Good
morning and welcome to the new academic year. Please enjoy the
performance of our own Dr. Francesca Arnone and Dr. James Cook. Dr.
Arnone is principal flute in the Boise Philharmonic and teaches Flute
performance, music theory and performs regularly as a member of the
Boise State Music faculty. Dr. Cook is a concert pianist and performs
as a soloist and chamber player. He also serves as Chair of the Music
Department.
Thank you Dr. Arnone and Dr. Cook.
Welcome to the new academic year. I
hope you had a productive and relaxing summer. I suspect someone in
this administration is inching the date we reconvene back every year.
It seems like only yesterday that we were blowing bubbles at our spring
graduates.
Change comes with the beginning of each
new fall semester, when members of the campus family retire or move on
and new colleagues join us. I would like to begin today by introducing
some new faces and some not so new, but with adjustment in title. At
the top of our list of new recruits is Dr. Sona Andrews, our Provost and
Vice President for Academic Affairs. Sona brings a wealth of experience
from a metropolitan research university that I’m confident will serve as
a benchmark for our hopes and dreams for the future. And, as you know
from her visit here last semester, she brings incredible energy, insight
and intelligence to the challenges we face.
I would also like to introduce someone
who has been a key member of our administrative team for some time, but
who has been filling in lately on an interim basis while we conducted a
national search for a Vice President for Finance and Administration.
Last week, I asked the Board of Education to approve Stacy Pearson as
our new permanent Vice President for Finance and Administration.
Stacy has done an excellent job of serving in the interim and, just as
importantly, of impressing the Search Committee—and me--that we had on
our staff the very best candidate for this most important position.
We are also joined this year by a new
Director of Communications and Marketing, Frank Zang, who comes to us
with considerable experience as Director of Communications and Media for
the Salt Lake Olympics. This is a new title for a position that is
central to our success. From the recruitment of quality faculty, staff
and students to our ability to access funding from government and
private sources, the quality of the image we send into a world already
overwhelmed with information plays an ever-increasing role in improving
our position in Idaho higher education and, for that matter, our
reputation in American higher education. As some of you have heard me
say before, one of Frank’s assignments is to craft a message that
successfully conveys a Boise State University even greater than the sum
of its parts. I’m sure Frank will be making his way to your offices to
discuss your thoughts on the challenge.
This summer, I was invited to serve on a
panel at the annual meeting of the National Conference of State
Legislatures. They asked me as a former legislator and now university
president to discuss the values of the public university mission. I
found it a thought-provoking assignment. One can argue that with the
decline of institutional funding from state government and with students
in many states receiving generous grants to use at public or private
institutions, the traditional lines of distinction between the public
and private sector in higher education are increasingly blurred. Some
states just recently have taken us to the brink by offering certain
public universities the option of dropping out of the state system of
higher education, including giving up revenue they receive from the
state, in exchange for the freedom from state rules and regulations.
But what is the real cost of this trend?
This Faustian bargain is sure to
diminish our system of public higher education in this country. In
place of the underlying principle that there is a common good to be
served -- and that the common good trumps individual interest and
privilege based on wealth or social status -- will be the principle that
is all too common in our society today—every man for himself, every
woman for herself. Quality education goes to the highest bidder.
This is the reason why I believe so
strongly that state government here in Idaho, or anywhere else for that
matter, must not surrender its commitment to a well-funded system of
higher education. That fundamental conviction is the reason why
university presidents from all of Idaho’s public institutions have
united in support of a strategy to educate Idaho on the value of a
public university education. Last April 1st, the lead editorial in the
Statesman quoted The Milken Institute’s study ranking Idaho 48th
in higher education funding and 41st in academic research per
capita. That’s the kind of news you hope is an April Fool’s joke. It
wasn’t!
If we are to improve our lot, we must
demonstrate how public universities and colleges are inextricably linked
to the success of our economy and our workforce and how cost-effectively
we can deliver postsecondary education in the state if given the
appropriate level of state support. We are in the process of planning
higher education roundtables at regional locations across Idaho for the
purpose of bringing together CEO’s, alumni, foundation officers and
athletic boosters with our university presidents who will present the
case for public higher education. This unified voice for public higher
education will speak to all of Idaho’s citizens on behalf of all of its
state universities and colleges.
If we are to stake out such a position,
we must be very clear about just who we are and what we represent to all
those we serve and, perhaps most importantly to those who support us
with their tax dollars. Let us step back for a moment and reflect on
what it means to be a public university, how important it is for us to
remember day to day just how critical our work in public higher
education is and what a far reaching impact we have on our community,
our state, our nation and the world around us.
