Legends & LeadersDistinguished Alumni

Celebrating Alumni Achievement

While every Jackrabbit makes a profound difference for South Dakota State University, a class of Distinguished Alumni is recognized each year, honoring standout individuals that have demonstrated extraordinary service and accomplishments in their various fields of work.

For more than 60 years, this tradition has sought to shine a light on the remarkable people who have built a premier legacy for themselves since their time as students at State. 

Award recipients include legends and leaders of decades past, like Stephen Briggs, Charles Coughlin, and Ben Reifel, to name only a few. Today, the collective classes of Distinguished Alumni have spanned every avenue of academia and the workforce, sharing the Jackrabbit margin of excellence with the world.

Sheryl Doering Meshke '88

Doering Meshke is the first woman to be named CEO of a US dairy cooperative. In January 2023, she was named president and chief executive officer of Associated Milk Producers Inc., the largest cheese cooperative in the country. She had served as co-president and CEO for the prior eight years. 

Doering Meshke, an ag journalism graduate, and then co-president Donn DeVelder led the largest investment in the cooperative’s cheesemaking infrastructure and launched its Dinner Bell Creamery brand in 2019.

Headquartered in New Ulm, Minnesota, Associated Milk Producers Inc. is owned by dairy farm families from six midwestern states. Members market about 5 billion pounds of milk, with annual sales of nearly $2 billion. The cooperative makes about 10% of the nation’s American-type natural cheese and butter.

Raised on a farm near Good Thunder, Minnesota, Doering Meshke began her career with AMPI in 1991 as communications director. Government relations was added to her duties in the mid-1990s, and, in 2008, she became vice president of public affairs. Other executive positions followed before being named co-CEO in 2015.

Charles Gullickson '77

Gullickson has practiced law at Davenport, Evans, Hurwitz & Smith in Sioux Falls since 1980 and has been a partner since 1984. His focus is on financial institutions. Gullickson also serves as executive director and general counsel for the South Dakota Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association. 

He grew up on a Moody County farm, earned a Briggs Scholarship to attend SDSU, and graduated summa cum laude with a degree in political science. He then attended New York University School of Law.

Gullickson is widely considered to be the primary lawyer responsible for developing the business model used by several banks to market credit products on a national basis, allowing banks to expand their business beyond the borders of South Dakota.

He also has been instrumental in task forces addressing nationwide insurance insolvencies, including chairing Guaranty Association’s national task force appointed to handle the 2017 insolvency of Penn Treaty, a long-term care insurer.

Gullickson is a strong supporter of the arts in South Dakota and took an active fundraising role on behalf of the Washington Pavilion following the 2008 Great Recession.

Rich Helsper '74

Helsper was a prominent Brookings attorney who also served as chief legal counsel for SDSU from 1982 to 2017 while maintaining his own practice. 

The Brookings native earned his bachelor’s degree in political science and his juris doctorate from Southern Methodist University in 1977, when he returned to Brookings to begin his legal practice with McCann, Martin & Mickelson. 

In 1984, he and his partner, George Mickelson, started their own firm when Mickelson was state speaker of the House. When Mickelson threw his hat in the ring for the 1986 governor’s race, Helsper, just a few years out of law school, had primary responsibility for running the firm.

After his partner was elected governor, Helsper served as chief liability counsel to the state from 1986 to 1995.

Helsper’s community service included serving on the South Dakota Department of Transportation and South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks commissions, as well as on the Council of Trustees for the SDSU Foundation (now known as the SDSU Alumni & Foundation Board of Trustees) and the State College Development Association, which works with university leadership to secure and transfer private properties into SDSU’s hands for strategic purposes.

Jill Janecke '01/MS '05

Janecke founded Rising Hope Counseling in 2013 when she opened her private practice in Pierre, South Dakota. Today, the organization includes nearly 80 clinicians and a psychiatric nurse practitioner, providing therapy and medication management across 30 locations — primarily in rural South Dakota, as well as Iowa, Nebraska, and Minnesota. Rising Hope also offers teletherapy throughout these states.

Raised in rural southwest Minnesota, Janecke began her counseling career after earning her degree from SDSU. From 2005 to 2012, she worked as a behavior therapist at the South Dakota Developmental Center. By 2019, her solo practice began growing into a thriving group practice.

A nationally recognized entrepreneur and advocate, Janecke was honored as a 2025 Remarkable Woman of South Dakota and previously named to the Inc. 5000 list two consecutive years for her leadership in growing one of the fastest-expanding mental health organizations in the region.

In addition to her clinical leadership, Janecke is a motivational speaker and mental health advocate, known for her keynote addresses and radio presence. Her work focuses on brain health, clinician wellness, and personal development, often bridging the gap between science and practical strategies for emotional healing.

Hon. Alan G. Lance, Sr. '71

Lance was in private law practice in Idaho from 1978 to 1994, when he was elected Idaho Attorney General. He served in that capacity for eight years and then was an active judge for the federal Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims from 2004 to 2017. In 1999-2000, he served as national commander of the American Legion, the only South Dakota State graduate to do so.

The Ohio native enrolled at SDSU as a pre-law major in 1967 and earned degrees in history and English, as well as receiving an Army ROTC scholarship. Following graduation from the University of Toledo School of Law in 1973, he was sworn into the Ohio Bar in 1974.

Lance then served 4 ½ years with the Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps.

He entered Idaho politics in 1990, when he was elected to the Idaho House of Representatives and served as House majority caucus chairman in 1992-94.

While attorney general, Lance’s efforts to combat domestic violence and protect the rights of crime victims was recognized by the Idaho Council on Domestic Violence and Victim Assistance with the 2002 Policy Leadership Award.

Dawn Tobacco-Frank, Ph.D. '10

Dawn Tobacco-Two Crow-Frank — Taoyate Winyankapi Win – Her People See Her — made history in 2022 as the first seated female president of Oglala Lakota College. Born and raised in a remote area of the Pine Ridge Reservation, Tobacco-Frank is an Oglala Lakota College alumna who rose from student to college president, shaping education rooted in Lakota values. 

She earned her associate and bachelor’s degrees in human services and a master’s in Lakota Leadership at Oglala Lakota College. She completed her doctorate in biological sciences through SDSU’s Prairie Ph.D. program. 

She began her professional journey in tribal health and Indian Health Services before leading a youth research project and eventually serving as the interim Executive Director of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.

Since joining Oglala Lakota College in 2005, she has led with vision and action, first directing graduate studies in Lakota leadership. In 2013, Tobacco-Frank became vice president for instruction, a role she held for nine years. She was pivotal in securing multiple successful accreditations with the Higher Learning Commission.

Tobacco-Frank also champions Native higher education nationally, serving as secretary of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium.