The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (South Dakota Mines, SD Mines, or SDSM&T) is a public university in Rapid City, South Dakota. It is governed by the South Dakota Board of Regents and was founded in 1885. South Dakota Mines offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. History The cornerstone of the first School of Mines (then known as the Dakota School of Mines) building was dedicated on August 19, 1885, with the first classes being held February 21, 1887. John W. Hancher received the first bachelor of science degree at the first commencement on May 31, 1888. The school became known as the South Dakota School of Mines in 1889 after admission of South Dakota as a state to the United States. The School of Mines presented exhibits during the 1904 World's Fair and the first licensed radio station in the state of South Dakota was established on campus in December 1911, a full decade before WCAT (the precursor the current campus station KTEQ-FM). The first "M-Day" homecoming celebration occurred on October 5, 1912 with the construction of the "M" on M-Hill, the school's mountain monogram. The school's ROTC battalion was formed in 1918 in response to World War I. The football stadium began construction in 1931, and was completed as "O'Harra Field" in 1938. The school formally became the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology in February 1943. In September 2012, South Dakota Mines made national news when Bloomberg announced that it had passed Harvard in the category of starting salaries for graduates. On September 19, Tech President Dr. Robert A. Wharton died due to complications of cancer treatments. During the presidential search, Duane C. Hrncir was the interim president. On April 25, 2013, the School of Mines announced that Heather Wilson will become the first female president in the school's 128-year history, starting in June 2013. She resigned in 2017 after being appointed to the office of Secretary of the United States Air Force. In October 2017, the School of Mines announced that the next president would be James (Jim) Rankin, Ph.D. Academics South Dakota Mines offers degrees in 20 engineering and science fields, as well as 18 master's degree programs and 9 Doctorate programs. Its most popular undergraduate majors, based on 2021 graduates, were: Mechanical Engineering (64) Computer and Information Sciences (47) Civil Engineering (47) Industrial Engineering (41) Chemical Engineering (31) Electrical and Electronics