Chadron State College 2011 Highlights

More students continue to take advantage of Chadron State College’s academic offerings. In November, CSC reported a 3.4 percent increase in the headcount and a 4.8 percent increase in full-time equivalency for the fall semester. A total of 2,900 students were enrolled at CSC as of Thursday, Nov. 17, an increase of 95 students from the end of the 2010 fall semester. An upward enrollment trend has been occurring at CSC since 2006, with an overall increase near 30 percent. When classes began this fall, 2,933 students were enrolled at CSC, compared to 2,294 on the first day of the fall 2005 semester.

In response to the growing number of master’s degree graduates, CSC added a special winter commencement ceremony this fall. The 62 candidates for master’s degrees for the December ceremony is double the number from five years ago. A total of 590 students were enrolled in graduate courses this fall.

The Chadron State Foundation celebrated the success of its first-ever multi-million-dollar comprehensive campaign. During the annual gala and meeting of the foundation board of trustees Sept. 30, organizers announced that the effort had raised $16,511,712, far surpassing the original goal of $11 million.

Chadron State College celebrated its centennial in style in 2011, highlighted by homecoming Oct. 1. In addition to the wide array of traditional homecoming activities, the day featured a pregame festival on the Dean’s Green and the most spectacular fireworks display Chadron has had in decades.

A pictorial history book, “Chadron State College: A Century of Service,” was published to commemorate the centennial in 2011. The 240-page book, which was written by longtime CSC director of information Con Marshall, chronicles CSC’s rise from a one-building operation on the outskirts of Chadron to today’s institution that educates students throughout the High Plains and beyond. The book is available at the Eagle Pride bookstore, the Sandoz Center and the Alumni Office.

Three new campus improvements were dedicated during homecoming. They are a bronze sculpture between Old Admin and Sparks Hall titled “The Muses,” the new Centennial Flag Plaza on the Dean’s Green, and the entrance portal flanking Main Street at the 10th Street intersection. The three features will serve as a lasting reminder of CSC’s centennial year.

Changes to the administration were announced in 2011. In December, Dr. Charles Snare, CSC dean of teaching and learning, was hired to be the institution’s next vice president for academic affairs. Dr. Lois Veath, who began her employment at CSC more than three decades ago as a faculty member, announced in September that she would leave the vice president’s post at the end of the 2011-2012 academic year. Also, CSC history professor Dr. Joel Hyer assumed the new title of dean of curriculum and academic advancement in July.

Chadron State College said farewell to one of its most well-known buildings this year when its former student center, the Kline Campus Center, was demolished. Although administrators were reluctant to demolish the building, CSC has begun realizing savings in maintenance and utility costs, and efforts are under way to make good use of the building’s space. An improved parking lot has been constructed, plans have been made to improve the adjacent amphitheatre in coming years with a band shell, and landscaping improvements are already in progress.

It was announced in June that Chadron State College won its first-ever Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Sportsmanship Cup. The voting process for the RMAC Sportsmanship Cup is an online system that ranks four game environment factors: players, fans, staff, and coaches. Each category received one ranking from excellent to poor. Each school’s head coach and a Student Athlete Advisory Committee member from each school voted per sport on all 21 RMAC sponsored sports. CSC received an overall score of 4.037, nipping Colorado Christian’s second-place score of 4.021. 

Chadron State College has long prided itself on having top-notch scholar athletes, and received national recognition in the past year for the success of its athletes in women’s basketball and men’s track and field. The men’s track and field team at Chadron State College was named the 2011 Division II Indoor Men's Scholar Team of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. It earned the distinction by being among the highest-placing teams with at least a 3.0 cumulative grade-point average at the NCAA indoor and outdoor championship. For the second consecutive year, the women’s basketball team was honored by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association for having the second-highest grade point average in Division II, finishing the academic year with a GPA of 3.644. In fact, the CSC women posted the fourth-highest GPA in all of the WBCA’s five divisions – Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and Junior College.

Chadron State College continues to gain national recognition for outstanding service to veterans and active military personnel. In November, CSC claimed the No. 23 spot on Military Times Edge magazine’s Best for Vets list of four-year colleges. The national ranking, based on a survey by the magazine, considers criteria that student veterans find most important. Also this fall, CSC was among 19 Nebraska schools to the G.I. Jobs’ 2012 list of military-friendly colleges and universities. The list honors the top 15 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools “which are doing the most to embrace America’s veterans as students.”

It was a summer of transition for many Chadron State College employees, as the institution underwent a reorganization to become better responsive to students and faculty members. The changes were most evident in Crites Hall, where many of the offices switched locations and job duties changed. Also, each of CSC’s three academic deans assumed a new job title to reflect changes in job responsibilities.

A new agreement between Western Nebraska Community College and Chadron State College is helping serve students pursuing a nursing career and community members seeking personal development. The agreements, which were signed in early May, call for CSC to provide space and facility use in Chadron for WNCC to offer its Basic Nursing Assistant program to northwest Nebraska residents. WNCC also will provide non-credit continuing education and personal development courses in the Chadron area.

