head (includes description of any departmental honors awarded to this masters/doctoral student for excellence in teaching).
• Current Curriculum Vitae.
• Nominee’s Teaching Portfolio (maximum of six pages double spaced):
  • Statement of Teaching Philosophy and Practice[25 points] Share your teaching philosophy by describing your understanding of how people learn, and how that understanding, in turn, informs what you value most as an instructor and the way you approach teaching. This explanation could include your fundamental understanding of the purpose of education, the nature of learning, and/or your role as a teacher in facilitating that learning. Please describe the instructional strategies and evidence-based practices that you utilize to support your teaching philosophy. 
  • Course Design [25 points] Connecting course design to your teaching philosophy and practices, describe how you have approached instructional design in one of your courses. Focus on the main elements of instructional design (e.g. objectives, course organization, content and format, learning activities, interaction, assessments) and provide examples from your course along with your rationale for adopting them.
  • Video clip of “Teaching in Action” and Description (10 minute maximum/electronic link provided)[25 points] Provide a link to a 10-minute video clip from a collegiate-level course that demonstrates your teaching in action along with a one-paragraph description explaining how this video is representative of your teaching philosophy and practices. A variety of teaching settings may be used for the video including but not limited to lecture, facilitated discussion, lab, etc. as appropriate to the course. The focus should be on activities that demonstrate exceptional or innovative instruction or student learning, such as student engagement, personalized learning, project-based learning, etc. For asynchronous online courses, a video presentation by the instructor of key engaged learning activities, or learning environments, would be an example of good evidence. 
  • Evidence of Effective Student/Colleague Mentoring[10 points] Describe your experience with mentoring students outside of the classroom, whether that be related to the courses you teach or in other settings. Additionally, discuss any experience you have with mentoring your peers or colleagues in the context of teaching.
  • Evidence of Professional Development [15 points] Explain how you have used professional development opportunities to improve your teaching skills. If appropriate, how have you aligned professional development with the feedback you have received on your teaching?

Please Note:

Excluding nomination form, letters of nomination and vitae, the nomination (teaching portfolio) is limited to six pages double spaced. Applications which do not adhere to submission requirements; including deadlines, page limits and video length, will not be considered.

The SDSU Excellence in Teaching Award criteria is based on the MAGS Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching Award criteria.

Video Submission Instructions

A required component of the SDSU Graduate Teaching Award application is a submission* of a 10 minute (maximum) video recording of the nominee teaching in a classroom setting. 

YouTube or other website video: Include the electronic link in your application materials. See instructions below for converting, trimming, naming and uploading a video to YouTube. The link must be viewable to anyone accessing the documents! 

Once you have recorded your video, make sure that your video is saved as one of the following formats: 

• mov
• mp4 (.mpeg4)
• .avi
• .wmv
• .flv
• .3GP

FERPA notice:  Please note that instructors need to adhere to all campus FERPA policies, including those for sharing class lectures. If your campus does not have a policy in place, instructors should pass around a sheet where all present students give their permission, via signature, for the specific video(s) to be shared.

YouTube Account Help

The SDSU Graduate School Travel Awards help provide funding for graduate students to present original research and scholarly activity at professional meetings and conferences. These monetary awards subsidize travel costs and serve to encourage scholarship, recognize excellence in research and support opportunities for professional development.

Guidelines

• Awards will be made for costs to attend meetings and conferences only, and will not exceed $500.
• Members of the Graduate Council will select awardees.
• Application deadline will be February 1 annually
• Applications must be submitted electronically.
• Departments are encouraged to supplement these awards where possible to cover full travel costs.
• Travel awards will not be given to students who have completed degree requirements.

Applications must be submitted electronically.

The SDSU Graduate School is seeking to recognize outstanding creativity, impact and innovation in all disciplines offered at SDSU. This award includes original works accepted by the university "in lieu of thesis" - including non-thesis papers, projects, portfolios, media, computer software, etc. Nominations should be made by the student who is completing either a non-thesis master's or a DNP student.

Submission requirements include:

• Completion of electronic nomination form.
• A non-technical summary prepared by the nominee (two pages max) describing the research, impact, innovation and/or benefit to the field and its significance.
• A nomination letter from the major adviser and/or faculty member who can speak to the student’s contributions to the discipline.
• An updated resume or curriculum vita.

Nominations must be submitted electronically via the MyState submission form. Deadline: March 28, 2025.

To submit your nomination form, log into MyState and click the Dashboard tab. Under the forms portlet, click the Distinguished Innovation and Creative Work Award link.

SDSU Distinguished Dissertation Award – Deadline April 11, 2025

This award recognizes a doctoral student who has completed a dissertation representing original work that makes an unusually significant contribution to their discipline.

There are two broad fields of competition that rotate yearly: mathematics, physical sciences and engineering; and the social sciences OR biological and life sciences, and humanities and fine arts. If a dissertation is multi- or interdisciplinary in nature, a significant portion of the work must be comprised by at least one of the fields of competition.

