TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2O23 - DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY - MISSION CHANGE #2

 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2023 - DAKOTA STATE MISSION CHANGE - DAY 2

December 1983 to July 1984

So, the pieces were falling into place. The Governor proposed the mission change (with enough behind-the-scenes work), the legislature hadn’t approved it (but it was a “done” deal) and allocated funds), and the board of regents was going to support it. 

Done (not quite!!!)

How about curriculum? How about faculty? How about students? How about advertising? How about infrastructure?  

The mission change would help the state’s technology infrastructure. A major employer of technology infrastructure was Citibank’s Credit Card processing.

Although it hadn’t been formally approved, we were assured it would be. (In a state like South Dakota, with a Governor of the main political party and the legislature with a majority of the same party, generally, what the Governor wants, he gets. Jerome Lammers (from Madison) was the South Dakota Majority Leader in the Senate and was a huge proponent of the change.

On a Saturday in December 1983, an executive from Citibank ( Chuck Luke) was on loan to Dakota State. I met Chuck Luke, Melanie Stopfer, Glenn Pearson, and two other Citibank leaders in the cafeteria. 

We focused on the core information systems courses - with business applications.

We settled on two introductory programming courses (PL/1), then two advanced programming courses (COBOL I and II), Systems Analysis and Design, Reasoning and Logic, Database Systems, Operating Systems, Management Information Systems, and an elective - 10 courses.  

And - yes - I was written down on napkins in the cafeteria.  

We still needed general education - Freshman Composition I and II, Mathematics, Social Science, Arts, and Sciences. They were adapted from already existing programs. 

1983, the Internet was the “new kid on the block.” (As Governor Janklow noted, “The Internet Superhighway is the only highway I haven’t been stopped for speeding” (he was noted for having a lead foot).

“January 1, 1983, is considered the official birthday of the Internet. Before this, the various computer networks did not have a standard way to communicate with each other. A new communications protocol called Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) was established.” (Source - University of Georgia).

So, we sent away to receive college catalogs to see what others were teaching in these classes. I had some of the courses and got sample textbooks for the courses.  

But, it had to be business-focused. Chuck Luke had connections with IBM, especially with the director of internal IBM education. Over Christmas break, Chuck Luke worked to get two of us into IBM’s beginning programming course. On January 8th, Eric Johnson (English professor and the new Dean of the College of Liberal Arts) and I flew to Dallas for a five-week course IBM put their employees through.    For two professors living in Madison, South Dakota, five weeks in Dallas, Texas, was like a trip to the Caribean!!!

[Aside - We were the first non-IBM employees to complete this program. It was culture shock - more for Eric than for me. We couldn’t stay in the IBM apartments since we weren’t IBM employees. A room was booked for us in the “Irving Inn” in Irving, Texas. We were on a budget since the mission change hadn’t been approved or funded. I was naive, but Eric noticed that the hotel had a larger than average scantily dressed ladies (hookers). There were also some fights in the parking lot of the Irving Inn. The IBM education director said he wouldn’t let his daughter stay here, but his son could stay there.

We got badges to get through security. The other students had regular IBM employee badges, but we got C badges. Eric said the “C” was for clowns (it was for “contractor).” All the male students in the class wore white shirts and ties. I wore a colored shirt and tie. IBM at that time was “Big Blue” - and the overwhelming leader in “big iron” (mainframe computers). Eric, as an English professor, wore turtle-necked sweaters. I was just a little step up from Eric.

We habitually went to Bennigans for a beer after classes and then to a restaurant in the area. I didn’t drink much before going, but Eric liked beer, so we had at least one beer every night.  

By the last two weeks, Eric, through Chuck Luke, got IBM to let us stay in their apartments.]

The class was in a programming language called PL/I (for Programming Language 1). It was the programming language that Citibank used for its accounts receivable system. While I don’t know this, it is still in use. To rewrite a solid, stable primary application like accounts receivable in C or C++ would be difficult.  

I had a programming background - although not in PL/I. I whipped through my assignments while Eric struggled with his. Many evenings, we came back to the classroom to work on assignments. I polished mine - with comments and minor enhancements while Eric got his to work. The class included all kinds of IBM employees who were being transferred into technology areas. There were IBM typewriter repairers and even IBM internal nurses in the class.  

[Aside. I was very frugal - going out for beer and meals every night added up, and I wanted to be able to send money back to my family in South Dakota. Eric had a wife but no children. I wrote a calendar program while Eric worked on his assignment one evening. We didn’t have a calendar at the Irving Inn - and I didn’t want to spend $1 or 2 on a calendar when I could write an application for a calendar. We worked in a classroom on mainframe terminals and had a printer down the hall. I wrote a good application for the calendar, except I put a “page break” after every line. So, I printed a line of the calendar, then jumped to a new page and a new page. So, with 52 weeks in the year, I had a calendar of 52 pages - with one line at the top and then nothing. I was chagrin about the new page routine when I picked up my printout. }

Our instructors were all IBM employees - doing some teaching was expected for moving into upper management. One of our instructors was a lady with wonderfully long fingernails. She couldn’t type normally, so she used her knuckles to order.   

Our instructors were great, as were our classmates. When our assignments were returned, we got “Great Job” on the printout, and the other received “Nice job.” But it would switch on the next assignment. At the end of the class, one of the instructors said they didn’t want to write “Great Job” on both assignments, so they played a game with us, knowing we would talk about it.

***

On February 29, 1984, the state legislature passed a bill changing DSU’s mission to include instruction in computer-related technology in all majors.

We were the first to go through the program. Soon afterward (especially after the official notification), Lynette Molstad (business education professor, Tom Farrell (coach and former athletic director), Melanie Stopfer (computer professor), and Louis Pape attended IBMs education facility - and they stayed in the regular IBM housing - not the Irving Inn!!!

IBM liked Melanie and offered her a job as a Database instructor - which she accepted.

Tom Farrell became one of our most vital information systems instructors.

And (gulp) I became Dean of the College of Business and Information Systems - without a doctorate at age 36.

LOVE WINS

GOD GRANTS YOU THE DESIRES OF YOUR HEART

LOVE TRANSFORMS

KAREN ANNE WHITE, ©, NOVEMBER 28, 2023