Wade Pogany DSU commencement speaker
May 4, 2015
Dakota State University’s spring commencement is Saturday, May 9, 10:30 a.m. at the DSU Fieldhouse in Madison, S.D. Dakota State will award one doctorate, 44 master’s, 160 baccalaureate and 38 associate degrees. Christopher Leonhardt and Carissa Lewis will serve as student marshals, and Dr. Lynette Molstad Gorder, professor in the College of Business and Information Systems, is mace bearer.
Wade Pogany, Executive Director of the Associated School Boards of South Dakota (ASBSD), serves as this year’s commencement speaker. The ASBSD, which represents all 151 public school districts across South Dakota, provides services to local school board members in leadership development, policy services, and represents school board interests with Legislators and the Governor. Prior to ASBSD, Dr. Pogany served in various director positions for the SD Department of Education under the Secretary of Education from 2001 to 2011. His education career began as a high school teacher and debate coach for 11 years in Aberdeen and Sioux Falls, and a high school principal for 6 years in Watertown.
Dr. Pogany is involved in the Pierre community serving on the Board of Directors for the Pierre Education Association since 2009. He’s actively involved in St John the Evangelist Catholic Church, and enjoys serving the community through the Pierre Elks Lodge. Dr. Pogany received his Master’s in Education Administration from South Dakota State University, and his doctorate in education from the University of South Dakota.
The Pogany family has always been involved in education. Wade’s wife, Karen, is a first grade teacher along with their daughters Jennifer, a high school counselor, and Sarah, an elementary teacher.
This year’s Distinguished Alumni Award goes to Dr. Lynette (Nowotny) Molstad Gorder, a professor in the College of Business and Information Systems and has been on the faculty at Dakota State University for 34 years. She started at General Beadle State College earning a two-year associate degree in 1970 and graduated from Dakota State College in 1972 with a degree in business education. She earned her M.A. in business education and an MBA, as well as a doctorate in educational administration from the University of South Dakota.
After graduating from DSU, she taught high school business at Washington High School in Sioux Falls for nine years. While teaching at DSU, she supervised business and computer education student teachers and has been involved in TTL (Technology for Teaching and Learning), DTL (Distance Technology Learning), Advanced TTL, Classroom Connections, Youth Business Adventure, Delta Mu Delta, and Phi Beta Lambda. She was the faculty development coordinator for the Bush Grant from 2004-2008. She has served as the South Dakota Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) State Testing Director and Executive Secretary since 1987.
She was named the Collegiate Teacher of the Year by the Mountain Plains Business Education Association in 2007 and the South Dakota Business-Marketing Career Technical Education Teacher in 2010. She received the Delta Pi Epsilon (DPE) Independent Research Award in 2009. She has held memberships in American Association of University Women (AAUW), Delta Kappa Gamma (DKG), and National Business Education Association (NBEA) for over 30 years.
Lynette has ten extended family members who are also alumni of DSU including a sister, brother, son, and daughter. Her family consists of her husband Dwayne Gorder, five children, and eight grandchildren.