Hieb gets SDSU employee honor 

BROOKINGS –  It has been said Rick Hieb looks at the South Dakota State University campus as his campus. His attention to making sure everything looks perfect is one of the reasons why he has been named June’s Civil Service Employee of the Month.

Hieb, the lead worker in the grounds services department in Facilities and Services, will have a reception at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Facilities and Services Building, Room 110.

Starting his position in 2015, his co-workers have noticed his attitude.

“Rick comes to work every day with a positive attitude and is willing to tackle any task that he encounters for the day. He is always looking for ways to improve the look of campus and helps come up with ideas to make certain areas look better. He takes great pride in what he does and always strives for the best result possible,” said Ryan Hoffman, a grounds supervisor with Facilities and Services.

Putting the students first is also part of his thoughts toward campus.

“One thing that impresses me about Rick is he really cares about and thinks about the students. He helps coordinate and supervise student employees during the summer and really cares about them. He also thinks about things on campus from a student’s perspective,” said Amy Jones, director of campus maintenance services.

Hoffman agrees.

“Rick is great at working with the students that we have on staff in the summer. He takes the time to learn their names right away and is very approachable when our students come to him with questions. Rick is very good at finding what each student excels at and assigning projects accordingly,” Hoffman said.

Heib and his wife, Kasee, have a son, Carter, and two daughters, Brooklyn and Alexis.

Land and lending conference slated 

BROOKINGS – The second annual South Dakota Land and Lending Conference will take place Sept. 8 at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls.

The one-day event is organized by the Land Valuation and Rural Real Estate Affinity Group of South Dakota State University’s Ness School of Management and Economics.

Doors open at 8:30 a.m. The event ends at 6 p.m.

In addition to discussions on economics, including real-estate markets and policies, panels will be held on cybersecurity, property management, construction and property appraisals.

“Conference attendees represent the wide range of real-estate industry professionals, including land and real-estate appraisers, lawyers, mortgage bankers, brokers and property and land managers. Thanks to the tireless and visionary efforts of my colleague, Ryan McKnight, we are hosting this conference to afford the industry an opportunity to exchange ideas and to network,” said Joe Santos, a professor of economics and the Ness Director of the Ness School of Management and Economics.