Few people, if any, better represent the spirit and possibilities of Boise State University than Chris Petersen. As head coach of our beloved Bronco football team, he is universally respected by his peers, colleagues, players and fans as a leader and mentor, and there is no question that his success has become a model for what is possible all across our campus.

The Beat Coach Pete Scholarship Run and Walk is perhaps the perfect symbol of Coach Pete’s role on our campus. His own idea and a very popular fixture on the campus calendar, this annual 5k foot race has generated $138,000 for student scholarships at Boise State since its inception. It reflects not only Coach Pete’s generosity, but also his passion to put academics first – a zeal evidenced by the football team’s second consecutive No. 2 national academic ranking this year.

On April 13, the Boise State campus will once again welcome a few thousand people looking to “Beat Coach Pete” and raise money for the Boise State General Scholarship Fund – participants also can attend the annual spring football game later in the day. The timing for the race and its cause is perfect – support for scholarships is Boise State’s top funding priority. You – our alumni, friends and donors – will be hearing much more about that need in coming weeks and months.

Scholarships are the most direct and impactful way donors can transform the lives and college experiences of students at Boise State. Scholarships allow students to explore the opportunities of the future to their fullest potential unhindered by financial uncertainty. By supporting scholarships, donors help motivate students in their studies and demonstrate to them that they are a coveted part of the Bronco family – for life. Through scholarships, donors help ensure that great potential is not left unrealized because of an inability to bear the cost of a university education.

For more information about the Beat Coach Pete Scholarship Run and Walk visit rec.boisestate.edu/beatpete. Those who cannot participate in the race but would like to contribute to the General Scholarship Fund can go to giving.boisestatefoundation.org and select General Scholarship Fund from the drop-down menu.

As usual, thank you for all that you do for Boise State University. Go Broncos!

Sincerely,
Bob Kustra

Here are a few recent and upcoming events at Boise State University:

The Boise State University Foundation and Provost Martin Schimpf recognized Jeanne Belfy, Darryl Butt and Anne Gregory as Boise State’s 2013 University Foundation Scholar Award recipients. Foundation Scholar Awards honor Boise State faculty members who have demonstrated ongoing commitment, expertise and accomplishments in teaching, research/creative activity or professionally related service. Belfy, Department of Music, was recognized with the Teaching Award. Butt, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, was recognized with the Research and Creative Activity Award. Gregory, Department of Literacy, was recognized with the Service Award.

The Boise State Talkin’ Broncos are the 2013-2014 Pi Kappa Delta National Champions in speech and debate. Boise State successfully defended its 2011-2012 national championship title and took first place overall at the 48th annual Pi Kappa Delta National Speech and Debate biennial tournament in St. Louis, Mo., March 13-16. The Talkin’ Broncos beat out 88 other schools from 36 states to win the tournament championship. Boise State also won the national championship in 2011 and 2005 and was runner-up in 2007 and 2009 at the biennial tournament.

The Honors College Distinguished Lecture Series at Boise State University presents Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louis Menand at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 18, in the Morrison Center for the Performing Arts. The lecture is free and no tickets are required. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Free parking is available. Menand is widely considered to be the foremost modern scholar of American studies. His book “The Metaphysical Club” is a detailed history of American intellectual and philosophical life in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The Idaho State Board of Education recently approved a new online doctor of nursing practice degree program at Boise State. The program is aimed at nurses who are seeking a terminal degree in nursing that is an alternative to a research-focused Ph.D. The program starts in August 2013. Boise State’s ninth doctorate, the program will prepare more nurses to assume leadership responsibilities in education and the clinical work force, and is self-supporting.

Boise State has joined an elite group of research universities that have a launched a start-up company after licensing an online gaming platform developed by university faculty to a new venture, GoGo Labs, that will introduce the software product to the marketplace. GoGo Labs founder Lisa Dawley, a national expert on learning environments and a former professor and chair in Boise State’s Department of Educational Technology, developed the software with educational technology faculty member Chris Haskell while at Boise State. Collaborating with the university’s Office of University and Industry Ventures (UIV) in the Division of Research and Economic Development, Dawley and Haskell worked to refine, test and market the software product that provides technology-based learning opportunities.

Dear Friends:

Adequate funding, or the lack thereof, has been a topic of conversation at the Legislature in recent weeks. The fact is that state funding for higher education has not been a priority in recent years, having decreased from where it was just ten years ago while funding for many other state entities has significantly increased over the same time.

A case in point is Boise State, where state support accounts for just 18 percent of the university’s current budget, compared with 33 percent 10 years ago. In addition, Enrollment Workload Adjustment (EWA) – a state formula to support enrollment growth – has not been consistently funded from year to year. Because Boise State leads the state in increased enrollments over recent years, our students do not receive the same level of financial support that students at other Idaho schools do. In fact, our students are dead last in per student funding when compared to our sister institutions even when adjusted for the differences in research and graduate programming. Unfunded growth from 2008 to the present totals $10.3 million for Boise State alone, and presents a major challenge to us as the university serves the most populated region in Idaho with a growing tech economy dependent on more programming and more graduates.

