Professor said he hopes his $1M to BHSU will inspire creative leaders

A longtime Black Hills State University psychology professor said he hopes his $1 million gift to the university will fuel innovative and charitable community projects driven by students.

James Hess, 63, who holds a doctorate in psychology and is also a Spearfish businessman, said the money will pay for a series of scholarships designed for BHSU students to develop ideas to put into practice to benefit the wider community.

"It has to be sustainable," he said. "I want the project to do something more than just be cash money that you give out and then its gone. The students, I have no doubt, can creatively come up with that."

Hess, a 32-year veteran of the university, also chairs the Behavioral Sciences Department.

The series of scholarships was inspired by his late grandmother, he said, who once owned Watt's Finer Foods in Belle Fourche and set an example for him in charitable giving.

The awards are meant for "students I don't even know yet," he said.

"I really wanted somehow to make a difference," he said. "I wanted to set something up that would have them give back to society not only when they were a student, but would hopefully change their culture so that they would always want to give back."

He said a board of directors will help students shape their projects, which he stressed will be nonreligious and nonpolitical.

Hess owns two Minuteman convenience stores in Spearfish and other businesses that allowed him to make the donation. He estimated the sum is equal to his university salary in his first 19 years of teaching.

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