Eligibility

• The effective date of the degree awarded, or the completion of doctoral degree requirements and dissertation, must be within the period of July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2025, inclusive, for each nominee selected. Such degree award or completion is to be confirmed by the Graduate School.

Nominations must include:

• Completion of electronic form.
• Abstract of nominee’s dissertation.
• Three letters of recommendation evaluating the significance and quality of the dissertation work. One of these letters must be from the nominee’s dissertation supervisor, another from a member of the nominee’s dissertation committee and the third a person of the nominee’s choice.
• Nominee’s curriculum vitae (not to exceed five pages).

PLEASE NOTE: All parts of the nomination should be uploaded when completing the electronic form. Questions can be directed to Grad School

The Distinguished Dissertation award operates on a two-year cycle with regard to fields of competition. For 2025, the fields will be biological and life Sciences OR humanities and fine arts.

Award information

The award recipient will be selected by a committee of graduate faculty. The recipient will receive a certificate and $250 cash prize. The SDSU awardee’s dissertation will also be submitted to the national CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards competition, with the opportunity to receive $2,000 and travel costs to attend the CGS Annual Award Luncheon in December 2025.

The SDSU Graduate School has created two scholarships to assist graduate students who do not have funding support for tuition, including graduate assistantships, funding from home countries or other types of formal support. The goal is to help increase access to Graduate School for those who have demonstrated financial need.

Guidelines

• Two scholarships will be awarded to active graduate students: one for new students (starting Fall 2024) and one for current students.
• Members of the Graduate Council will select awardees.
• Each awardee will receive a monetary scholarship toward the cost of graduate tuition.
• To be considered for the scholarship, graduate students must submit a completed electronic application by Oct. 1, 2024 at 11:59 p.m.
• Applications must include:
  • Personal statement (one page limit) describing financial need, commitment to pursue and complete a graduate degree at SDSU and future contributions after degree completion.
  • Letter of recommendation from adviser or faculty member.

Applications must be submitted electronically.

Guidelines for Award

The Joseph F. Nelson Graduate Scholarship is open to graduate students at South Dakota State University who are in good standing with the university and meet the criteria for the award.

Criteria:

• The student must be an active student and have successfully completed 15 semester credit hours of academic work toward a master’s or doctoral degree. 
• The student must be completing, as part of the degree, original research, preferably in one of the following sciences: biology, chemistry, geology, mathematics, physical geography, physics, soils or other physical sciences. 
• Awards are restricted to students pursuing thesis option. Exceptions may be made for substantive defined original research papers recommended by the advisor.
• Applicants must be of good moral character, and must not use drugs or be habitual users of tobacco or alcoholic beverages.

Application:

Scholarship applications should be submitted electronically by Nov. 15, 2024 at 5 p.m.

Award:   

• Awards will be granted at $2,500 each.
• Recipients must remain in good standing (with a GPA of 3.0 or above) to receive the award. 
• Students must have an approved Plan of Study in place to receive the award.

Evaluation:

Applications will be evaluated by the Joseph F. Nelson Scholarship Committee. Applications will be evaluated on:

• Potential for successful completion of the degree.
• The subjective evaluation of the research work.
• Written information from the thesis advisor and applicant.

Financial need is not a factor in selection of the recipient. This award is not intended to replace any part of a graduate assistantship.

Publicity:

Applicants must agree to provide personal information as normally needed for publicity of the award and permit the use of name, picture and statement of the significance of the scholarship activity in such publicity. Applicants also must agree to provide, at the end of the graduate degree, a statement of accomplishment detailing how the award was used. This statement is intended for use by the SDSU Foundation with other potential donors. Where appropriate, recipients are encouraged to acknowledge this award.

Scholarships will be awarded by the Admissions Office in collaboration with the American Indian Student Center. These scholarship opportunities exist for graduate students who have been accepted into a graduate program and are an enrolled member of a federally recognized tribe in the United States, including Alaska Natives. Selected Wokini Graduate Scholars will be awarded up to $5,000 scholarship based on enrolled credits that may be renewable for an additional two years

Review the guidelines and complete and submit the application to be considered for the Wokini Scholarship.

South Dakota State University invites you to participate in the Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition. The 3MT is an academic competition that challenges Ph.D. and Master's students to describe their research within three minutes to a general audience. 3MT celebrates the discoveries made by research students and encourages you to communicate the importance of your research to the broader community.

This year’s 3MT competition will be held in the Lewis and Clark Room, University Student Union, on February 6, 2025 at 5 p.m. We encourage all graduate students to participate. Interested students must register no later than Friday, January 31, 2025. More detailed information will be sent out to registered students after that date.

Register for the competition. If you are not already logged into MyState, you will have to enter your MyState credentials in the top right corner of the screen, click "Dashboard," followed by "Forms," (in the 4th column) and you'll find "3 Minute Thesis Competition Registration."