Quote from Susan Moe

Endowed Professorship Builds the Family Legacy

Susan Moe and Vaughn Jensen

Some kids use wooden blocks and pretend to build structures – not Susan Moe. The summer before kindergarten, she helped her dad mix concrete and lay the floor and foundation for their family cabin at Lake Poinsett. She helped lay concrete block, learning the different mix component ratios for mortar and how to add mesh and steel to add tensile strength.


“Dad had his own concrete mixer at the lake, and he used it to build the cabin from the ground up. My older brother and sister would be playing. Mom would be taking care of my younger brother. I would stay around and ‘help’ Dad. I was fascinated and asked him a lot of questions. He taught me about concrete and how to build structures,” explained the civil engineer, now retired from a 36-year career in consulting, industry, and government.


Susan’s dad, Dr. Dennis Moe, was an SDSU Ag Engineering Professor and Department Head. “As part of his research, Dad developed a type of lightweight aggregate concrete block using shale from western South Dakota. It was called molite, and we used it when we built the lake cabin.”


The projects from Susan’s childhood paid off. “By the third grade, I knew I wanted to be a civil engineer in reinforced concrete,” she says. “I get asked how I decided to go into civil engineering; it’s because I knew what it was at a very young age. I love the idea of practical application and the use of math and physics, and I also love to design and build things. Civil engineering is a perfect fit for all of it.”


When it came time for college, the road led to SDSU. “At the time, I didn’t really have a desire to go anywhere else. Dad talked about things on campus; Mom taught in the English department.”


Similar to her career choice, Susan’s Jackrabbit loyalty is rooted in her childhood. “Ag Engineering was a very strong and close-knit department. Daddy often talked about it when he came home each day. We would host prospective faculty members for dinner. There was an annual picnic for the department faculty and their families, a golf outing at Lake Poinsett, a Christmas party. Our family would look at the floats being built the night before Hobo Day. We had this sense of belonging to the Ag Engineering department family, and I still feel that bond.” 

Her father’s loyalty to the department was strong. In the mid-1950s, the building that housed Agricultural Engineering was destroyed by a fire. Susan’s dad essentially moved to Pierre for the entire legislative session, talking to legislators about funds for a new building. Largely due to his efforts, funding was secured in the last hour of the last day of the session. The wing of the building that houses the Hydraulics Lab is named after him. The Moes continued to make their mark at the university, being named SDSU’s Family of the Year in 2009.


To further ensure her father’s legacy, Susan made a $1 million commitment from her estate to fund the Dennis L. Moe Endowed Professorship in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering. The professorship will attract and support faculty whose research and leadership advance teaching and elevate scholarly research within the Department of Agriculture and Biosystems Engineering, as well as precision agriculture.


Engineering is right for me

When Susan began engineering at SDSU, she knew she’d made the right decision. In the early 1970s, she was the only female in most of her classes. “Our household didn’t really think in terms of gender labels. Certainly, there were no pre-conceived ideas about gender and career. My mother paved a path for that in her career, and Dad actively recruited women to pursue careers in engineering.”


Susan’s first job after graduation took her to a large engineering firm in Memphis that provided mentorship and opportunities for experience. As she matured in her career, encouraging and guiding new engineers became a role she sought. Susan also began supporting SDSU engineering students early in her career. 


“I believe very strongly in supporting students, not only as a role model and demonstrating leadership, but through financial support. Our engineering students need the support of our alumni,” Susan explained.


Susan’s career included positions in different states, especially during her time with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). While working at headquarters in Washington, D.C., she met future husband, Vaughn Jensen. The couple was introduced by a co-worker because Vaughn was a South Dakotan and SDSU grad. A few years after they married, FHWA offered Susan a promotion to St. Paul. “I will never forget that: the first thing I said to Vaughn when I got the letter was not, ‘I got the job.’ It was, ‘season tickets!’”


Undeniably enthusiastic about SDSU athletics, the couple has regularly made the four-hour drive from St. Paul to enjoy Jackrabbit football since 1995. In retirement, Susan spends her summers at their Lake Poinsett home; they built a year-round home on the same lot where she once helped her Dad build the family cabin.


Susan remains involved on campus. She served on the Alumni Council and is currently on the Foundation Council of Trustees and the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council.


“SDSU and the College of Engineering are such a big part of who I am, and I will always feel part of it,” Susan says.

Dennis L. and Hazel J. Moe Family