STATE Stories

Andi Fouberg

Hello and welcome back to the STATE Stories podcast, where we celebrate the people, traditions, and experiences that make South Dakota State University such a special place. I'm Andi.

Travis Jensen

And I'm Travis. We're excited to welcome you to season three of STATE Stories podcast. Whether you've been listening since our very first episode or you're joining us for the first time, we're glad you're here. 

Andi Fouberg

Before we jump into this season, we want to take a moment to acknowledge an exciting new chapter for the Jackrabbit community. Since our last season, the SDSU Alumni Association and SDSU Foundation came together as one organization, the SDSU Alumni and Foundation. While our name has changed, our mission remains the same: connecting alumni, friends, and supporters to the university we all care so deeply about. And that's exactly what this podcast is all about. 

Travis Jensen

Every episode reminds us that there isn't just one Jackrabbit story. Some come from the classroom, others from the athletic field, a residence hall, or even an interaction with a mentor. No matter where they begin, they all lead back to the people and experiences that make South Dakota State such a special place. 

Andi Fouberg

So Travis, without giving too much away, what can listeners expect this season? 

Travis Jensen

This season, we're talking with guests whose stories span generations of Jackrabbits. We'll hear from alumni who turned an idea into an organization that's changing lives, families whose connection to SDSU has become a lasting tradition, leaders who helped shape the university's future, and people whose impact on the Jackrabbit community continues long after graduation. 

Andi Fouberg

We'll also celebrate the people behind some of SDSU's most memorable moments. Explore what it means to build a legacy and hear stories that remind us why this university feels like home to so many. If there's one theme that ties this podcast together, it's this. The relationships we build at SDSU have a way of lasting a lifetime. 

Travis Jensen

I think that's one of the things that makes the SDSU community different. It's not just where people earn a degree; it's where they discover lifelong friends, career opportunities, and a community that stays with them wherever life takes them. So, Andi, what excites you most when you think about the guests that we have for season three of the podcast?

Andi Fouberg

I think that people are really going to enjoy hearing the stories of people who have been at South Dakota State at very different time periods. Many of their experiences have lasted well beyond the four years, but certainly when they were here or when they, uh, the stories that they tell throughout their kind of time period associated with South Dakota State University varies greatly, I think, more than any other season we've had. There's just a bigger range in those. And so it makes for very unique stories in terms of just people's ability to maybe relate to what was happening at SDSU at that time. So, Travis, what are you excited about?

Travis Jensen

Well, kind of to the point that you were making the stories that we have for this season. I mean, every season now, we've had really great storytellers. I think that's certainly the case for season three. But the thing that I really appreciate about that is we have guests with different backgrounds, different interests, certainly different experiences. But the one common thread, the common theme across season three, is that each of those guests have found a way, their own unique way to make an impact back onto the SDSU community. I think that's really special. That has been a theme across all three seasons, but that is especially the case for season three.

Andi Fouberg

I think people are really going to enjoy this season.

Travis Jensen

I know I have. That's really what this podcast is about, Andi, right? I mean, every guest has a different story, but they all remind us that being a Jackrabbit doesn't end at graduation. It's something that you carry with you your entire life.

Andi Fouberg

Thanks for joining us for the first episode of season three. New episodes will be released every other week, so be sure to follow or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss a great conversation.

Travis Jensen

And if you enjoy what you hear, we would love for you to share STATE Stories with a fellow Jackrabbit, whether that's a current student or anyone who loves South Dakota State University. Thanks for listening. And as always,

Andi Fouberg and Travis Jensen

Go Jacks!

Andi Fouberg

Hey there, Jackrabbits! Welcome to another episode of the STATE Stories podcast, where we celebrate the people, traditions, and experiences that make South Dakota State University such a special place.

Today’s guest is someone whose connection to SDSU spans nearly a lifetime. He’s a three-time graduate of South Dakota State University, earning his bachelor's degree in 1975, his master’s degree in 1977, and his Ph.D. in 2000. Along the way, he met his wife Jane here at State, built a distinguished career in agriculture and higher education, and is the 20^th president of South Dakota State University.

Travis Jensen

Under his leadership, SDSU has continued to grow in enrollment, academic excellence, research impact, and national recognition while remaining deeply rooted in the land grant mission that defines this university. 

President Barry Dunn, welcome to the podcast. 

Barry Dunn

Thank you very much, Travis and Andi. It's great to be with you. I've listened to several of the podcasts, and I feel very special here to be with you today. 

Travis Jensen

So, President Dunn, let's start at the beginning. Before the titles and leadership roles, you were a student here at SDSU. Maybe take a moment to reflect and share with us. What are some of your fondest memories from your time as a student on campus? 

Barry Dunn

You know, I had an incredible experience from 1971 to ‘75. I built lifelong friends, met Jane and, you know, played countless pickup basketball games. Countless classes, countless labs. It took 132 credits to graduate back then. I tested out of a lot of courses, so when I came in but didn't get credit for them back then. So, I took a lot of kind of eclectic courses. I took poetry. I took political science. And so I had a really exciting, I think as I look back, course schedules every semester and I had to work hard. I say I'm kind of smart, but not real smart. So I had to work really hard. So spent a lot of time, a very serious student. But I also had a lot of fun, but healthy, good fun. I was young, so couldn't get into some of the other troubles that were available, but, you know, lots of playing football on green space, which there was a lot more of back then. The campus green was really important. It's hard for people, for some people to imagine that the union that we all know wasn't here in 1971. Frost Arena wasn't here. Animal Science Building wasn't there. So it was a much different campus. A lot of activity at Pugsley with the Christie Ballroom and the Bunny Ballroom. And that's where the Collegian was. Pugsley was, you know, the Jungle was where you went and got a hamburger. So it was a very different experience than most people remember now. But just I can't tell you how important that freshman year in Matthews Hall, Third East was and how important those people I met. There was a whole group of all boys then, we weren't young men, from Estelline, and they were so kind to me. I was kind of a loner and didn't know really anybody on campus. And they were really tight click. They kind of adopted me and we had a lot of fun together playing ping pong, doing just all kinds of things. So, I had a fantastic undergraduate experience here. 