Perhaps the first and most important
point to make about our role in higher education is the public
nature of our institution and mission. Boise State College and later
Boise State University were built on a base of public support and public
mission, first through a property tax authorized by the people and,
later, by the state recognizing the value of higher education in
southwestern Idaho. We live by that set of public values which
distinguishes us from others in this increasingly complex and diverse
marketplace of degrees, programs and courses.
Just how does that public purpose define
who we are and how we serve our students, our community, our state and
our nation? In essence, Boise State as a public university has
committed itself to:
Access and
Opportunity
-
Quality Teaching and
Learning
-
Support for a Strong
State and Local Economy
-
A Research Agenda
that improves our students’ learning and contributes to quality of
life in our community, state and nation
-
Civic Engagement of
our entire campus community and citizenship education for our
students
Let’s briefly review each of these with
an eye to understanding the progress we have made and the challenges
that lie ahead.
First, as a public institution, we
stand for access and opportunity at affordable prices: access not only
in the sense of assuring those qualified the opportunity to pursue an
education, but also in the sense of offering the programs and courses
that our increasingly sophisticated economy demands.
As you know from our enrollment growth
of recent years, Boise State certainly has met its obligations in
accepting as many new students as we can accommodate. Our enrollment
will increase again this year, albeit with a smaller percentage
increase, because we turned a small percentage of our applicants away
this year and last. Similarly, there are a number of new degree and
certificate programs, many at the graduate level, that have been
approved by the State Board but for which funding does not exist.
The use of student fees to help in the
development of these new degree programs is critical as we move forward,
not only for Boise State, but also for the other higher education
institutions in Idaho. Unfortunately, the State of Idaho does not
currently allow Boise State, or any other university for that matter, to
use student fees to directly pay for the costs of instruction.
Consequently, we play a shell game with fee dollars and dollars provided
by the state which has served to create unnecessary barriers.
I suggest that a more straightforward
approach is preferred, and in fact, last week at a meeting of college
and university presidents, we designated our top policy priority for the
coming year to be fee reform. Our Board agreed that making changes to
Idaho law to allow student fee dollars to be used to pay for the cost of
instruction and education in higher education is an important issue to
pursue this next legislative session. It is not a matter of doing so in
order to charge our students more, but rather to be honest that the
costs paid by students for their education may be used directly to
improve the instruction that they receive, and may be targeted to the
development of new programs to enhance our educational offerings for
their benefit.
As you have heard me say many times, one
solution to the problem of access is a community college in the Treasure
Valley on the BSU West campus. I am delighted to report that we are
anticipating a multimillion dollar gift, the details to be announced
later, that will greatly enhance our efforts for a new technical college
building on the West campus, an important part of our strategy to move
technical programs to the West campus and use that space for expansion
of graduate programs, lab space, offices and classrooms on our Boise
campus.
As a public institution, we stand
committed to providing the highest quality teaching and learning to our
students. With a proud tradition as a teaching institution, we will
double our efforts to realize our students’ success so they can choose
the most expedient path to graduation and a career.
Along these lines, we have some work to
do. Forty percent of our students do not persist from their first to
their second year. We must do better in this regard. That, of course,
affects our graduation rate, which is also low, even for a commuter
institution. Now that I’ve spent my first year attempting to learn more
about where we need to place our emphasis, let me offer some thoughts on
how we are going to accomplish our goal.
First of all, we are going to reap the
benefits of those whose work has preceded me. Our new residence halls
and apartments open up this fall with our new Faculty-in-Residence
program providing a stronger academic environment in our residence halls
and the opportunity to build bridges between Student Housing and
Academic Affairs. Our first group of recruits from the faculty to live
in the residence halls include Dr. Rob Anson from the College of
Business, Dr. Jeremy Ball from the College of Social Sciences and Public
Affairs, Dr. Lisa Brady from the College of Social Sciences and Public
Affairs, and Dean Jim Girvan, from the College of Health Sciences. I
congratulate and thank these residential pioneers.
We also continue with the planning phase
for our new Student Services Center and the State Board just recently
approved our request to build a new Health, Wellness and Counseling
Center to increase and improve our services to students in those areas.
This year, we ramped up our efforts to
orient students to campus with full-day and half-day orientation
programs that served over 2,600 incoming students and as many as 1,200
parents. I had the opportunity to speak at some of these sessions and
the work of our staff was impressive.