I do hope the State of Idaho recognizes and rewards the enormous contribution Boise State makes to the state and regional economy. One thing is for sure – Boise State can make a very strong case for the equity funding it has thus far been denied. Our academic growth since 2001 is impressive. The number of doctoral programs offered has quadrupled, the number of master’s degree programs has more than doubled, and digital learning has expanded to encompass 13 fully online programs. We have increased our graduate production by 47 percent since 2006, with 3,441 total graduates last year. Boise State now awards 41 percent of all degrees granted annually by Idaho public higher education institutions.

The students we educate today will provide the next generation of leadership for Idaho’s economy and its communities. The success of Boise State and its students is not in doubt, but distributing resources fairly among Idaho’s students and schools would make a big difference in ensuring that we continue to serve our region and produce more graduates prepared for a fiercely competitive global economy.

As usual, thank you for all that you do for Boise State University. Go Broncos!

Sincerely,
Bob Kustra

Here are a few recent and upcoming events at Boise State University:

Registration is now open for the 2013 Beat Coach Pete Scholarship Run and Walk scheduled for Saturday, April 13. Racers are challenged to beat Boise State University head football coach Chris Petersen to the finish line while benefiting student scholarships. The family-friendly event begins at 9:30 a.m. at the Boise State Recreation Center. The three-mile race winds through campus, along the Boise City Greenbelt and finishes at Bronco Stadium. Registration through April 7 is $15 for Boise State students and children 10 and under, and $25 general. A family of five may register for $60. Register online at www.imathlete.com/events/beatpetefunrunwalk.

Boise State selected “The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw: One Woman’s Fight to Save the World’s Most Beautiful Bird” by Bruce Barcott, as the 2012-13 Campus Read book. The book was named one of the best books of 2008 by Library Journal. Part nature writing, part travelogue, part biography, it is a true story that chronicles one woman’s crusade to stop a multinational corporation from exterminating the last scarlet macaws of Belize. Her dramatic struggle brings alive the worldwide battle over globalization, demand for energy, environmental destruction, the fate of the planet’s species, and the realities of economic survival in a tiny Third World country. Barcott will give a free lecture at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 5, in the Student Union Simplot Ballroom.

Boise State Auction 2013’s winter online auction runs through Feb. 26. Sponsored by the Boise State Alumni Association and Bronco Athletic Association, auction events benefit academic and athletic scholarships at Boise State. Available for bid at boisestateauction.com are many Bronco-themed items and memorabilia, as well as tickets to athletic events, including the opportunity to watch the Colorado State basketball game from Arena Club seats and attend the pre-game “Chalk Talk” with the coaches. Additionally, there will be gift certificates for Treasure Valley restaurants and hotels, tickets to the Boise Philharmonic, massages, health and fitness memberships, and much more.

Some of the nation’s most prominent presidential scholars will convene on the Boise State campus on Thursday, Feb. 28, to participate in a daylong conference on “The State of the American Presidency.” Sponsored by the Andrus Center for Public Policy, conference participants will deliver lectures, engage in panel discussions and share views with audience members through vigorous question-and-answer sessions. The conference begins at 8:30 a.m. and concludes with an evening lecture beginning at 7 p.m.  Admission price for the full day includes lunch. There is a $10 fee for interested students and a $25 fee for the general public; teachers can attend the entire event for free. Register at andruscenter.org or by calling Suzan Raney at 426-3784 or David Adler at 426-3777. Deadline for registration is 5 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26.

The Meridian School District is naming one of its elementary schools for Boise State Distinguished Educator in Residence and former astronaut Barbara Morgan. Linder Elementary will become the Barbara Morgan STEM Academy next fall, when it becomes a school of choice for students interested in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Morgan was NASA’s first Teacher in Space and in August 2007 logged more than 300 hours in space aboard the shuttle Endeavour on a mission to the International Space Station. Today she champions STEM education both in Idaho and nationally. In addition to current students, the school will serve students in north Meridian. Morgan will help develop the STEM program for the school, which will receive updated science classroom facilities.

December 17, 2012

Dear Friends,

Making the shift from election campaigning to the gritty work of governing can be a daunting challenge for newly elected or re-elected office holders, especially in these austere times. The promises of election season seldom dovetail neatly with the reality of policymaking, whether the victors now occupy a city council seat, a place in the Legislature or Congress, or the White House. Soon, they will turn to experts to help clarify policies that could potentially impact millions of people.

In Idaho, many of those experts are Broncos. And as our newly created Ph.D. in public policy and administration builds momentum, Boise State will unquestionably become the region’s preeminent resource for citizens and officials seeking clarity about politics, policy and their intersection.