Andi Fouberg

You said kind of smart. Travis, did you test out of a lot of classes, too?

Travis Jensen

No, I didn’t test out of anything.

Andi Fouberg

I did not test out of any classes. One of the things that many people love about your story is that SDSU is also where you met your wife, Jane. Tell us about how the two of you met and what you remember most about those days together at State. 

Barry Dunn

Well, I spent my junior year in Pierson Hall, and I didn't get an application in for Matthews early enough, so a lot of friends in Matthews still. I was kind of going back and forth between third East and first floor Pierson. But I had seen Jane was a freshman and I had seen Jane a lot on in Pierson, had gotten to know her roommate a little bit, just walking back from class and trying to figure out a way to meet her. Her sister was here, her sister Sue and I started together, so I kind of knew the story that she was from Edina and surely was looking for a way to introduce myself to her, to get to know her. And my younger brother Roger was coming to spend the weekend with me, and I needed to feed him, and so there was a kind of a what’s now looks like an odd system where you could have a like a block. You could eat as much as you wanted to on one side of Grove Commons and on the other side it was a kind of a ticket-based system, and so I needed to buy tickets to feed Roger. So I went up to her after one afternoon and asked her if she had any food tickets for sale because lots of girls weren't using them all. We had kind of a black market, to tell you the truth. And a lot of us boys were buying cheap food. She just abruptly said no and walked away. So I thought, well, that wasn't good. But she went to her room and I went to my room and then she called me and we had phones in every room back then. She called me and said, yeah, I do have some, I'll meet you downstairs. So we had a nice conversation. I asked her to go for ice cream, of course. And just got to know her through that. Then that summer, we were both students here for summer school. I think we went to one of the Butch Cassidy movies or one of those. I can't remember the stars, Robert Redford. That was our first date, so it was a memorable summer and we got to know each other and it was a lot of fun.

Travis Jensen

The rest is history. 

Barry Dunn

Yeah. You know, she tested me pretty well. She had, she had a lot of good friends in nursing. So there were six nurses on that fourth South. I kind of, if I was going to be friends with Jane, I was going to be friends with all six of them. So and I was pretty good in science. So I was coaching them. I was tutoring some of them in Bio Chem. I was doing everything I could to get on the good side of Jane, which I think made her uncomfortable sometimes, but I was kind of persistent, I guess. 

Travis Jensen 

You talked a little earlier about how things have changed on campus since the time when you were a student, but I imagine there are some things that still feel very familiar for you when you walk around campus today. What still reminds you of the SDSU you experienced as a student? 

Barry Dunn

You know, there's some intangible feeling, Travis, for me back then, and it's still today where there's a warmth, there's a friendship. I think that group of friends that Jane described, I just described for Jane, was that group of guys from Estelline that helped me. I think that just remains true. And you can see you can see it in students as they come across campus as kind of a in their nursing uniforms or their athletic teams hanging out together, sometimes over in the union or clubs. I think there's a warmth and personal relationships are really strong here. And it's always been small enough to, and remains, small enough to be very personable, but it's large enough to be very dynamic and exciting. I don't think that's changed. It was true. We were probably half the size we are now, but there are so many things about the feel that are just kind of intangibles, but they're still here.

Travis Jensen

It's kind of fun when you encounter a fellow Jackrabbit in the wild, right? Like it's a it's almost like a family reunion. And Andi has shared stories of times where she would be traveling around the world, and you'll encounter other Jackrabbits.

Andi Fouberg

It's like you where you wear Jackrabbit clothes in the airport and someone is going to yell “Go Jacks” at you! I mean, and not in Sioux Falls, right? So, you'll be on the moving walkway in Denver or something, and they'll all of a sudden, and it'll take you that minute, right? And it's a moving walkway. So, you've gone past one another by the time it registers what has just happened.

Travis Jensen

And it's those relationships that you were talking about. 

Barry Dunn 

Yeah, and Andi, I had that same experience now and after, I guess ten years at a pretty high profile as I go now, someone will yell out President Dunn! Go, Jacks! So, it's really fun. 

Andi Fouberg

President Dunn, you've spent much of your career connected to agriculture, education and service to South Dakota. How did your experience at SDSU help shape the person and the leader you are today?

Barry Dunn

I think SDSU gave me, and I think it gives people, an unusual opportunity for leadership. I'm not sure, going back that eighteen-year-old self, there's plenty of coaching tips that I have for him. But I was able to, you know, be on the Harding Lecture Committee at SDSU and meet Dan Rather and had dinner with him before the meeting. During that time, I got to meet some pretty interesting people. It exposed me to a lot of people ended up as a student chairman of the Harding Lecture Committee. I certainly wasn't as involved as many of my friends were who have gone on to an awful lot of high-profile positions. Then when I was ranching, I just had, I think that land grant mission, whether everybody fully understands the history. When I got back to Todd County, I was on the extension board, I was on the conservation board, I went to a lot of, I didn't run for school board, but I went to school board meetings. I was very, very active in church and leadership roles in our church, but I understood that the importance of community in a little town like Mission. I saw those important opportunities from a state and local government course from JP Hendrickson, and it just opened my eyes to so many things. Back in the 1960s and 70s there were a lot going on the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon. So there was an awful lot going on, but I think what SDSU helped me become was grounded in the community. So, when I was in Mission and those twenty years, very engaged in the community, then became engaged in the cattle industry, both South Dakota Stockgrowers and the South Dakota Cattlemen's Association, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, became very engaged in those organizations. But that understanding of the importance of it really did come through my experience here at SDSU. 

Andi Fouberg 

I think community and engagement would be two words that I would absolutely use to describe SDSU. It's almost sneaky. You don't realize it when you're doing it as a student, right? And you don't kind of maybe realize all the ways you're being exposed to ways that eventually will lead to, hopefully, you becoming an engaged community member, a leader in whatever that industry is, whatever that community is long after college.

Barry Dunn

Right? I certainly see that in the, you know, thousands of alums that I've been able to meet and interact with and just so incredibly proud of their leadership and their engagement at all levels, whether it's Senator Rounds, who we were here at the same time, I'm a couple of years older than he is, but from Senator Rounds, who was governor and legislator to just in in multiple industries, especially for me, especially around agriculture. So, it's an amazing kind of path that SDSU puts one on, and it manifests itself in many different ways. It could be very successful alums from large organizations and companies to still deeply engage in small communities. A really good friend of mine, Lyle Perman, has decided that it's time to give back. Lyle, again, a couple of years younger, but he's now a county commissioner. There he is, deciding to continue to give back. 

Andi Fouberg 

Since becoming president, SDSU has experienced a lot of momentum from enrollment growth and campus improvements to athletic success and national recognition. When you reflect on your tenure at South Dakota State, what accomplishments are you most proud of? 

Barry Dunn 

I think the thing that I'm most proud of is that I have about fifteen direct reports, people that I work with one-on-one and I'm responsible for, from athletic director to the provost who's in charge of all of academics, or vice president for finance and budget is a direct report. So I have fifteen direct reports, and twelve of them have been with me for ten years. And many of them I knew when I was the Dean of Agriculture and worked with them. I really think that the things that we've accomplished as a team really lies in those deep, friendly personal relationships with that team. The other three, one of them was nine years. A couple of them, one is six, one is five. So, working together with the same people. We meet every Monday morning at nine o'clock. We are deeply engaged with each other as colleagues and certainly have a lot of respect for each other. And I think we've been able to accomplish, whether it was the capital campaign of six hundred and four million dollars, or some of the building project's, First Bank and Trust, or the Performing Arts Center. They all turn on the strength of those relationships, because no one does anything alone. And I've just had an incredible team of people that I've been privileged to work with. As I reflected on that possible question, I really do think it all goes back to that team that I've been part of.

Andi Fouberg

The Alumni and Foundation lean into the tagline “Where Loyalty Lives.” And I think SDSU has benefited from that loyalty and longevity and people staying here and really committing to making SDSU better. You're a great example of that. We have people everywhere from, you know, the women's basketball coach going into the 27^th season, right? To professors who spend their entire careers here after graduate school. And so, I think SDSU is better because of those decisions to commit for the long term to making this place great and special. 

Barry Dunn 

Yeah, I'd like to pick up on that because it wasn't that 15-member team. We didn't stay together because it was comfortable. We stayed together out of a commitment to continuous improvement towards a vision of becoming the, you can use these words, the best version of yourself or the best version of the campus but we use the word premier. We stayed together for ten years since I became president to make this place not only better, but to make it a premier university. You know, we'll never be the largest, and we'll never be the smallest, but we can do things really well here. And I think that commitment is unique. There’s a lot of teams that have been together for ten years, and you might roll your eyes and, well, it was comfortable, but did you do anything? You know, I guess I'm kind of excited to say we stayed together and we got a lot done and we got it done for the right reasons. And that was student success, become an R1 university with much better research and economic development impact for the state. So I think we stayed together for the right reasons, and we accomplished things for the right reasons. 

Travis Jensen 

You touched a little bit with your commitment to being premier, right? So, with that thought in mind, you know, one thing that we hear people consistently mention about SDSU is the balance between innovation and tradition. How do you think the university has managed to grow and evolve while staying true to its land grant mission and culture? 

Barry Dunn 

Yeah, that's a fantastic question. And one of the things I hope that is viewed as a positive thing is that I love history and I've read a lot. So, I continue to read a lot and on a variety of topics, but I became a certainly not an expert, but a student of the land grant system and public higher education. I do think that I was able to emphasize that at a at a level and help people understand it, whether it's I have kind of a routine I go through with our new faculty and employment welcome that I give every year, and a little history lesson on the land grant. And most people don't realize it's a term that's thrown around a lot. There's 52 large land grants in the United States. Very, very important. But that history rooted in Lincoln and others commitment to providing access to, in this case, the benefit of higher education is unique in human history. It's unique in today's world. And I think I brought forward that commitment to providing access. And that's what it was founded on. He and Justin Morrill, the congressmen who got it through the legislation, talk about this. Serving the sons and daughters of toil, and the serving from an extension perspective or research perspective, the yeoman farmer. So, this is not egalitarian. This was for our parents or our grandparents or our great grandparents. I describe my grandfather as living a life of scarcity, but his daughter got to go to a land grant university and her son got to go to a land grant university because of that access mission, only because of that access mission. I think I've brought that greater awareness of how unique that is and how special and important that is. I think we all have a little better understanding of it and how important it is, how unique and human history it is. It's a privilege to open the door, have this incredible story, if you don't mind about that, kind of emerged over the last couple of weeks. Six years ago, an employee on campus wrote to me and I knew the person I'd go in and give him an attaboy. Not a high-level position at all. Not a well-paid position at all. But he always did a really good job in his work. And he wrote to me as beautiful email, extremely well written, and basically said, I have terminal cancer, and I have a few months to live. And I have a twelve-year-old and an eight-year-old daughter. I didn't get to go to college, but would you promise to help my daughters get to college when they are ready. I know, I teared up and I responded immediately that we would do everything we could to help his widow and those two youngsters get to college at SDSU if they wanted to. Well, six years later, one of them is ready for college, and she's coming next fall. And we honestly didn't do anything we haven't done for every other student, but her mom contacted us and said, do you remember? And of course we remembered. And so we've helped them work through what it means to go to college. So, the sons and daughters of toil, a daughter of toil, a daughter of extreme hardship, can't imagine what that young girl went through. Now able to come to a top university for a great education. I can tell that story a thousand times with a different twist, but that's a really beautiful story about how this university opened its door to a dying man and promised to help his daughters. And that's pretty cool, because I immediately turned to teammates on campus and said, I might not even be president when they come but keep this file. We're going to help those youngsters when they get here. And so, we're able to do that. But again, we've done that. We do that every day. We do that for every child. We honestly didn't do anything special, but it would be special compared to what the experience would be at other universities, I can tell you that. So I'm really proud of how our team reacted and kept that family in. It's kind of in its heart, and when it was ready, we were able to respond. 

Andi Fouberg 

That's a hard story to follow. There's moments like that. There are big moments in being a university president, right? And then there are quiet moments. And so, I want you to think about your time as president. What are some of the most memorable or especially meaningful moments from your time? 

Barry Dunn 

Yeah. Just wow. Just so many fantastic pinch-yourself moments. I can't believe I had the honor to do this. So, humbling. So many great achievements from, of course, the national championships in football. One thing that will always be a big time for me was the WNIT championship, where on Frost Arena's home court, we beat, you know, UCLA, University of Minnesota, Alabama. I can't remember them all. We beat every one of these top-tier schools. It was so fun to participate, pack Frost Arena five or six times, and watch them get better and better and bring home a national championship. Never forget that. We were reaching for Premier at that point. 

Andi Fouberg 

You may not have played in the game, but, those games happened here because you committed to us playing at home during the WNIT. 

Barry Dunn 

Absolutely. I guess that's true. But then the Macy's Day Parade was actually the flag team that comes first, and their smiles were as big as New York. And it was a thrilling. I was sitting with you, Andi, and I will just never forget that experience. But those are those are the big ones. Some really important ones, getting through the Regents, a degree for business economics, for finance, and for accounting. I mean, I had never one hundred and forty plus year university could not teach those degree programs. And so getting elementary ed through the Regents was, and I again, this was a big team of people who made that happen. But those things are so important for the future of this university. They're not as fancy and bright as shiny as national championships, but in the long-term academic life of this university, they changed it forever. And we will serve our constituents in this state and the region differently and much, much better than we've been able to in the past. So that's on the academic side. It's got to be those degree programs. From a student life perspective, I think the emergence of the Wintrode Student Success Center. It's kind of been around, but a huge team of people made it happen. Five thousand individual students use the services of that student support system, so they didn't have a guy like me trying to get to know Jane, tutoring her friends. That's kind of a lame tutoring system compared to what we have now. We have this relatively sophisticated tutoring and student support system that is unmatched, certainly in the region. And that's one of the reasons we have got to eighty-four percent retention. Our six-year graduation rate is really increasing. So again, from student life to academics to these external things like sports and The Pride of the Dakotas, I could go on for hours, I think. 

Travis Jensen 

You see this every day as the university president, the changing landscapes, the new opportunities, the emerging technologies. Students today are entering a world that looks very different from when you attended SDSU. What excites you most about the future of higher education and the role SDSU will play in shaping that future? 

Barry Dunn 

Well, we're at a tipping point in human history with the emergence of artificial intelligence. And so that, I think for us, that early, how we manage that early adoption into education is going to be extremely important and right out of the gate, we've got to be the words ethics and integrity better be front of mind with artificial intelligence. Then it becomes a tool to help a researcher on campus study cancer or vaccines for livestock in our diagnostic lab. So, very exciting, you know, a little scary, honestly, I'm sure, you know, this nearly one hundred-and-fifty-year-old university has seen revolutionary things, has seen enormous changes in society. So, I know we're special, but we're never really special because lots of generations have faced big challenges. But for the next twenty years, how that new technology is used appropriately and effectively in education, but then in society as part of our responsibility, kind of whether we wanted it or not. That's going to take a lot of oxygen here over the next few years. 

Andi Fouberg 

So, you kind of alluded to it at the beginning, but if you could go back and give young Barry Dunn a piece of advice during your time at SDSU, what would it be?