Next year, we will introduce a new
academic component to our orientation program. We will assign a book to
our first year students in the spring and ask them to come to campus
next fall prepared to discuss it in an opening orientation session. I
introduced a similar initiative on another campus and I can personally
attest to the strong message it sends students about the importance we
attach to reading assignments and class discussion. It also operates as
a social icebreaker for new students meeting each other in a campus
setting for the first time.
Another new initiative designed to
improve student success is the Degree Progress Report to be unveiled on
BroncoWeb in October. Students will be able to review what courses they
have completed and what courses are still required for completion of any
baccalaureate degree we offer. For those of you who advise, please
choose one of 13 workshops to be offered this September to understand
how this new tool can help you in your advising role.
Retention experts tell us that students
who develop relationships with faculty tend to persist and graduate at a
higher rate than those students who do not. Academic advising is the
primary structured activity that allows for one-to-one contact with a
representative of the university. It combines educational planning,
relationship building with faculty and acclimation to university
expectations, review of University policies and procedures and career
planning to support students’ goals.
In order to encourage and assist more
faculty members to become advisors, we will offer a Faculty Advising
Institute this semester designed to prepare new faculty to assume
advising responsibilities. In the past, we have simply expected faculty
to conduct advising, but have not provided the support necessary. Under
our new policy, faculty completing the program will receive a stipend.
By the way, I have already begun
training to become an adviser in the spring semester. I look forward to
seeing you at the Institute as we all learn how to improve our students’
success. The date of the Institute meeting will be announced soon.
Two members of our faculty, Drs. Kenneth
Coll and Roger Stewart in the College of Education, have been very
helpful in guiding retention efforts here on campus. Their research,
based on surveys of hundreds of BSU students, has identified two of the
most important factors for improving retention: high quality classroom
instruction coupled with out-of-class interactions and high
quality student support services.
Some of you have already attended Ken
and Roger’s training sessions, but they will be offering another session
on Monday, September 13. They will help us understand the important
role that faculty can play in retention, especially how we can help
develop and maintain an infrastructure to provide retention surveying
and reporting in classrooms across the campus. We are very fortunate to
have members of our own faculty so committed to this effort. I urge you
to attend the September 13 session. You will be contacted with further
details.
We have also put the finishing touches
on the architectural design of the Interactive Learning Center, which
includes a Center for Teaching and Learning and a faculty lounge to make
it convenient and comfortable for faculty to visit and partake of the
Center’s programs. I am really excited about this new emphasis on
teaching and learning. Our new Center will stimulate a campus-wide
conversation about teaching and learning skills, keep our teaching
community abreast of pedagogical developments in the field, help faculty
ground their teaching practices in scholarship, assist faculty in the
enhancement of their teaching with new tools of technology and share the
best practices of collaborative learning.
By the way, I was surfing the net the
other day, checking out the websites of universities that have Centers
for Teaching and Learning and came across this sketch that sums up the
challenge before us in the classroom. (
See Active Learning Diagram
)
There is one more initiative that you
will be hearing about during the course of this year. Sona Andrews and
Peg Blake will lead a Task Force on the First Year Transition and
Student Success. They’ll consider strategies for our campus that will
result in a successful transition to university life for our first year
students. I’m sure that we can expect significant and productive
outcomes from this endeavor.
In addition to focusing on retaining
students and ensuring students make it through their undergraduate
experience; preparing those students who wish to continue in graduate
school is also key. The McNair Scholars program, administered at Boise
State by David Hall, targets this effort to those students who may need
an extra boost in their preparation. Again, faculty involvement with
students, especially as mentors, is critical to this program. Please
keep an eye out for students who have potential for this type of program
and get involved with helping them in this regard. You can contact David
for more details and information.
In the meantime, no matter what your
assignment is here on campus, you can help -- as many of you already
do. Reach out to our students, especially our first year students who
may need an extra bit of guidance or directions to their next class.
Let’s really focus on removing unnecessary administrative barriers and
hassles that can impede student success.
Before I turn to how Boise State will
expand its mission in graduate education and research, I do want to
underscore the significance of the new strategies I just outlined to
improve the undergraduate experience. We take undergraduate education
very seriously at Boise State and will not settle for anything other
than the very best learning environment possible.
