RAPID CITY, SD (, 2018) – Jim Rankin,
Ph.D., will be inaugurated as the 19th president of the South Dakota School of
Mines & Technology from 3 to 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 4, at the Rushmore Plaza Civic
Center. The public is invited to attend.
Dignitaries representing state and local offices will
participate in the inauguration, as will members of the South
Dakota Board of Regents, and Mines students, faculty and alumni.
Rankin assumed the presidency on Jan. 8, 2018, succeeding Jan A. Puszynski, who served in an
interim capacity after former SD Mines President Heather Wilson left the
university to become United States Air Force Secretary in mid-2017.
Rankin, a native of Draper and
Fort Pierre, graduated from Mines in 1978 with a degree in electrical
engineering. He earned his masters and
doctorate in electrical engineering from Iowa State University, in Ames, Iowa, in
1982 and 1986, respectively.
Prior to becoming president of SD
Mines, Rankin served as vice-provost for research and economic development at
the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark., leading the movement to
generate more than 50 start-up companies and significantly increasing annual
external funding to $103 million. He led efforts to develop the institution’s
first strategic plan in research and economic development, instituted several
faculty recognition programs, and developed an expedited industry contracting
process.
Previously at Ohio University,
Rankin served as interim vice president for research, associate dean, professor
of electrical engineering, and director of the Avionics Engineering Center. He
has also been a professor at St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minn.,
and an engineer at Rockwell-Collins, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Rankin holds multiple pilot
licenses and ratings and is a member of the Board of Trustees for the American
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. His current research revolves around
avionics requirements for on-demand mobility (flying cars).
Rankin is married to Wendy Rankin,
who holds a Ph.D. in counselor education from Ohio University. They have three
adult children and two grandchildren.
A livestream of the inauguration will be available during the
ceremony and a reception will be held immediately following the ceremony in the
Civic Center’s LaCroix Hall. To access the live stream or for more information,
go to https://www.sdsmt.edu/inauguration/
Two focuses of Rankin’s presidency
include increasing enrollment and raising more scholarship dollars. One way
scholarship dollars will be raised is through the annual President’s
Dinner, scheduled for Oct. 19, at Arrowhead Country Club. More
information about this event can be found here.