Barry Dunn

There were lots of things he needed to do better. His mom wanted him to cut his hair more and stand up straighter, lots of things like that. Real simple one, I needed to get more involved. I should have gotten more involved. I encourage young people to get more involved. I think most eighteen-year-olds now, there's these superstars that, that we could all name, but I think most eighteen-year-olds coming out of a high school experience, I've said this to young people a lot. You're just as pretty or just as handsome as your grandma tells you are. And you're just as smart and have just as much kind of potential to work hard and achieve things as your grandfather or your father has told you and encourage you to express. So, I'd go back and tell Barry, stand up straighter. You know, you're not a movie star here, but my self-esteem was not very high back then. And I look at kids today, and I just think they're all beautiful. They're trying so hard, and I know it with social media, it's even harder than it was for me. So, I just want them to know, I want Barry to know that, and I'd love to have every, every eighteen-year-old who walks on this campus next fall to know they're smarter than they think they are. They're handsomer and prettier than they think, than somebody just teased them about. And they can do great things that that just exactly like their grandparents or parents hope for them and they might not realize it. And that's the that's the challenge, I think, for an eighteen-year-old that that I needed to hear. An alum came up to me and said, this was a choker here. Brings tears to my eyes. So at graduation, I shake two thousand hands on that Saturday. And one of these days we're going to be quite a bit over that. But, as fast as I can, I tell them congratulations and I am proud of you and this young person, this now, you know, five or six years out of college came up to me as I was traveling and said you were the first person to tell me that you were proud of me in my whole life, nobody had told me they were proud of me until you did. And boy, that took me back. So I think we need to tell each other a lot, how proud of each other we are. That should not have been the first time as that person graduated from college. I think we could help each other, express our confidence in these young people, whether it be a researcher, for me, they're all young now, or a student that they're smarter than they think they are. They can work harder and achieve more than they think they are. And forget about all those nasty things from junior high and about your appearance and go do some great things because you're capable of it. What we want to do is unleash that human spirit of self-assurance and a strong work ethic and, and then that putting the pieces intellectually together of all those things I've learned here, whether it was from chemistry or poetry or history course or a statistical analysis, you know, we want them to put all those magical things together and have a great life. 

Travis Jensen 

President Dunn, thank you. Thank you for your leadership, for your commitment to the university, for your willingness to be here today to share your stories. You know, Andi and I always appreciate the opportunity to be able to visit with you and listen to the stories that you have to share. And now our listeners have had an opportunity to experience that as well. Your journey is such a great reminder that SDSU is more than a university. It's a place that shapes lives, it builds relationships, and it creates opportunities that last a lifetime. So thank you. 

Barry Dunn 

Well thank you. It's been fun to be with you. 

Travis Jensen 

Thank you to everyone listening for joining us for another episode of STATE Stories. We'll see you next time.

Andi Fouberg

If you’ve enjoyed today’s conversation, be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Your support helps us continue sharing these inspiring stories and experiences of SDSU alumni. You can explore more episodes at sdstatealumnifoundation.org/podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening!

Andi Fouberg

Welcome to another episode of the STATE Stories podcast, where we celebrate the people, experiences, and connections that make the Jackrabbit community so special. Today, we're joined by Ryan and Brittany McKnight, two proud SDSU alumni whose lives became deeply rooted in the university community. What started as their college experience at SDSU grew into something much bigger. A place to build careers, relationships, and a lasting sense of home. After meeting as students and attending law school together, Ryan and Brittany returned to SDSU, where they now both serve as faculty members. Ryan also leads the Jackrabbit Football Players Association following his time as a student-athlete, while Brittany has made a significant impact through her leadership and involvement with Women in Business. Ryan and Brittany, welcome to the show.

Travis Jensen

Let's start at the beginning. How did the two of you meet? Was it an instant connection, or did your relationship grow over time?

Brittany McKnight

Well, I can start with how we met. Ryan and I met in law school, actually. We did not meet in undergrad here at SDSU, even though we are both alum. We had a lot of mutual friends. We were in the same circle, but somehow our paths never crossed. The first McKnight I met was actually Kelly McKnight. I met her at an SDSU volleyball camp here when I was still in high school. She was actually a really good friend of mine. We were bumping partners. We got to know each other really well. I met his mom, but somehow, we never really crossed paths there. But, Ryan, do you want to tell them about your experience?

Ryan McKnight

Yeah, so we did actually meet in law school, but I actually knew both of her brothers in undergrad, as well as I played football with Conrad, who was her cousin. And when I actually first heard of her name, we were out at Conrad's wedding, and her mom stopped me and said, "Hey, my daughter's also going to law school." So it was crazy. It kind of worked out, the circles of life bringing us together, I guess.

Travis Jensen

So you were in law school at the time, and that's when you first met. Who approached who?

Ryan McKnight

Oh, absolutely, it was me. I saw her the very first day, actually, the very first day we met. She was sitting right in front of us. You had to do this introduction to welcome to law school. Tell us about yourself real quick. And the Kjerstad last name is pretty unique and at least pretty custom to Wall or at least West River or something. That’s definitely her right there. So yeah, from there on out, very first day we met, very first day we started hitting it off. And I guess really the rest is history.

Brittany McKnight

Yeah, I would say it was an instant connection. I don't know if it's because of all the similarities we had. I think it probably was. But I remember, you know, it was nerves as the first day of law school. Everyone's kind of scared, and we're just going around the room, saying your name, saying something interesting about yourself. So we're just kind of all checking out the vibe, trying to see who's all here. And I just remember Ryan stood up and he's like, "My name's Ryan McKnight from SDSU, and I played in the NFL," and he just sat down, and everyone's like, "Okay, I don't really know how to follow that up," but I was like, "Okay, that's Ryan." And I had knew who he was. Then you just came and introduced yourself to me. And yeah, we were kind of inseparable after that.

Ryan McKnight

Yeah. Harassed her pretty much every single day because her cubicle was two doors away from mine or whatever. So I always found an excuse to come down and talk to her, I guess.

Travis Jensen

Yeah. Imagine that.

Brittany McKnight

Yeah. I would say he pursued me. I'm more reserved, a little more quiet, but he just kept coming to talk to me, just over and over. It was like every day you were just there.

Ryan McKnight

So persistence. Persistence.

Andi Fouberg

It seems to have worked out, so congratulations. Talk a little bit about your time here on campus. Kind of what were you involved in, and then maybe, how did that help you establish in your careers? Are there things that you look back and go, "Oh, this was definitely an influence or helped me get to this point?"

