Dr. Melody Schopp DSU commencement speaker

Posted on Monday, December 3, 2012

Dakota State University fall commencement is Saturday, Dec. 8, at 10:30 a.m. in the DSU Fieldhouse. Dakota State will award 36 masters, 69 baccalaureate and 14 associate degrees.

The ceremony will also be streamed live online and can be accessed through the DSU website (www.dsu.edu). Jayne Peterson-Leusink, a business education graduate from Tea, S.D., and Emily Ann Robinson, a digital arts and design graduate from Yankton, S.D., are speaking on behalf of the graduates.

Dr. Melody Schopp, South Dakota’s Secretary of Education,serves as this year’s commencement speaker. Schopp brings more than three decades of experience to her position. She started her career teaching in a country school and most recently served as the state’s Director of Accreditation and Teacher Quality, Deputy Director and then Interim Secretary. She was appointed to her current position in April of 2011.

Schopp’s accomplishments include overseeing creation of the South Dakota Virtual School, coordinating development of an online application system for teacher certification, and leading the work to establish teaching standards in South Dakota.

She earned her master’s degree in elementary education from the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D., and her Ph.D. in Educational Studies and Higher Education from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

Information Provided By: www.dsu.edu/news