SDSU’s Population Health Evaluation Center honored as ‘Partner in Health’

The Population Health Evaluation Center at South Dakota State University has been recognized by the South Dakota Department of Health as its 2023 outstanding Partner in Health. 

South Dakota Secretary of Health Melissa Magstadt recognized the service center and its staff on campus in March. This award recognizes an outstanding community partner who has made a significant contribution in helping to advance the work of the department at the community level. 

The Population Health Evaluation Center is a service center within the College of Nursing at SDSU. The center partners with clients to strengthen the services provided in public health, well-being and/or education in communities throughout South Dakota. 

Specializing in providing program evaluation and assessment services, the center gathers and interprets data to help organizations understand the impact of their work and realize new opportunities to improve their quality of service and expand their reach. Many of its projects focus on efforts to improve the health and quality of life in rural Midwestern communities. 

Magstadt said the South Dakota Department of Health relies on its partners to help serve the state’s 900,000-plus residents, with shared goals of better and healthier communities. Nominations called out the Population Health Evaluation Center for being critical to that work. 

“I present this award not only to the SDSU Population Health Evaluation Center — for your vision, for making an impact in data and helping the rest of us do our work and run programs that are meaningful and show outcomes that help us improve — but I also want you to know that there’s a special person for us who has made such an impact, that she was called out by name by two different people,” she said. 

Magstadt highlighted the work of Beth Walstrom, a Rapid City-based population health evaluation specialist for SDSU. Through the Population Health Evaluation Center, Walstrom provides program evaluation services for a variety of programs internal and external to SDSU. Currently, she is part of the evaluation efforts with a federally funded project within the College of Nursing and leads the program evaluation for the SD DOH’s Healthy Relationships programs. 

“I want to thank you for all your service,” Magstadt said. “I thank you for the joy that you bring to your work. … Thank you for making South Dakota Department of Health employees’ work just a little bit easier.” 

In her nomination letter, Sarah Barclay, healthy relationship coordinator for the SD DOH, praised Walstrom’s above-and-beyond work for helping the department better align resources and improve individual programs and collective efforts. 

Hope Kleine, the family planning program director for the SD DOH, also nominated Walstrom, citing her work to create and implement a client satisfaction survey, ultimately presenting data in easily digestible, useful reports after a major pivot in the work, among other accomplishments. 

SDSU College of Nursing Dean Mary Anne Krogh praised the two entities’ partnership. 

“I am pleased to see the strong collaboration between the South Dakota Department of Health and the SDSU Population Health Evaluation Center be recognized through this award. It is a testament to each team’s efforts to better the health of South Dakota citizens,” Krogh said. 

Jennifer Kerkvliet, director of the Population Health Evaluation Center, said the award was an enormous honor. Since starting the center in 2018, staff have worked to help entities in the state use their data more effectively and improve program effectiveness and quality. The Population Health Evaluation Center now includes three part-time and nine full-time staff members as well as six undergraduate student employees. 

“This award is such an honor as it recognizes the partnership that has been built over the past several years. We are fortunate to work alongside the Department of Health staff to gather data that informs the types of programs offered in communities throughout South Dakota,” Kerkvliet said. “Beth is an amazing staff member, and I echo everything that’s been said. She’s not just good at her work, she’s good at being adaptable and keeping a positive outlook no matter what the situation is, and you see it in everything she does.” 

Walstrom, who has worked for the Population Health Evaluation Center for the past five years, said her favorite part of her job is the people she works with, both in the Population Health Evaluation Center and its partners. “I very much appreciate the kind words. It was so great to be able to share this celebration with our whole Population Health Evaluation Center group and partners. It is wonderful for our group to be recognized, and we are so fortunate to have partners who share the same passion we have for the programs we get to work on.”