Arioso, Chadron State College’s women’s choir, delivered more than a half-dozen performances while touring the Czech Republic, Hungary and Austria in March. The 11-day European journey which ended March 14 is believed to be the first-ever performance tour on foreign soil for members of the CSC Music Department. The 12 members of Arioso were joined by director Dr. Una Taylor, music professor Dr. James Margetts and his wife Colleen, and two student assistants.

A total of 14 students and two faculty members of the CSC justice studies program continued a longstanding tradition when they traveled to London in May. The group, led by faculty members Dr. Tracy Nobiling and Dr. Jamie Wada, witnessed many facets of the United Kingdom’s legal system during the trip, Sunday, May 8-22.In recent years, students of other learning disciplines have joined the group to get an international perspective on their learning disciplines. This year’s voyage included 11 CSC business students and 12 education students. Other faculty members traveling were Dr. Barbara Limbach, Dr. Jamie Waldo, Dr. Lorie Hunn and Dr. Don King.

Architects are putting the finishing touches on CSC’s next 10-year master plan for facilities. Bahr Vermeer Haecker Architects began meeting with a wide variety of campus personnel in the spring to develop the plan, which will be presented to the Nebraska State College System Board of Trustees for approval in January. If all of the ideas are realized within the next 10 years, CSC will have renovations for many of its aging existing structures and a number of new facilities for academics, athletics, recreation and student services. A theme of the plan is to meld the natural landscape south of the campus with the city grid to the north. While maintaining a straight east-west line for foot traffic through the center of campus, the plan calls for continuing to incorporate natural lines and meandering pathways through the college grounds.

Chadron State College continues to develop its relationship with an institution of higher education in Poland. A four-member group from Chadron State College visited the President Stanislaw Wojciechowski Higher Vocational State School at Kalisz, which entered into a partnership with CSC almost a year ago. CSC deans Dr. Margaret Crouse and Dr. Joel Hyer were joined by business faculty members Dr. August Bruehlman and Dr. Richard Koza on the voyage Sept. 17-24. Hyer said the four met with campus leadership, including the rector and business faculty, in addition to working out details of the agreement signed in November 2010. Two representatives of the Poland institution, Andrezj Sygula and Ewa Swiadkowska, visited CSC in May.

The Board of Trustees of the Nebraska State College System approved the addition of men’s and women’s cross country to CSC’s list of NCAA Division II athletic programs. The teams will begin competing in fall 2012. Currently, there are 13 women’s and 12 men’s cross country teams in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Black Hills State, which is joining the conference in 2012, sponsors both men’s and women’s teams. The CSC teams will run in the hills south of campus, utilizing the outdoor trails that were created the past two years. CSC fielded cross country teams from 1961 through 1985 but the program was discontinued because of budget cuts.

Not only were Chadron State College theatre students busy performing their first production of the season in early October, but they also were “breaking a leg” with a pair of outreach activities for area high school and elementary students. CSC theatre faculty and students presented workshops for 225 high school students for Theatre Day, and also partnered with the Chadron Library Foundation to present its production of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” to 500 elementary school students.

Thirty-three students who have been studying health sciences at Chadron State College were accepted to professional schools beginning this fall. Twenty of the students are Nebraskans participating in the Rural Health Opportunities Program, a joint venture with the University of Nebraska Medical Center that is designed to provide health care professionals to lesser-populated areas of Nebraska.

Chadron State College’s student newspaper, The Eagle, earned best overall newspaper and claimed runner-up honors for its website during the 18th annual Nebraska Collegiate Media Association’s Golden Leaf Awards, presented Saturday, April 9, at Hastings College. The Eagle’s strong showing, which follows runner-up finishes in 2009 and 2010, was bolstered by 24 individual awards, including 10 first places.

Chadron State College’s Galaxy Series brought a wide array of entertainment to the CSC campus, including many big names. This fall, twins Matthew and Gunnar Nelson, who got their start in show businesses on the “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet” and later formed the popular rock duo Nelson appeared on the Memorial Hall stage. Jeff Corwin, the animal and nature conservationist of television fame, presented a show for a sold-out audience in February. Also, the musical comedy “Deer Camp” featured the acting of John Voldstad and Tony Papenfuss, who became known as “my brother Darryl and my other brother Darryl” on the 1980s sitcom “The Newhart Show.”

The Nebraska State College System Board of Trustees approved a board policy modification at its June meeting designed to improve students’ ability to graduate in four years and reduce debt load. The changes reduced the number of credit hours needed to graduate from 125 to 120 and reduced the number of credit hours required for general education. The policy will now requires faculty and administrators at Chadron, Peru and Wayne State Colleges to design their undergraduate degree programs based on 120 credits with a maximum of 42 credit hours required in general education.