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Sgt. Wade Oorlog of the �ձ�av��Ƶ Police Department was among 257 law enforcement officers who graduated in December from the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia.

American musician, writer and speaker Dessa will share her inspiration as a multi-disciplinary artist when she delivers the Harding Distinguished Lecture on Jan. 23 at the Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center. The artist will also share her appreciation for the far-reaching impact of the liberal arts, humanities and social sciences at the 6 p.m. event in Founders Recital Hall on the �ձ�av��Ƶ campus.

�ձ�av��Ƶ Theatre and Dance’s fall 2024 production of “Fuddy Meers” by David Lindsay-Abaire has been selected to be presented at the 57th annual Region 5 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Conference in Des Moines, Iowa, on Jan. 21. To help defray the costs of taking the production to Des Moines, a one-night-only fundraising performance of the show will be presented at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 14, at the Oscar Larson Theatre in the Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center on the �ձ�av��Ƶ campus.

Jahmal Cole, founder and CEO of My Block My Hood My City, will be the guest speaker at �ձ�av��Ƶ during the third annual Martin Luther King Jr. Rally and Marade event to honor the life and legacy of the civil rights activist.

State A Thon, �ձ�av��Ƶ’s Dance Marathon program that supports Children’s Miracle Network, has been awarded $5,000 from SCHEELS of Sioux Falls. State A Thon was selected as part of SCHEELS’ 2024 Giving Campaign, in which 10 area nonprofits were awarded $5,000 apiece, based on 11,000 online votes. The voting period was from Nov. 21-Dec. 1.

Transitioning from high school to college can be challenging for anyone, but especially if the high school you went to was 8,000 miles away. Random Nisia, a sophomore mechanical engineering major from Papua New Guinea, freely admits that his first year at �ձ�av��Ƶ was tough, not so much from an academic standpoint — he had a 3.5 GPA — but from an emotional standpoint. “Being far from home and having to do everything independently was challenging. … Living far away in a new country” brought some homesickness. “You just wanted to be next to the ones you love,” said Nisia, who left behind four siblings and his parents when he arrived in Brookings in August 2023 with 31 others from his tropical Pacific island country.

Selections for the third class of Future Innovators of America Fellowships have been announced by the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering.

Among the valuable lessons Luke Nichols has learned in college is the truth in the saying “A good night’s sleep lays a foundation for a good day ahead.” “Every single night I close my computer at 8 and read for a little while before I go to sleep a little bit before 9 p.m.,” the civil engineering major from North Liberty, Iowa, said. The senior gets a lot of productivity out of the other 15 to 16 hours in his day. “I seriously prioritize my sleep. Out of all the things I do, I think that provides me the most success. “My efficiency is extremely high. Providing that consistency has allowed me to know exactly what I can do the next day.”

As we walk into the wet cement of 2025, it is appropriate to look back at the marks left by the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering in 2024. As Dean Sanjeev Kumar noted, it was a year of unprecedented accomplishments and dedicated efforts. Here is a sampling of the 2024 highlights:

Sen Subramanian has been named dean of the College of Natural Sciences at �ձ�av��Ƶ.