Sioux Falls, S.D. (KELO AM) - The South Dakota Board of Regents announced today it will accept the resignation of Dakota State University President David Borofsky, and appoint Marysz Rames, vice president for student affairs at South Dakota State University, as DSU's interim president.
"The Board of Regents accepts Dr. Borofsky's resignation, effective immediately, and will move forward aggressively to assure that there is continuous leadership on the Dakota State campus," said Dean M. Krogman, president of the Board of Regents. "We thank Dr. Borofsky for his service to DSU and the Madison community over the past 2 ½ years," Krogman said.
Borofsky was named interim DSU president in January 2012 and appointed president later that year.
"In light of this departure, the board's priority is to guarantee strong leadership at Dakota State to move the university forward. We are pleased to have Marysz Rames at the helm as its interim president," said Jack Warner, the regents' executive director and CEO. Warner said Rames will be full time on the Madison campus by the middle of September and will transition between SDSU and DSU between now and then.Rames has been SDSU's vice president for student affairs and an assistant professor of education since 2000.
At SDSU, she spearheaded a 24 percent increase in undergraduate enrollment and focused on strategies to improve the academic quality of incoming freshmen. Part of those strategies resulted in the Jackrabbit Guarantee, a freshman scholarship program that increased enrollment by 17 percent in its first four years and greatly improved student retention.Working with academic leaders on campus, Rames also implemented a student success model at SDSU to identify key programs and initiatives that support student success from initial recruitment to graduation.
One example is a summer "bridge" program to help students complete remedial coursework prior to the fall semester. She also focused on increasing diversity on the Brookings campus and helped to create a veterans' resource center for military veterans returning to college.Prior to her current post, she served as associate dean of students and director of the SDSU Student Union. She has been employed on the SDSU campus for the past 27 years.
She holds a doctorate in adult and higher education from the University of South Dakota. She also has a master's degree in educational administration and a bachelor of science degree in business administration, both from the University of Northern Colorado.Official action to accept Borofsky's resignation and appoint Rames as interim president occurred today during the regents' annual planning retreat and regular business meeting in Pierre. The timeline for a presidential search process at DSU will be announced later.