Living Learning Communities

The Honors Program is home to the most engaged, curious and motivated students on USD’s campus. Our students are overwhelmingly successful at achieving full, varied, enriching college experiences, and the best way to jump start those experiences is by living in the Honors Living Learning Community during your first year. Students living on the Honors floor can expect to enjoy competitive trivia nights, participate in a first-year common read and work with an honors advisor to enroll in common courses during your first year. For years, seniors have cited the Honors floor as the place where they met their best friends during their freshman year. In fact, the biggest complaint the Honors Program hears is from students who regret not living in the Honors LLC.

The Honors LLC is located in the North Complex and placement is based upon acceptance into the Honors Program. For more information on the Honors Program or its Living Learning Community, please contact honors@usd.edu.

The Wiyuskinyan Unpi Tipi – which translates from Lakota to “they are living contently” – is a community dedicated to Native American or Indigenous students and/or Native American studies majors and minors. The community is designed to provide students with a supportive community that centers Native American/Indigenous perspectives, cultures and histories. In this Living Learning Community, you'll have the opportunity to participate in cultural and traditional workshops focusing on important conversations about cultural preservation, tribal sovereignty, language revitalization and the betterment of Native nations.

The Wiyuskinyan Unpi Tipi is located in North Complex. For more information, please contact Native Student Services at NSS@usd.edu.

The ROTC Living Learning Community provides students the opportunity to live in a community with other students who are interested in military service. While living in the ROTC LLC, you'll be exposed to traditions, customs and current members of the USD ROTC program. You'll also have access to focused programming and will get to hear from guest speakers. In addition, members of the floor who are enrolled in ROTC will take classes together and participate in ROTC Training together. All first-year ROTC members, as well as any interested students, are encouraged to join this community.

For more information on this LLC, please contact ROTC@usd.edu.

The Global Leadership (GL) Living Learning Community emphasizes the skills you need to thrive in workspaces that feature global connections.

Expose yourself to other cultures and world views. Learn to embrace input from people whose background or experience differs from your own. Increase your agility by discovering multiple approaches to connect meaningfully. In this LLC, you will gain friendships and develop perspectives and competencies that will prepare you to lead teams in virtually any field: health care, education, business and public service, to name a few. The International Office is a proud sponsor of the Global Leadership LLC. We welcome all applicants who would like to be a part of a great community focused on leadership development, globalization and cultural differences.

The Global Leadership LLC is located in the North Complex. For more information on the Living Learning Community, please contact the International Office at ISSO@usd.edu. 

The Leaders of Social Change Living Learning Community (LSC-LLC) provides students an opportunity to build community with one another around global issues of shared importance while also offering a sense of belonging on campus and in the greater community. This community will provide a space to explore individual and collective civic pathways and chart a path for social action and change. You will find a space that encourages student leaders to examine how service, civic engagement, social justice, and community empowerment impact peace and equity. With other students in the LSC-LLC, you will have opportunities to participate in community-based service projects, social events, and discussions with community guests. Form close relationships with members of your floor as you enjoy activities, learning, and a passion for making an impact.

All students, regardless of major, are invited to participate in this community. The inclusion of different perspectives and backgrounds makes this community stronger. Questions about the program can be directed the Office of Service Learning, home to the community.

Sustainability looks at the interacting systems of our world--environment, political, economic, human, social—to understand problems and find solutions so that we may maintain our world for future generations.  The Sustainability Living Learning Community provides an opportunity for any students interested in Sustainability to live together and build community around these themes with special programming that may including hikes, game nights, guest speakers, interaction with faculty and on campus sustainability events, and more. For more information about this LLC, please contact Jenny Fierro at Jennifer.r.fierro@usd.edu.