In the spring of 2000, the South Dakota Board of Regents allowed for the creation of a Student Technology Fellows (STF) program for the state's public higher education institutions.  Since its Fall 2000 inaugural semester, SDSU has awarded an average of seventy-three fellowship positions to qualified undergraduate students per academic year.

Program Overview

Those selected into this elite program are given a unique opportunity to develop professional-level skills in a wide variety of information technology (IT) areas, through both online and hands-on training methods, as well as by working "in the field" for the department or unit to which they are assigned.

Projects

STFs are involved in all areas related to the use, instruction, and support of University technology and perform in a multitude of capacities, including:

• Responding to questions and resolving issues related to software and hardware support.

• Helping faculty incorporate technology into their courses.

• Developing web pages and applications.

• Trouble-shooting technology-enhanced classrooms.

• Monitoring distance-education classes.

Eligibility Requirements

Students from all majors are encouraged to apply, but only those with the most demonstrated abilities will be accepted.  In order to be considered, as well as to ensure continued participation, the following criteria must be met:

• Undergraduate student.

• South Dakota resident.

• Minimum 2.5 cumulative GPA.

• Complete 32 credits per academic year (summer/transfer credits can be applied, but may only be counted once towards a specified year).

• Work 165 hours per semester, including meetings, training, and assigned jobs/projects.

• Complete all program participation requirements, receive positive performance appraisals, and meet development standards.

• May serve a maximum of 8 semesters.

Compensation

In return for these services, STFs are paid the equivalent of 32 credit hours of tuition and general fees for each academic year in which they are in the program. This equates to 165 hours per semester (averaging 10-12 hours per week). The STF rate of pay for the 2008-2009 school year is $18.77 per hour.

Selection Process

• Students complete the application and quiz found on this site.

• Those whose education, experience, and quiz scores qualify them for advancement are intervied and given a hands-on skills test.

• Only students that possess the "total package" (those that have significant technical expertise, a sincere interest in further developing their skills, a demonstrated ability to work well with others, and that will be a good fit within our IT team) are offered fellowship positions.

What current STFs have to say about the program:

This past semester I helped set up new computers for faculty members and trained them on how to use SpyBot, AdAware, disk defragment, and other computer cleaning techniques that will help improve the speed of their computers.  I also worked with professors on revamping the Anatomy and Physiology websites for nursing students.

        ~College of Nursing STF

My primary function as a STF for the College of Pharmacy was to help create a WebCT course for an upper level pharmacy class by acquiring and altering javascripts for various effects desired by the instructors for the course.  Additionally, I was able to help teach some of the faculty about web page design options that they could use to import in WebCT.

        ~College of Pharmacy STF

My main project this semester was to assist the Electrical Engineering department's webmaster in making its web site more dynamic, attractive, and useful for the younger, high-school senior audience.  I helped incorporate new techniques, bringing Adobe Photoshop work into a web site.  I also introduced a new web editor, Namo, to create the web page, allowing for an increase in flexibility and ease of use in site creation.  We are working to use digital video to add content and depth to the site's offerings, all while learning about digital video editing, importing, and formatting in the process.

        ~College of Engineering STF

Email questions to:

sdsu.cito@sdstate.edu