Ryan McKnight

Yeah, obviously for me, I came up here to play football. My old man played football up here. My brother-in-law played football up here. Obviously, Britt's cousin played football up here. I guess even his brother played football up here. So my biggest influence here is football. And Coach Stig, Coach Meadows, all my coaches and teammates that I've got to know over the years, I know really shaped who I was here. And then obviously in undergrad, I was a business econ at that time. It was econ with a specialization in business, but now it's business econ, and the friends you meet from college, Alex and Mike Stephan, a whole bunch of the same guys that really shaped me and my impact on SDSU and the love for the blue and yellow started to grow from there.

Brittany McKnight

Yeah. I had a very different experience from him. But equally…

Andi Fouberg

You didn't play football?

Brittany McKnight

No, I did not. I attended football games, and I am sure I watched you. Ryan is actually a couple years older than me. So I graduated high school in 2008, and he graduated in 2006. So we were here at the same time. And I know I watched you play. I just didn't know who you were. But for me, my undergrad was actually in English literature, is what I majored in. And I loved my experience at SDSU. I felt like I learned so much. My professors were amazing, and I never had any intention to go to law school. It was nothing I had ever really considered until probably my junior year. And I remember I was talking to my advisor. I remember to this day, Doctor Bruce Brandt. He taught Shakespeare. He was incredible. And I was talking to him about my future and what I was going to do. And I just loved what I learned here. I loved literature, I loved reading, and I was considering moving on to grad school with that. And he supported me in it. But he said, "Have you ever considered law school? You're just very good with analysis. And a lot of those skills will carry over into law." And it just had a light bulb going off. And to hear that from him, that he believed it was something I could do, was really powerful to me. So after that, I took the LSAT and just decided I was going to go to law school, and the rest was history. It was an amazing experience.

Ryan McKnight

I'll add a little bit too, because from an English side, remarkable. Obviously, it prepped you really well for law school. From my perspective, there was a guy that really shaped me. I think a lot of Jackrabbit lawyers who went to the business school, who went to law school afterwards, a guy named Pat Lyons. And I know he passed away, but his class, his demeanor, his character, his attitude, really shaped me. I never once thought about law school, even though my dad went to law school. He was a lawyer in Sioux Falls. Having Pat Lyons in your corner saying, "Yeah, why don't you think about it? Why don't you go to it?" He was a remarkable guy. Just a great dude, great dude. 

Andi Fouberg

His personal finance class will forever be. I still think about things from those classes, but just also a gentleman all around. A wonderful man. 

Ryan McKnight

That's how he treated kids, just with respect. And there was no dumb questions. He would just walk you through it. He'd talk to you. And I don't know, maybe it's personal finance or personal selling I took with me, where he taught you how to do a handshake.

Andi Fouberg

I think that might have been a precursor for it. I think all of his classes started with the handshake, right? Because it starts strong. Strong start.

Ryan McKnight

It is. And he made every kid get up and do it. It was just such a small little thing. But you're like, "Wow, I actually learned how to do a handshake properly." He was just a great guy. And that's literally what got me thinking about law school.

Andi Fouberg

Do you run across people now who you're like, "You should have had Pat Lyons as a professor because this handshake was..."

Ryan McKnight

Well, so if you get this, we were out west deer hunting right after we took these jobs, probably 2016, 2017, 2018, and we were out there in the middle of nowhere. I'm not wearing any SDSU garb. I'm just at this random little hole-in-the-wall bar, and sure enough, some guy walks up to me and says, "Hey, I heard you're the new Pat Lyons." I said, "Yeah, you got big shoes to fill." And I was like, "I know." I mean, it's the truth of it, but this one guy out there saw me and knew me, and he still remembers his time with Pat Lyons. That's really special. Really special.

Travis Jensen

There's something unique about relationships that begin during college because you're growing and you're figuring life out at the same time. Was there a moment when you realized this relationship was becoming something long-term?

Ryan McKnight

Yeah. I mean, I think right away, when we first started talking, first started hanging out. Our very first date, we went to the river in Yankton, did a little fishing, just bs’d a little bit. That's where her and I are complete opposites on every single thing known to man. We started doing some of these personality studies, and she is one hundred percent different than me. But for whatever reason, opposites attract and they kind of click. And really from there, how she conducts herself and has a very high standard for literally everything, it made me get better. It made me get smarter. And where she could read all these cases in like twenty minutes and be done, it would take me two hours. But still, she was still helping us out, still caring about me. And yeah, that's where I would say it really started to blossom into something cool. Then we moved in together our second year of law school. Then our third year, even my sister moved in with us because she was starting medical school. So yeah, it was a really, really special time.

Brittany McKnight

Yeah. I would agree with his statement that we are very opposite in our personalities, but what I think brings us together is we have a lot of the same values. Even though we express ourselves differently, we value a lot of the same things as far as like working hard and integrity and doing the right thing. So I think that's what brings us together.

I think you told me, I know within the first year of dating, that you wanted to marry me. That's when I was like, "Okay, this is getting long-term." I was like, "What? What do you see for us?" And you just automatically said, "Well, I plan to marry you." And I'm like, "Okay." It was just not really any hesitation. So that I remember distinctly. I was like, "Wow, that's cool. I'm excited."

Andi Fouberg

Well, at some point, right, so you have most of your classes together, I would imagine. Right? You are living together. That's a lot of time and a lot of pressure, right? So kind of talk maybe just a little bit about that season of life and how it prepared you for kind of raising a family and having kids and working together now on campus.

