SDSU Metro Center: A Place to Call Home

Ask anyone involved with the SDSU Metro Center how they might describe the facility, and they’ll likely answer with the same word: game-changer.

Located at 33^rd and Minnesota in Sioux Falls, the center is uniquely positioned to host faculty and students across multiple disciplines in the healthcare field. With its proximity to nearby health giants like Sanford Health, Avera Health, and the Veterans Administration Hospital, the facility will act as a hub for those specializing in pharmacy, nursing, respiratory health, public health, and medical lab sciences, enhancing research efforts and recruitment for all.

The SDSU Metro Center is intentionally designed to foster collaboration, fuel innovation, and unite healthcare professionals under one roof. In effect, the center will impact virtually all who cross its path: students, faculty, researchers, existing healthcare workers, and the surrounding metropolitan area.

Pharmacy students, in particular, have an all-encompassing perspective to offer, with some having learned in the Metro Center before, during, and eventually after its construction process. (While the first two years of the pharmacy program revolve around skill-building, the third and fourth years advance into experiential learning. Prior to Avera gifting the full building for the center, the SDSU pharmacy program had a presence in the western third of the space, where third year, or P3, students utilized study areas and attended lectures.)

Estimated to be fully constructed and operational by August 2026, the SDSU Metro Center will mark a significant change for the entire yellow and blue community, solidifying the university’s footprint in the state’s largest city. Much like all of State’s premier facilities – the Raven Precision Agriculture Center or First Bank & Trust Arena, to name a few – the center will be made truly impactful by the people inside.

We caught up with a few of those people, looking for a first-hand account of the possibilities and potential found within the Metro Center. Pharmacy students Emily Tisler and Natalie Nunez are just two examples of the Jackrabbits who will benefit from the center, and they’re ready to take in all it has to offer.

When it comes to the SDSU Metro Center, Jackrabbit Emily Tisler is all in. Now in her final year of pharmacy school, she even finds a way to study at the center in the summer months – yet she very nearly landed in a different field altogether. Hailing from Green Bay, Wisconsin, she moved to South Dakota in 2019 specifically to attend SDSU. Growing up, a guidance counselor had made a pivotal recommendation, telling Emily that she should look into State, especially since she was interested in pursuing agriculture at the time. With a background heavily rooted in farming and ag, she convinced her family to take a trip to the university while she was still in middle school; the Tisler family would end up visiting campus multiple times before she began her college career.

Though Emily spent her first two years at SDSU majoring in dairy science, the possibility of pursuing pharmacy always lingered in the back of her mind. Impressed by the small class sizes and having found her footing at the university, she made the plunge to pivot to a new major.

While the Metro Center will be new territory for many, Emily has extensive experience in the facility, carrying out her third-year studies in the building prior to the renovations. Referring to the Metro Center as a “home base” in Sioux Falls for students like her, Emily is looking forward to the increased sense of collaboration once construction is complete. She also values the chance to observe and learn about what the other specialties in the healthcare industry do on a daily basis.

Looking forward, Emily believes the completed project will amplify opportunities for students to interact with instructors and learn alongside one another, regardless of major. Following graduation, she plans on pursuing a residency, though she hasn’t narrowed down a location just yet. A gut instinct drew her to State in the first place, and she’s confident that same instinct will lead her to the right position in the pharmaceuticals industry – and until that time comes, she’ll be found in the SDSU Metro Center, becoming equipped with critical skills and a learning experience unlike anywhere else.

When Jackrabbit Natalie Nunez set out for South Dakota State, her goals revolved around one career path: she was going to become a pharmacist, and she’d done her research to make sure she’d found the best institution to get her there. Hailing from Austin, Minnesota, Natalie had closely surveyed her options in her home state, identifying pros and cons for various programs, yet her research showed a clear result: in terms of tuition, pass rates, and the duration of time it took to earn a degree, SDSU stood a step above the rest.

It wasn’t just by-the-book information that led Natalie to become a Jackrabbit; a family friend’s father, Fathi Halaweish, was a professor at SDSU, and he rolled out the blue carpet for Natalie on her first visit, welcoming her with a personal tour of campus and the chemistry program where he taught. For Natalie, that sealed the deal.

While she’d known the university’s pharmacy program was right for her from day one, the addition of a premier facility like the center has made her education at State all the more impactful. On the heels of a full third year at the Metro Center, Natalie anticipates that her experience in the pharmacy program will only grow in collaboration, opportunity, and innovation once the facility’s renovation is complete.

Natalie believes the greatest benefit of the new center will be the increased face-to-face interaction with professors. With commutes significantly reduced, professors will have more time to interact with and be accessible to students like Natalie.

In summer 2025, Natalie is working an ambulatory care rotation at a local clinic in Rapid City, South Dakota, and she anticipates her return to the Metro Center will feel a little like coming home – a home in which all are welcome, collaboration is key, and those in the medical field learn and work side by side.

“Healthcare is an inherently collaborative field,” she explains. “Having students and faculty from different disciplines creates a natural environment for collaborative learning and prepares us [students] for the real world and helps us to deliver high-quality patient care.”

Following graduation, Natalie plans to pursue a residency at a hospital, ideally in the Carolinas where her family resides. The beauty of the Metro Center is that it not only is a hub for current students and faculty, but an outpost for the medical field where area professionals are invited to visit, brush up on skills, and remain up to date with the latest in healthcare practice. With the addition of the SDSU Metro Center, Jackrabbits like Natalie have a home base – for their college years, for their future careers, and for life.