David Vikander, Southwest Minnesota State University Financial Aid Director, has been honored by the Minnesota Association of Financial Aid Administrators (MAFAA).

Vikander has been elected president of the MAFAA, and was presented its Distinguished Service Award.

MAFAA is comprised of 632 financial aid professionals from Minnesota’s public and private colleges. Vikander was president-elect last year, will serve as president this year, and as past-president next year.

He began his duties on May 10.

 Southwest Minnesota State alumna Stacy Frost has been named Director of Development for SMSU, according to Bill Mulso, Vice President for Advancement.

Frost, Director of Annual Giving and Parent Relations since 2005, “brings a wealth of experience to this key role within University Advancement,” said Mulso. “We are fortunate to have someone of Stacy’s breadth of campus and community success to lead our development program.”

“I am delighted to continue serving my alma mater as the Development Director at Southwest,” said Frost. “It is an honor to work with supportive Foundation Board members, faculty, staff, and administrators. Working with individuals, hearing their stories and matching their wishes with the needs of the University is a privilege. Private support makes an enormous impact. In addition to scholarships, it also enables the university to undertake projects, furthering its mission and scope.”

As Director of Development, Frost will strive to listen and identify funding priorities that will create enduring value for students, the campus community and the region. She will work closely with the SMSU Foundation Board of Directors, and a large part of her job will be relationship building and fundraising, matching the needs of the university with private support.

 An Associate of Arts (AA) degree has been approved for Southwest Minnesota State University, an offering that will benefit students and give them more options as they pursue their educational goals.

The AA degree was recently approved for SMSU by the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) system office. It will be offered at SMSU starting in the fall semester 2013.

According to SMSU President Dr. Ron Wood, offering an AA degree has two primary advantages. “First, we have an option for students who have been here for a period of time but have had to leave for any number of reasons. If they have a certain set of courses that meet the AA degree requirements, they don’t leave empty handed due to events out of their control.

“Second, as the relationship between K-12 and the MnSCU institutions grows stronger, the need to provide learning pathways becomes greater. The AA will provide us with such a pathway as the gateway to higher education while in high school.”