This new degree builds on the most well-respected public policy and administration master’s degree program in the region. Its graduates, as well as its faculty, are already immersed in the details of the central issues of our time. They are advocates, lobbyists and analysts, and they work in government agencies and for nonprofits across the West.

The new program’s focus in areas of environmental policy and state and local government is designed to serve the practical needs of Idaho and the region, and meet the demand for policy knowledge and expertise in discussions of science and technology. Its graduates and faculty will have a unique ability to impact local and state government – the levels of government most immediate to the daily lives of Idahoans.

Beyond our new doctorate – Boise State’s eighth Ph.D. – the appointments of David Adler as director of the Andrus Center for Public Policy at Boise State and Eric Lindquist to lead our Public Policy Center add considerable academic heft and prestige to our role as the preeminent resource for illuminating the inner-workings of our politics and government. They join a broad slate of faculty experts in energy and natural resource policy and politics whose names are already familiar as trusted sources of information on issues for the community.

This new program is just the latest example of Boise State’s focus on helping to build the community we share. Our university’s relationship with local and state government is central to our mission and identity as a public institution. It accelerates Boise State’s influence as part not only of the region’s political and governmental center, but also as a driver of its cultural, medical, intellectual and commercial sense of being as well. It is an important role for us to play.

As usual, thank you for all that you do for Boise State. Go Broncos!

Sincerely,

Bob Kustra

Here are a few recent and upcoming events at Boise State University:

The Boise State football team (10-2 and No. 19 in BCS Standings) will return to the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas for the third straight season, and for the second straight year will face an opponent from the Pac-12 Conference in the University of Washington (7-5) on Dec. 22 (Saturday). Kickoff for this year’s game at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas is 12:30 p.m. (PT). The game will be televised by ESPN. Boise State is one of just 10 teams nationally to play in 10-or-more consecutive bowl games. This will mark the 11^th straight season the Broncos have played in a postseason bowl game, and the 12^th time in the past 13 years. Boise State has a three-game winning streak in postseason bowl games, and a record of 8-4 in bowl games as a Football Bowl Subdivision member.

Boise State will present a Silver Medallion to alumnus Kirk Smith at the 2012 Winter Commencement Ceremony at 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 21, in Taco Bell Arena. The Silver Medallion is Boise State’s highest recognition of service to the university. Smith is a 1978 accountancy graduate of Boise State and founder of SSI Foods, comprising 16 Wendy’s restaurant franchises. He quickly expanded his operations into agribusiness and food processing. In 1998, Smith started S&S Foods of Los Angeles, a joint venture partnership with J. R. Simplot Company. In 2003 he merged his two companies with partners from Texas to form CTI Foods. Smith was president and CEO of this company until his recent retirement; he remains a member of the board of directors. In 2010, Smith received the Boise State Alumni Association’s Distinguished Alumni Award for his industry leadership. He is a past member of the College of Business and Economics Advisory Committee, has served as the community representative on two College of Business and Economics (COBE) dean search committees, served on the Boise State Foundation board and served as a member of the Destination Distinction Campaign steering committee.

For the first time in school history, Boise State has a student population of more than 20,000, continuing long-term growth trends in out of state, international and underrepresented students. Enrollment is 22,678 for the 2012 fall semester. A snapshot of Boise State’s overall enrollment indicates that 19 percent are from out of state, coming mostly from California, Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Colorado; 14.9 percent are from underrepresented populations (up from 14.2 percent); and 2.7 percent are international students (up from 2.2 percent), largely representing Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Canada, China, India and Nepal. For the first time, two cities outside of Idaho – Spokane and Las Vegas – were listed among the top 25 hometowns of enrolled students.

Chris J. Anton has been appointed chief operating officer of the Boise State University Foundation, a nonprofit organization that inspires, generates and prudently manages private support for Boise State. In his new position, Anton is responsible for leading the foundation’s operations. He reports directly to the board of directors, while consulting regularly with university leadership to ensure coordinated and complementary advancement efforts on behalf of the university. In his role, and in conjunction with the board of directors, he provides vision, identifies objectives and leads the foundation in a manner consistent with its purpose, mission and goals. Most recently, Anton served as senior investment advisor for ClearRock Capital, which provides wealth management solutions for nonprofit organizations, individuals, families, trusts, estates and retirement plans. Before that, Anton served as the College of Idaho’s vice president of finance and administration for seven years.

Dear Friends,

Cooling weather, football season and the start of a new academic year – it is fall at Boise State.

Nothing transforms and animates our campus like the return of enthusiastic and excited students. Reunited friends, full classrooms, the bustle of blue and orange-clad students on the Quad – they are all part of the happy rhythms that make the college experience one of the best of a person’s lifetime.

