Dennis Daugaard
| Dennis Daugaard | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 32nd Governor of South Dakota | |
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Assumed office January 8, 2011 |
|
| Lieutenant | Matt Michels |
| Preceded by | Mike Rounds |
| 37th Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota | |
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In office January 7, 2003 – January 8, 2011 |
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| Governor | Mike Rounds |
| Preceded by | Carole Hillard |
| Succeeded by | Matt Michels |
| Member of the South Dakota Senate | |
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In office January 1997 – January 2003 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Dennis Martin Daugaard June 11, 1953 Garretson, South Dakota, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Linda Daugaard |
| Residence | Governor's Residence |
| Education |
University of South Dakota (BA) Northwestern University (JD) |
| Signature |  |
Dennis Martin Daugaard /ˈduːˌɡɑːrd/ (born June 11, 1953) is an American attorney and politician who has been the 32nd Governor of South Dakota since January 2011.
He is the first governor of South Dakota or any state in the United States to be the child of deaf parents.
Dennis Martin Daugaard was born in 1953 and raised on a family farm near Garretson, South Dakota, the son of Florence Margaret (Kennedy) and Raymond Victor Daugaard. He was a child of deaf parents. (Such children are referred to as CODA, child of deaf adult(s), and a national interest organization for adults was founded in 1983 because of their common issues as mediators between the deaf and hearing worlds.) His father's family descends from immigrants from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. While Dennis Daugaard was growing up, his family used American sign language as the primary language of their home. Daugaard went to a local one-room country school as a child. For high school, he had to go to the city of Dell Rapids; there he played the French horn. He graduated in 1971.
Daugaard attended the University of South Dakota in Vermillion where he was advised by William O. Farber. Daugaard graduated USD in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science in Government and went on to attend Northwestern University School of Law, where he earned a Juris Doctor in 1978. Daugaard worked to pay his way through law school, serving as an ASL interpreter, driving a bus through the downtown Loop, and working as a law clerk and security guard.
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