As a public institution, we stand
committed to playing a major role in the economic development of this
state and region, joining with the Governor, the Legislature, state
agencies and local governments in building a strong Idaho economy and
assisting it in its transition to a knowledge-based economy.
One of the most effective contributions
we can make to Idaho’s future in this regard is to capitalize on our
position as a metropolitan university and tailor key academic programs
to our urban environment. Our plans for new graduate programs include
doctoral and masters’ degrees in areas linked to the needs of the
Treasure Valley and the state capital in engineering, public policy,
educational leadership and urban and regional planning. Two other
doctoral programs in our plans, geology and biology, build on our
historic academic strength and are of significant national importance
with substantial funding opportunities and a trend toward
interdisciplinarity.
As we update our 2000-2005 strategic
plan, we must remain committed to the goal of becoming a
doctoral/research university. Faculty quality is the heart of all
measures of institutional quality and the existence of doctoral programs
will help generate stronger pools for faculty recruitment and lead to
“complete departments” that are highly enriched learning environments.
Just as important, for our increasingly
sophisticated economy, doctoral programs attract invaluable professional
expertise to the state. And, as I will emphasize in a moment, doctoral
programs open research-funding opportunities and also foster the growth
of centers, institutes and technology transfer important to creating new
jobs.
Doctoral programs are also critical to
the metropolitan research mission and we should add at least one in the
near future to qualify for Carnegie doctoral classification. Please
understand that this is not some irrelevant quest for prestige.
A higher Carnegie classification can
lead to high quality students, faculty and administrative staff, and
consequently, increases in funding from grants and contracts,
intellectual property and gifts to the university.
At the same time, we must work on
funding more graduate assistantships, which will help us recruit high
quality graduate students thereby enhancing the academic quality of our
programs. Last spring, I appeared with my colleagues in administration
before a panel of research administrators from the nation’s research
universities. They had come to Idaho to evaluate the proposals for
Higher Education Research Council (HERC) funding. It was an eye-opener
for me. The committee could not have been more gracious, but the
message was clear. We were unlikely to get the $1 million grant until
we demonstrated an infrastructure of research that includes sufficient
graduate assistants to justify the implementation of the grant. And
sure enough, we did not get the grant notwithstanding the fact that we
had an impressive faculty contingent applying for it. I don’t want that
to happen again, especially when the proposal itself was such a good
one. We will find a way to carry more graduate students in areas
critical to the success of our grant applications.
One final observation about the goal of
becoming a doctoral university: few of us on this campus deny the
reputational currency our athletic program raises for Boise State and
the window it provides prospective students and faculty recruited from
around the country. The same advantage accrues from strong doctoral
programs, the reputation of which creates a feedback loop that will
attract prestigious faculty, students and increased external funding
across the university, and not just in the disciplines with the
doctorates.
As a public institution, we stand
committed to joining our sister institutions in a research agenda that
pushes the frontiers of science forward in discovery of new cures for
disease, in improving the quality of life in Idaho and in creating
learning opportunities for our students.
Just last week, I had the opportunity to
attend the third annual conference of the Biomedical Research
Infrastructure Network (BRIN) with some of our participating faculty.
We celebrated Idaho’s grant from the National Institute of Health of $16
million, $3.8 million of which comes to Boise State.
The meeting was a very impressive
display of the research talent on our life sciences and engineering
faculties, the institutional collaboration among the faculties of Idaho
universities and colleges, and most importantly, the active research
roles of our students, which enriches their education and enhances their
opportunities to enroll in the nation’s finest graduate schools. What
is slowly but surely emerging here in Idaho is a multi-institutional,
biomedical foundation of teaching and research that will lead to the
creation of new jobs and economic security in Idaho and will contribute
to path breaking developments in biomedical science which will surely
improve the longevity and quality of life as we know it.
As impressed as I am with what I learned
from student and faculty presentations at the BRIN conference, I am also
aware of the research contributions of faculty across the university and
how very different the contribution of scholarship can be from
discipline to discipline and college to college. Our business faculty
with its strong ties to the local economy and consulting relationships
with its companies defines the research contribution differently than
natural scientists or engineering professors working on a grant from the
National Institute of Health. In all colleges, research plays a
critical role in building stronger foundations of knowledge and
scholarship in the disciplines and in engaging our students in the
discovery process that can make learning the joy that it should be in
all of our lives.
Another great example of the diversity
of our scholarship on our campus arrived on my desk just two days ago.