Ryan McKnight

From my perspective, law school is stressful. It's supposed to be stressful. It's supposed to be hard. And they always want to make sure that you have a buddy system, or at least someone to go to it with, just so that way to lean on and whatever. For our sake, we lived together. We studied together. We worked out. We did all this stuff together, and then studying for the bar exam, it's eight weeks straight, eight hours a day of studying. At least it was nice to have somebody there that was also doing it with you. So now when you have the chaos of taking your kid to a basketball camp on campus or taking the kids to daycare and moving and whatever, kind of rely on the grit and the toughness that you had then to get through it today.

Brittany McKnight

Yeah, I agree with that. These are interesting questions because they're making me reflect more deeply on this in a way I haven't maybe before. I think going through law school together and meeting in that environment is interesting for how it's shaped our relationship, but we have done a lot of high-stress things together, and I think that could probably make or break a relationship. Like if we, you know, we were able to get through all of that and not really get through it but enjoy it together, I think that makes it even better for us now knowing we did that. And that was hard. We can do really anything together.

Travis Jensen

Well, then the two of you decided, let's double down. We went through a really challenging time together through law school. It's very difficult. Let's work together. Right? I think a lot of couples probably wonder if they could do that with their significant other. But you two are here at SDSU. What is it like balancing family, careers, campus life together?

Ryan McKnight

And sometimes it is stressful. Sometimes it is hard, especially when you're in the middle of the school year. You got tests, you got papers, you got sick kids. Because that's just what happens when the weather changes and all that kind of stuff. But what I would say is I absolutely love teaching with her and working with her. And it's not like teaching is fun. Being a faculty member is fun because you're not always in one spot. You're not always in the office doing meetings. You're kind of out and about teaching and doing that type of stuff. And I teach a lot of the intro to business law courses. When I get them excited about law, get them laughing at least a little bit, and then Britt does a lot more of the upper-level law courses, construction law, business law one. So we even wrote a paper together that's been kind of fun. So it's a cool way for us to bounce ideas off of each other, talk about teaching and how to really make a big impact for these students out there.

Brittany McKnight

Yeah, I would agree with all of that. And I think it's just because of our relationship being really solid. I would say you're my best friend. I love you, and I love talking to you. And I just am so happy I have someone built in that I can just constantly bounce ideas off of for work because we teach a lot of the same classes, same subjects. So we talk about that. We say, "Here's an interesting case," or "This is something cool I'm doing," or "This is what I'm updating my Power Points with." And we kind of bounce ideas off of one another. And yeah, we just had a paper published together, which was really fun. A law review article that we did.  So I feel really lucky and grateful to work with him. It's been a blessing.

Andi Fouberg

Ryan, you've remained connected to Jackrabbit athletics through the JFPA, and Brittany, you've created opportunities for students with Women in Business. Why has it been important for both of you to continue investing in SDSU students beyond your own college experience?

Brittany McKnight

For me, thank you for bringing up the Women in Business Club. That's something I'm really excited about and love being a part of. And for me, the motivation is, again, I think back to my experiences here. I think of my professors, the story I told you about Doctor Brandt and the huge impact he had on my life. I feel like that's a responsibility I have. It's something I want to do as well. It makes my life more meaningful and my job more enjoyable to do something that matters a lot to me, to mentor students beyond the classroom. I also was inspired by Ryan's nonprofit with the JFPA, where he brings together alumni, and I'm sure he'll talk to you about that in a second, but I just saw the community aspect of that and the positive impact it was having on those. So, I wanted to do something that equally mattered to me through Women in Business and start that club with the students. So that's been a lot of fun, a really rewarding part of my job.

Ryan McKnight

And for the JFPA too. When we got that going back in 2018, people kind of wonder how it got started. And we've talked to a lot of different programs across the United States about, "Hey, how did this thing get going? And how do we push it?" Blake Day pulled me into his office one day and said, "Hey, you know, we're trying to get a hold of some folks and trying to get people back here. What are your thoughts on doing something like this?" And when we started this, the whole point was you make your best friends here. You make your lifelong friends; you have great memories. Whether or not the games won or lost or catches dropped and caught, whatever. I wanted to make sure that I could still talk to my friends. We have a spot to hang out. We get connected once a year because having that friendship, having that bond does matter. And more importantly, too, I remember leaving my last game UND and there was like four thousand fans in the stands because we weren't very good and it was cold and whatever. Well, the doors shut. And then what? You know, what do I do now? What do I do for a job? What do I do for a career? And for my sake, we're trying to do a mentorship side, and we're trying to make sure that we get. We help these young guys out, not only while they're here with food and help with nutrition and help them with weight and stuff, but more importantly, helping them find a career, helping being that big brother to really give back and support. Because as you said, the community, the community is all bought in. They know what those four letters mean. And I just want to make sure when we do retire, when I stop doing the JFPA and have someone else take over, that they know, "Hey, that made a difference. You made a difference for this one kid. You made a difference for a couple kids. You made a huge difference for the community, for their health and whatever." I think that's how you want to be remembered, right? I mean, you want to make sure that it might be cool to make a billion dollars and do all this, but if you didn't really make a difference, you didn't really change anything. I don't know, there was a quote that I heard once, and I think this is really why the JFPA matters, is if you make a little effort to help somebody out, you can actually change the trajectory of their entire life and not only just their life and their family's lives and then their family's lives. I mean, if you just do a little bit, it could have a huge ripple effect.

Travis Jensen

You're both trying to leave the place a little bit better than when you found it, right? You both touched on people that have been influential to you, some of your fond memories, whether it's as undergrad students or coming back here as alumni and also as faculty. Are there other special moments, traditions, memories that you have that really stand out that you're like, "Wow, how fortunate are we to be associated with this university?"

