RAPID CITY, SD (April 11,
2019) – Jade Herman, special projects coordinator at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology
and alumna of the university, has been awarded the 2018 Graduate Student of the
Year by the American Indian Graduate Center.
Herman was presented the
award in California in April, during the National Indian Gaming Association
Tradeshow and Convention.
“The Student of the Year
Awards call for excellent academic achievement, leadership ability and community
engagement,” said Angelique Albert, executive director of Graduate Center.
Herman “exemplifies” these qualities.
Herman, an enrolled member
of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, holds a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary
sciences from SD Mines and a master’s degree in administrative studies with a
concentration on organizational leadership from the University of South Dakota
in Vermillion. She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in interdisciplinary
leadership from Creighton University, in Omaha, Neb.
“I’m very honored and
humbled to have been chosen as the American Indian Graduate Center’s Graduate
Student of the Year. I am beyond grateful for the support I have received from
AIGC and look forward to furthering the organization’s mission of empowering
the next generation of Native leaders across all sectors,” says Herman.
In addition to her position
as special projects coordinator in the SD Mines Office of the
President, she also serves on several university steering
committees, manages the university’s tribal outreach plan, coordinates
community outreach and large special events, and provides development support
to the president. She is the chair for the Non-Faculty Exempt Employee Council,
sits on the SD Mines Alumni
Association Board of Directors, and represents SD Mines on the
Ranch A Restoration Foundation Board.
The American Indian Graduate Center
and the AIGCS are the largest scholarship providers to American Indian and
Alaska Native students.