Welcome back to the second edition of BHSU’s People of the Past. In honor of National Women’s History Month, this issue’s person of the past is the ninth president of BHSU, Dr. Kay Schallenkamp.
Dr. Schallenkamp served as the president of BHSU from 2006 to 2014 and was the very first female president of the university. Born in Salem, S.D., Dr. Schallenkamp went on to earn three degrees in communication disorders – a bachelor’s from Northern State University (NSU), a master’s from the University of South Dakota (USD) and a doctorate from the University of Colorado (CU).
Prior to her eight-year stint with BHSU, Dr. Schallenkamp worked in higher education for over three decades – starting her career as a professor of communication disorders at NSU in 1973. After nearly ten years as a professor at NSU, Dr. Schallenkamp served as a department chair from 1982-84 and served as the dean of graduate studies and research from 1984-88. In 1988, Dr. Schallenkamp accepted the provost position at Chadron State College (CSC) where she served for four years until she accepted another provost position at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (UW-Whitewater) in 1992.
Dr. Schallenkamp became the first female president of Emporia State University (ESU) in 1997 where she was responsible for reversing the school’s decline in enrollment and helping create a new graphic identity for the school with the “Power E” logo that is still used today. In 2018, it was announced that Dr. Schallenkamp would have a newly constructed residence hall named after her.
After nine years at ESU, Dr. Schallenkamp returned to South Dakota and brought her talents as a leader and educator to BHSU. During her eight-year presidency, Dr. Schallenkamp set record-breaking enrollment rates, increased graduation rates, established multiple new academic programs, strengthened BHSU’s ties to the community and the government and oversaw the construction of the Life Sciences Laboratory as well as renovations to the Student Union and a number of the residential halls.
In 2014, Dr. Schallenkamp received an honorary degree, Doctor of Public Service, from the South Dakota Board of Regents for her contributions to BHSU. Dr. Schallenkamp officially retired June 30, 2014 as one of the great presidents of BHSU.