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Dr. Donald Simmons joined the Dakota Wesleyan University faculty in 2006 as the first full-time director of the McGovern Center and the founding chairman of the DWU Department of Leadership and Public Service. He now serves as the dean of the College of Leadership and Public Service and Graduate Studies. A native of Mississippi, Simmons received his Ph.D. in history and international studies from the University of Denver. Most of his research has focused on the displacement of peoples throughout history, primarily as a result of wars and conflict. He has published numerous books and journal articles and appeared as a guest on many national television and radio programs. His publications include: “Latin America and the Caribbean in Transition” (Troy State University Press,1995), which he co-edited; “Confederate Settlements in British Honduras” (McFarland and Company Publishers, 2001); the introductory chapter of “George McGovern: A Political Life, A Political Legacy” (South Dakota State Historical Society Press, 2004); and the college textbook “Leadership and Service: An Introduction” (Kendall/Hunt Publishers, 2008), which he co-edited with Sen. George McGovern and Dan Gaken of Central Michigan University. His most recent scholarly endeavor, “Hungry for Green: Feeding the World Sustainably,” a documentary short film for educational television which he produced, premiered in 2008 at Harvard University Medical School’s Center for Health and the Global Environment. The documentary was hailed by filmmaker Ken Burns as “An important film that underscores the urgency of achieving agricultural sustainability to help alleviate hunger and protect our natural environment.” Prior to joining the faculty at Dakota Wesleyan, he served as the executive director of the South Dakota Humanities Council, where he founded the South Dakota Center for the Book and the South Dakota Festival of Books. Simmons was the 1997 recipient of the Presidential Award presented by the Association of Third World Studies for his leadership in that field of study. In 1995, he was recognized by the Southeast/South Regional Association of Academic Affairs Administrators as the State Administrator of the Year. Simmons has been active politically over the years at the local, state and national levels. He has been involved in many national political party conventions and has served as a political reporter and analyst for numerous news agencies. He was twice elected a city councilman and served for a number of years as a member of the South Dakota Municipal League's Public Works Committee. He also served a three-year term on the South Dakota Board of Nursing. Simmons is currently working on a co-edited book project for the South Dakota State Historical Society Press about South Dakota’s political culture, which will be forthcoming in 2011. A member of the United Methodist Church, Simmons was active in medical mission work related to Malaria control programs in Latin America (Belize and Guatemala) during the 1980s. Most recently, he has been active with the Center for the Church and Global AIDS in Meru, Kenya.
Dr. Brian Patrick joined DWU the fall of 2009. His research interests include: human influences on biological communities and ecosystems; biodiversity inventorying to catalogue the abundance and distribution of species – particularly spiders and beetles; and recycling and waste management issues. His research on ecological sustainability focuses on two primary areas: biodiversity discovery and inventorying, and agroecology. The discovery and cataloguing of biodiversity entails documenting the abundance and distribution of species. This requires extensive field work in which Patrick samples invertebrates, particularly spiders and beetles, then identify them to species in his lab at DWU. This work helps document the current ranges of known species, and leads to the occasional discovery of new species! As part of his research on agroecology, Patrick studies the use of
habitat refugia to augment predator loads in agroecosystems. Thus, he
looks at implementing small bits of refugia placed in agricultural fields,
i.e., piles of straw or other substrates as places for wandering spiders
and other invertebrate predators to hide when they are not hunting.
These habitat refugia help to increase the abundance of invertebrate
predators in crop fields because they provide places to hide and rest
during the times they would not normally be hunting. With more invertebrate
predators in the fields, more prey (e.g., aphids and other crop pests)
are eaten, thereby reducing crop pest numbers and increasing crop yields.
This simple technique has been used in agricultural settings for centuries,
and preliminary work has shown that these types of techniques can increase
crop yields.
Dr. Donald A.Watt has been a Fellow of the McGovern Center since August 2008. From January 2004, until the hiring of Dr. Donald Simmons in 2006, he led the efforts to create the academic components of the Center, as well as serving as Vice President for Academic Affairs at Dakota Wesleyan. Watt holds a bachelor's degree from Mount Union College, two master's degrees from Pacific School of Religion, and a master's and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. His dissertation was entitled, “Models of National Defense: Relating Weapon Technology to the Role of the State.” Prior to his joining Dakota Wesleyan University in 2004, he held academic and administrative positions at Southern Arkansas University. Watt was also a Visiting Professor in Russia at Moscow State Pedagogical University. His written work has been included in 22 publications, including two developed by the McGovern Center. These contributions for the Center include an essay in “Leadership and Service,” edited by McGovern, Simmons, and Gakin and co-authoring a chapter in the forthcoming “South Dakota’s Political Culture” edited by Simmons. He has presented numerous academic papers to learned societies including the American Academy of Religion, the American Academy of Religion - Southwest Region, the Arkansas Political Science Association, the International Studies Association - Southwest Region, the Peace Science Society (I), the Southwest Political Science Association, the Third World Peace Science Conference, and in Kolomna, Russia, at the Mezenin Memorial Symposium. Watt also represented the McGovern Center and Mitchell's newspaper, The Daily Republic, attending the 2008 national conventions of both the Democratic and Republican parties and writing articles on issues of regional interest.
Dustin “Dusty” Johnson is a Visiting McGovern Professor of Leadership and Public Service at Dakota Wesleyan University. He has taught courses in public policy, primarily those related to policy formation and analysis, since 2007. Johnson serves as Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s chief of staff. Prior to joining the Daugaard administration, he served as chairman of the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission for six years. Before his 2004 election to the PUC, Dusty worked in Gov. Mike Rounds’ administration as a senior policy adviser. Dusty grew up in Pierre, S.D., and graduated from Riggs High School in Pierre. He went on to college at the University of South Dakota, Vermillion, where he earned his bachelor’s degree. A Truman Scholar, Dusty went on to post-graduate work at the Stene Center at the University of Kansas. There, he earned his master’s degree in public administration. Dusty and his wife, Jacquelyn, have two sons, Max and Ben. Dusty enjoys camping, watching college basketball and other sports, and hanging out with his sons. |
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Dr.
L. Brian Patrick
Dr.
Donald A. Watt
Dusty
Johnson |
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© 2012 • McGovern
Center for Leadership and Public Service |
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