New Sitting Bull College Site in Mobridge, South Dakota
FORT YATES, ND - Sitting Bull College will begin offering fully-accredited college coursework in Mobridge, South Dakota in the spring of 2012.
Jan Brockel, from Selby, South Dakota, was hired to manage the day-to-day operations as the new Mobridge site coordinator.
"I believe Mobridge residents should be excited about Sitting Bull College joining the community because it will lead to increased productivity of a trained workforce," Brockel said. "Small campuses can even have a strong economic impact on a community through college spending by administrators, staff and students."
Beyond her teaching skills, Brockel brings some professional skills to her new position, including a background in Economic Development, Public Relations and Professional Development programs.
Brockel's specific work experience includes Adjunct Professor at South Dakota State University, Investor Relations/Project Coordinator at the Brookings South Dakota Economic Development Corporation and Director of Training and Development at Daktronics Inc.
Brockel has a solid background in community volunteerism, including her service with the East Central Multi-District commission, Adult Education board, South Dakota Ag in the Classroom board, Youth Business Adventure board, Leadership Brookings campaign, Junior Achievement, South Dakota Cattlemen's Association, Habitat for Humanity advocacy group and baptism committee at her church.
The opportunity for community members to attend college in Mobridge became a reality earlier this year when the Mobridge-Pollock School district offered to sell the Beadle Elementary School to Sitting Bull College.
"Since purchasing the Beadle Elementary School, we've been working on some minor renovations, including painting, flooring and providing additional furnishings," Dr Koreen Ressler, Vice President of Academics said. "The building will be ready for use in January 2012 and will include two lecture classrooms, one computer lab, one video-networking classroom, a science laboratory and two multi-purpose rooms."
Sitting Bull College began serving the Standing Rock Reservation and bordering communities in 1973, including a main campus in Fort Yates North Dakota and a remote campus in McLaughlin, South Dakota.
Sitting Bull College offered its first Mobridge class in a main street office (fall'89-spring'98) and later at the Mobridge Sacagawea Learning Center (fall'03-spring'07). In the fall 2007, the college moved its operations from the Sacagawea Learning Center to a small retail space on the east end of the town before closing its doors in the summer 2009, due to lack of funding.
Since 1999, Sitting Bull College administrators, staff and board of trustees have moved forward on construction of a new $40 million campus in Fort Yates, including a Cultural Center ($83,000), Student-Family Housing Complex-18 units ($1.3 million), Science and Technology Center ($6.2 million), Family Support Center ($3.2 million), Public Transit Center ($1.25 million), Entrepreneurial Center ($3.6 million), Student Support Center/Library ($3.8 million) and Financial Center ($1 million).
In May 2011, a new $1 million Trades Center was constructed on the new campus in Fort Yates, marking a major milestone when the last two remaining college departments (Building Trades program & Maintenance Dept) relocated from the old campus to the new campus.
For questions or comments about the Sitting Bull College-Mobridge site, contact Jan Brockel at 605.845.5762 or by email: janb@sbci.edu.