Constantine and the Christian Empire is a detailed, comprehensive
and compelling portrayal of the life and times of a great Roman
emperor. So much of the conflict over religious doctrine in the
Christian Church today can be traced back to Constantine. The author?
He is none other than our own Dr. Charles Odahl who brings distinction
to his colleagues and his university with his magnum opus hot off
the presses. Congratulations to Charles Odahl.
Two other distinguished Boise State
professors recently published what is believed to be the first
full-sized textbook on mediation. Mediation Theory and Practice,
written by Dr. Suzanne McCorkle, Director of Boise State’s conflict
management program, and Dr. Melanie Reese, an instructor in Boise State’s
applied academic program will certainly bring recognition to our growing
mediation program. Congratulations to Suzanne McCorkle and Melanie
Reese.
Of course, scholarship comes in forms
other than strict research or book publications. I was lucky enough
recently to also experience our own Dr. Richard Klautsch, Chair of Theatre
Arts, in the Merry Wives of Windsor at the Idaho Shakespeare
Festival. What a wonderful performance!
There are many strategies to employ if
we are to support our faculty in their research. For one thing, we must
raise substantial funding for endowed chairs and professorships—a top
priority of mine this year--so we not only can attract the very best
faculty, but so we can also retain our fine faculty who are very
competitive in the higher education marketplace. I know it can be
frustrating at times when we simply cannot afford to do what it takes to
support exceptional teaching and research. Thanks to all of you who
have persevered and found innovative and ingenious solutions to funding
shortages. Most of you have been very patient and I ask you to bear with
us. We are at a critical stage of Boise State’s history and together
we can look back on a transformation in higher education that few have
an opportunity to effect. It is your leadership, tenacity, creativity
and sheer will that will make it happen.
I promise that you will have my
leadership and support in every way that I know how and can humanly
deliver. We will succeed. And to steal from this year’s football
victory cry, we will do it BRICK BY BRICK! Not a bad analogy and
segue to another critical component of our strategy.
Later this week, a consultant will visit
our campus to meet with administrators, faculty and staff to explore a
capital campaign for Boise State, an effort to identify the capital
resources required for us to achieve our goals, a plan to raise them
and, of course, an implementation phase. Although we are not ready to
announce such a campaign, I am convinced that the time to plan for a
campaign and the time to begin what is known as the silent phase of the
campaign is upon us.
In this last year, I have listened to so
many exciting ideas about how we can realize our dreams in facilities
that match our faculty’s talent and our students’ abilities. In fact,
to accommodate all of the requests, we have undertaken a new facilities
master planning effort and also reorganized our Facilities Planning
Council, which can address space-planning needs and coordinate our
funding mechanisms so they work together to meet the University’s needs.
Clearly, our current incremental
approach to development and fundraising will not allow us to reach our
goals for years to come. That is where a capital campaign comes in, a
coordinated, campus-wide identification of our needs and the blueprint
to raise the funds. Once we commit to such a campaign, it will be a
multi-year effort and will engage our entire campus in one way or
another. Our Boise State Foundation, alumni, supporters in the
community and beyond will be called into action to achieve whatever goal
we set. But one thing is for sure. It will be a goal that will shock
any of us who have been toiling in the vineyards seeking funds just to
keep our programs alive. The capital campaign will be based on an
ambitious plan, but one that is carefully crafted to guarantee success
in meeting its fundraising goals.
By the way, our Vice President of
University Advancement, Rick Smith, left us in July to become the
President of the American Youth Soccer Organization. Mark Dunham, who I
count on a great deal these days, agreed to take on some additional
duties in addition to his current Government Relations assignment in
order to serve as Interim, but a search will soon be underway to find a
new leader. Stay tuned!
Our current Strategic Plan for 2000-2005
will be in need of an update very soon. The timing is perfect as we
explore a capital campaign so I have asked our Provost to lead a
strategic planning process this fall that updates the Plan.
This effort is consistent with the State
Board of Education’s adoption of an Eight-Year Academic Plan for Idaho
public universities and colleges at its June 17 meeting. Designed to
optimize the delivery of academic programs, to clarify statewide
missions and regional missions and to encourage the coordination of
academic programming among the institutions, this plan calls for the
execution of memoranda of agreements among the universities.
By virtue of this official action, Boise
State now has the statewide mission for select graduate programs in
Social Work, Urban Studies, Urban Regional Planning and Public Policy
and Public Administration. This marks the first time that Boise State
has received formal recognition for our expertise in these areas
statewide.