Ryan McKnight

That's a very good question because, like, in my head, I could think of five hundred different things. I could think of football games. I could think of getting an award from a student about the Naval Cross and some of these cool, impactful things that have really been a memory for me. I would say the one that stands out the most, or at least the two, both national championship games, is being down there seeing the — I mean, people flew in from all over to watch this, and it was so cool because where we were fifteen years ago, where people said, "Don't go to Division One," to where it is now. And like, we're up there, we're winning a title. We got guys going to the NFL. We got all these cool things, and Stig's last game. I mean, it was just so many cool things with that. And that's one, obviously, that that'll always stick with me.

Brittany McKnight

It's hard to say just one thing, but something about SDSU, I think, is that it gives you this traditional college experience that is maybe portrayed in movies or literature that you don't get everywhere else. Not everywhere has Hobo Day. Not everywhere has this huge athletic program with the football team, women's basketball, volleyball, men's basketball, all the sports. And just kind of like the culture that SDSU has, I think is very unique and special across the country. I would say you get this really amazing college experience, whether you are a football player or you're into poetry and you like English literature. There's something for everybody in that way. Not saying football player couldn't like poetry, but yeah, it just really is a cool college experience.

Ryan McKnight

I would say the community. I think the community is a big influence in this town. And there's a lot of towns that have a university that are not like this. And people, when they come here, they don't realize it is a small town, but at the same time, you have everything you really need in a small town. You could get all the way across the town in ten minutes, versus if you're in Sioux Falls, it'll take you an hour and a half just to get the east side to the west side. That's what's cool about the size of it. But how they all buy in, they all buy in. They all appreciate what the students are about. They'll appreciate trying to help find careers and jobs and sponsor stuff. And just because they know the better the university is, the better the town is, the better the community is as well.

Andi Fouberg

We use a football term, right? We kind of say Brookings outkicks its coverage because we have so much. SDSU brings so much to offer you. You're talking, you're raising your kids here right now, you’re raising your family. Maybe just talk a little bit more about what makes Brookings so special, why you chose to do that here, because you could teach here and commute from somewhere else, right? You could teach anywhere else. But you've chosen to invest in Brookings and SDSU. So what made that the choice?

Brittany McKnight

Yeah, we love raising our daughters here. We have a nine-year-old and a five-year-old, two girls. The school system has been great. The children's museum is amazing. We go there all the time. There's just great facilities for kids. Our daughters love going to the football games. They love going to the basketball games. Volleyball. They're involved. My daughter right now, Bryn, is at the SDSU women's basketball camp. She just thinks they are celebrities. They are like rock stars to her. And the fact that she gets to just see them and they know her name is amazing. 

Travis Jensen

I mean, they are a rock stars.

Brittany McKnight 

Oh yeah. Oh yeah, for sure. She is just mesmerized. So it's just incredible to be able to raise kids here. And again, like Ryan said, it is a smaller town. I mean, I'm from Wall, so Brookings was like a big town to me coming here.

Andi Fouberg

Preach.

Brittany McKnight

But it's not, you know, huge. And it gives you everything you need. And there's just really great, kind people. Our neighbors are amazing. I just have so many good things I could say.

Ryan McKnight

To echo what you said to, the community, the school system, the fact that my kids can walk home and they can just go out and about and have fun. The worry is kind of gone. It's such a nice community, such a nice town. People around are also from. They all want to help. The city council has done a really good job to bringing in businesses, bringing in different companies, bringing in those amenities that you need to have a quasi-big town. But at the same time, you got everything you need. But it's not overburdensome.And so, shout out to Ope Niemeyer. I used to lay carpet for a couple years in college, so I know him, know him real well, but I think he's done a really good job with this town and this community.

Travis Jensen

I would like to think that there are some couples that are listening right now who met in a residence hall or at a student organization, or maybe even at a football game, right, watching their future spouse. What advice would you give to students that are building relationships during their time here at State?

Ryan McKnight

Oh, man, you guys got some good questions in here. And I know you sent me the email with some pre-loaded questions, right?

Travis Jensen

You have to read the email.

Andi Fouberg

Takes the newness away from it when you do that.

Ryan McKnight

I would say to anybody, it's better to go through something hard like college, anything — law school, sports. It's better to have someone that you can lean on, someone that you can talk to. And I know you have teammates, and I know you have your friends and your high school buddies and your parents. Do not be afraid to jump in. Do not be afraid to make a fool, make a mistake. Do whatever. Trust yourself. Trust the process. The cold water won't get warmer if you jump late, so you might as well go and talk to that person. Have a great relationship. Do fun things, man. At some point, college will be over and you'll be working eight to five every single day, so like you might as well enjoy it while you're here and go fishing. Go to a lake, go to the bars, whatever it is. I would say just trust your gut and go and have some fun.

Brittany McKnight

Yeah, I would agree with all of that. And also make sure to do your own thing also. Be yourself. Be in a relationship, but don't lose yourself in the relationship because, again, opposites attract. You bring your own unique quirks and self to the relationship. So make sure you graduate college and pursue your interests as well.

Andi Fouberg

Well, Brittany, Ryan, thank you. Thank you for joining us and sharing your story. It's always special to hear how SDSU alums' lives are shaped well after graduation. And your journey together is a wonderful example of that. We appreciate your investment in students, and you're willing to spend your careers here and your time here giving back to SDSU. So thanks for joining us.

Ryan McKnight

Yeah, thanks for the opportunity, guys. We appreciate it.

Brittany McKnight

Yeah. Thank you. It was a lot of fun.

Travis Jensen

Thanks for joining us for another episode of STATE Stories podcast. Like what you heard? Hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. Your support helps us continue sharing these inspiring stories from our legendary SDSU alumni. You can find all episodes at sdstatealumnifoundation.org/podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening.