DSU alumnus Matt Paulson is spring commencement speaker
May 2, 2024
For Dakota State University’s spring graduates, May 4 will be a big day.
It will also be a big day for alumnus Matt Paulson, who is returning to his alma mater as commencement speaker. He will also be presented with an honorary degree for public service.
He was very surprised by this honor. “It’s not something you typically receive when you’re 38,” he said, but in the years since he graduated with his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in 2008 and 2009, he has achieved a long list of accomplishments.
An entrepreneur since he was a child, Paulson took a website he created in his dorm room at DSU and turned it into MarketBeat.com, a financial media company that specializes in financial analysis for individual investors. With over four million subscribers and $25 million in annual revenue, it has become the largest financial media company in the region.
Paulson is also an author, a real estate investor, and is active with the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce and South Dakota Enterprise Institute. His active participation in several nonprofit organizations demonstrates his philanthropic advocacy for giving back to the community. An example is his efforts with Startup Sioux Falls, which he created to empower area entrepreneurs.
He also supports Dakota State entrepreneurs through the Paulson Cyber Incubator & Entrepreneurial Center on campus. This applied learning laboratory is designed to help University faculty and students, along with community members, pursue their own entrepreneurial goals.
The breadth of experience he has can serve as an example to the spring graduates. “People sometimes feel they’re limited, and will just do one thing, one job, or one career. But with the tools and resources we have these days, they can do more than one thing if they have the ambition. Hopefully my career is an example of that.”
He will tell the graduates that this big day is a starting point for the rest of their lives and encourage them to take control of their lives and their choices.
COMMENCEMENT DETAILS
The Spring Commencement ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, May 4, at 10:30 a.m. at the DSU Fieldhouse. Because of construction near the Fieldhouse, guests are asked to be aware that parking may be limited.
A Hooding Ceremony for graduate students will take place at 9 a.m. in Dakota Prairie Playhouse, with Dr. Ashley Podhradsky giving the hooding commencement address. She is the Vice President for Research & Economic Development at Dakota State, and a DSU alumna as well.
The 398 spring and summer graduates will receive Associate, Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Ph.D. degrees, and certificates. Master’s graduate student Zachary Rohrbach will speak on behalf of the graduates. Regent Judy Dittman, with the South Dakota Board of Regents, will confer the degrees. Alumnus Dave Geiver (‘82), chair of the DSU Foundation Board of Trustees, will induct the new graduates into the Alumni Association.
Tickets are required for general admission bleacher seating in the Fieldhouse; overflow seating will be available in Dakota Prairie Playhouse. For those unable to attend in person, the hooding and commencement ceremonies will be livestreamed. These links and more information are available on the DSU website, dsu.edu.