The Eight-Year state plan is considered
a rolling plan so it is imperative that we have its counterpart on our
campus continually updated to take account of changes in our disciplines
and programs and the changing educational needs of our students. The
plan calls for the addition of over 50 new degree or certificate
programs, over half of which are at the graduate level, to be developed
by Boise State between 2004 and 2011.
As a public institution, we stand
committed to producing the next generation of active, informed citizens
willing and able to engage in public life in an articulate and effective
manner. We have the responsibility to work with our students in
sharpening their citizenship skills whether for the purpose of getting
involved in government or politics or simply exercising their franchise
to vote.
Our campus should be a laboratory of
civic opportunity with public officials, opinion makers, policy experts
and advocates speaking to rooms of students filled to capacity. Toward
that end, you may remember that I asked Dr. Stephanie Witt last year to
spearhead our efforts to focus interest and participation in the
American Democracy Project, sponsored by the American Association of
State Colleges and Universities. There is much to report since last
year. The Civic Engagement Steering Committee comprised of faculty,
students and staff meets regularly to plan and coordinate events,
including an Introductory Planning Session intended for faculty and
staff interested in learning how to get involved. A Faculty Development
forum is planned for September and, of course, the Frank Church
Conference is in October. I will participate in a panel discussion and
information session on the November presidential election in late
October.
The Committee has also created a website
to provide information on events and updates on projects throughout the
year. Please check it out for dates of upcoming events. I sincerely
hope that you can join us in making this effort one that will have a
lasting impact on our students and the campus community in general.
I must admit, on this one, I have a
bias. In addition to the many worthy goals of this project, I hope that
we are able to convey to our students the value and importance of public
higher education so they can carry it with them wherever they may live.
Any effort to address citizenship skills
must reach beyond our borders and include an international dimension
that is an integral, seamless and a continuous part of the undergraduate
educational experience. Sabine Klahr, Director of our International
Programs, our Dean of Extended Studies Michael Stockstill and I have
been working on some initial thoughts on how to elevate and incorporate
internationalization into the campus culture in all we do. I will
appoint a Steering Committee that Sona Andrews and I will assist in
developing a plan for weaving this new and improved international focus
throughout the curriculum and the campus. If you would like to help,
please call Sabine by next Friday as she puts the finishing touches on
committee membership.
I hope that I have been successful this
morning at distinguishing the mission and role of Boise State as a
public, metropolitan research university. I am reminded of the book,
Built to Last. The authors argued that successful companies
who take a long-term perspective prosper when they continue to emphasize
their core values at the same time that they are market savvy to the
need for change, new products and new directions.
We have just reviewed a set of
initiatives focused on improving the undergraduate experience at Boise
State—our core value. At the same time, we will seek new directions as
we move our graduate programming and research agendas forward to create
added value for our students, the State of Idaho, its local communities
and the Treasure Valley’s dynamic economy.
I spent most of my life, in the City by
the Lake where Daniel Burnham who designed Chicago’s lakefront uttered
those famous words, “Make no small plans.” The destiny of Boise State
University and public higher education in general requires each and
every one of us to “make no small plans”, to recognize our roles as
stewards of a university whose future we hold in our classrooms, our
offices, our playing fields, our performance halls and our library.
When the former President of the
University of Michigan, James Duderstadt, retired a few years ago, he
wrote a book entitled A University for the 21st Century.
He lamented the strong market forces that he claimed were
transforming our public universities in unforeseen and unacceptable
ways. He predicted that aggressive for-profit entities and commercial
forces would drive the university toward mediocrity. But he pointed the
way toward an alternate vision of public higher education, a culture of
learning in which universal and ubiquitous educational opportunities are
provided to meet the broad and growing needs of our society.
What makes me so proud to be your
president is that I believe Boise State lives the brighter future
President Duderstadt hoped for. Our faculty and staff serve the people
of Idaho in Nampa, Mountain Home and Twin Falls in addition to our home
campus and our West campus. We serve students at risk, and we serve
honor students. We serve older students on our campus and through our
wonderful Renaissance Institute. We provide daycare for our youngest
Broncos. We are about to offer a weekend MBA program. We offer a
quality education to students as close as those new residence halls and
as far away as Kazakhstan, and entire Master’s degrees on line. The
list is much longer, and impressive, as are each and every one of you
who make a difference in the lives of our students.
Thank you for all you do for this great
university, have a great semester and join us at the University picnic
this evening at 5:30 in Julia Davis Park.
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