Dr. Jerald A. Tunheim records

Jerald Tunheim spent most of his higher education career in South Dakota, beginning as an undergraduate student at South Dakota State University in 1958. He earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering physics and a M.S. in physics, both from SDSU. After receiving his doctorate in physics at Oklahoma State, he returned to SDSU to teach physics and ended his tenure 17 years later as Professor and head of the Physics Department. For two years in the late 1980s, he was Dean of the School of Mathematical Sciences and Technology at Eastern Washington University

Tunheim became the President of Dakota State College (now Dakota State University) in 1987, a few years after the state legislature changed DSU’s mission to focus on computer and information systems technology. Much of the credit for the University’s successful transformation can be traced to his leadership. “I am most proud of the culture we have developed at Dakota State University that embraces new technology and applies it in everything that we do as a higher education institution,” Tunheim said.

During his tenure as president, Dakota State saw a 236 percent increase in enrollment. The number of declared computer majors on campus grew from 109 to 973 students. Computer-related majors accounted for about one-half of degree-seeking students during Tunheim's tenure.

Tunheim was a scholarship supporter of Dakota State University athletes, establishing the Nancy and Dr. Jerald A. Tunheim Endowed Scholarship and the Tunheim and Friends Garden Co-op Endowed Scholarship awarded to athletes with financial need and DSU women’s basketball athletes, respectively. In 2022, Dr. Tunheim was inducted into the DSU Athletics Hall of Fame.