Phenomenal professor recognized at DSU
May 8, 2023
This paid piece is sponsored by Dakota State University.
Dakota State University got a head start on the 2023 Teacher Appreciation Week, which runs May 8-14.
Last month, the university inducted Dr. Vicki Sterling into the Dakota State Academic Hall of Fame, recognizing her for 35 years of innovation, research and creativity in teaching literacy at DSU.
Sterling has retired from the College of Education, but those who nominated her said her teaching impact continues today.
“Dr. Sterling has truly impacted the future by touching thousands of lives due to the ripple effect education has,” said Kindra Schneider, a former student of Sterling’s and current instructor in the College of Education. She calls Sterling a “phenomenal professor.”
Sterling is a DSU alumna, a graduate of what Dakota State calls its “heritage mission,” so named because of DSU’s deep history as a teacher education institution. A 1984 mission change expanded the institution’s focus to incorporate technology into all majors, including education.
Sterling was a professor in DSU’s College of Education at this time, and while she said she “knew nothing at all about technology,” she embraced the change.
She learned things like word processing, databases, spreadsheets and desktop publishing to bring technology into DSU courses and help teachers succeed. Sterling was also one of the first to teach distance education. She researched the impact of technology on student writing, part of her dissertation in 1997. She studied electronic portfolios in language arts through a governor’s grant and the incorporation of language arts into science curriculum through a National Science Foundation grant.
Outreach was part of Sterling’s efforts. Jennifer Nash, associate professor in the College of Education, said Sterling “transformed DSU’s Education programs” by being instrumental in pursuing and solidifying partnerships with K-12 schools. “Although we take these existing partnerships for granted, this collaborative work was groundbreaking at the time,” Nash said.
Sterling recalled one such example. At a Technology & Innovation in Education Conference, she had a conversation with a Madison classroom teacher, and they decided to explore what young students could do with technology. Local second graders would come to the DSU campus to learn the basics of technology, beginning with keyboarding and expanding into writing stories. In some instances, the students helped each other learn, and “I realized children teaching children is pretty powerful,” she said. The program continued for several years.
On campus, Sterling was well respected by her students.
“She truly cared about preparing her students to be successful teachers” and “painted a picture of what professionalism looked like,” Schneider stated. Sterling gained her peers’ respect, earning the 2007 DeWayne Mork Award for Excellence in Service and the 2011 Ernest M. Teagarden Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Sterling also established and coordinated the College of Education Diversity/Technology Conference, held each year for DSU pre-service teachers.
Former Education Dean Crystal Pauli recalled Sterling accompanied students on spring break trips to volunteer and teach at a school in Belize. In 2016, the group took 1,100 pounds of books – carried in 22 suitcases — to donate to the school. This annual service trip is still an option for DSU students.
Pauli noted “no one has given more to their profession than Vicki Sterling.”
Sterling shared her passion and expertise off campus at state conferences, presenting on the topics of reading, language arts, social studies, and computer software. She founded the first South Dakota Literacy Day. She also took her knowledge around the globe through her membership in the International Reading Association, including a trip to Shangai, China, in 2007 to teach reading and language arts methods to approximately 200 teachers.
Sterling appreciates the honor and said: “I had so much joy teaching here. It was exciting, and I loved the challenge of what was happening in the classroom” as she worked with upperclassmen to make their classrooms an environment of learning.
Dakota State University Academic Hall of Fame inductions are held annually during the spring semester to celebrate the research and creative work produced by DSU faculty, staff, students and alumni. Past honorees include Clyde Brashier, Zeno Van Erdewyk, Ruth Habeger, Risë Smith and Eric Johnson.