As always, there are new, expectant faces. They could be nervous about their first university-level quiz later in the day or excited about getting their student tickets to their first Bronco football game.

As a group, the profile of these new freshmen is quite different than it was 10 years ago. The number of them coming to Boise State straight out of high school has jumped from 66 percent in 2001 to 82 percent this year. Academically, they are higher achievers, with 40 percent having a GPA of 3.5 or better, up from just 28 percent in 2001. And this year, 92 percent of them are attending school full time, compared to 68 percent 10 years ago.

These changes are not accidental. Our emphasis in recent years on enriching student involvement and campus life, deepening our academic offerings and doing everything we can to help students stay in school and graduate with a degree are paying off richly.

In fact, our freshmen this fall, the Class of 2016, will be the first to experience a new academic regimen through all four years of their university experience. Called Foundational Studies, this new curriculum is designed to infuse students with lifelong learning skills and perspectives to help them thrive and grow as world citizens and in arenas far beyond the specifics of their chosen degree programs.

This is especially important as modern universities like Boise State focus on economic development and the creation of a specialized, professional workforce for an increasingly technical economy and society. Without such a program, students run the risk of missing out on a deeper, more meaningful understanding of the world in which they will work and live.

Every day we work to reach farther by redefining what this university is and should be – always improving and moving the baseline so that our students get the best education possible.

As usual, thank you for all that you do for Boise State University. Go Broncos!

Sincerely,

Bob Kustra

Here are a few recent and upcoming events at Boise State University:

Laura Simic, an advancement executive with more than 26 years of experience in leadership, fundraising, alumni relations and campaign management, has been named vice president for university advancement at Boise State after a national search, announced President Bob Kustra. Simic begins her new position on Nov. 1, with responsibility for the university’s advancement activities in the areas of development and alumni relations. She also will work with the Boise State University Foundation Board members, college deans and faculty to increase private funding for a variety of academic and campus needs. Most recently, Simic served four years at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., as the interim vice president for university relations and senior associate vice president of development and campaign director.

Eighty Boise State student-athletes helped raise a record amount for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Idaho at the group’s 10th annual Serving Up Wishes fundraiser gala Sept. 4. The student-athletes, who helped raise more than $265,000, represented each of the athletic department’s teams as volunteers at the event. The student-athletes helped to raise money by hosting gala guests and entertaining them with an array of talents.

Boise State’s Honors College Distinguished Lecture Series presents cognitive scientist Steven Pinker at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 4, in the Morrison Center for the Performing Arts. The lecture is free and no tickets are required. Doors to the lobby open at 6 p.m. and theater doors open at 6:30 p.m. Free parking is available. Pinker is an experimental psychologist and one of the world’s foremost writers on language, mind and human nature. His most recent book is “The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined.” Currently the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, he also has taught at Stanford and MIT. He is chair of the Usage Panel of the American Heritage Dictionary and often writes for The New York Times, Time magazine and The New Republic. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

 Boise State’s Campus Read program will present advocate Sharon Matola, the title subject of “The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw: One Woman’s Fight to Save the World’s Most Beautiful Bird,” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 2, in the Student Union Simplot Ballroom. The lecture is free and open to the public. “The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw,” by Bruce Barcott, is Boise State’s 2012-13 Campus Read book. It tells the story of Matola, a former circus performer who founded the Belize Zoo. It is known as “The Best Little Zoo in the World” because of the impact it has had in bringing about awareness of the biodiversity in Belize.

Former U.S. Sen. Alan K. Simpson is the first-ever recipient of the Cecil D. Andrus Award for Political Leadership. David Adler, Andrus Center director, and Marc Johnson, Andrus Center president, announced the award. Candid, opinionated, humorous and bi-partisan are all words used to describe Simpson, who represented Wyoming in the U.S. Senate for 18 years.

A federal grant topping $1 million will allow Boise State to continue strengthening its successful McNair Scholars program. The highly competitive Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program grant will provide $225,000 per year for the next five years. The award comes in a year when $10 million was cut from the federal McNair budget and several schools lost their funding, pointing to the success of Boise State’s program, housed in the College of Education. As of May 2012 Boise State has graduated 85 McNair students; 71 of those have gone on to enroll in a graduate program, an 83 percent success rate. Nationally that number among McNair programs is just over half.

Dear Friends,

We often think of graduation ceremonies as the culmination of one’s academic career. Yet, the definition of Commencement is just the opposite – it is “a beginning or start.”

On May 12, Boise State celebrates new beginnings for a record number of graduates – more than 2,400 with bachelor’s and master’s degrees, as well as 11 with doctoral degrees – at its 90th Commencement ceremony.

These newest graduates join nearly 45,000 degree-holding graduates in Idaho – by far, Boise State’s most important measure of success. They are prepared to excel at the demanding and rewarding jobs of the future and, if past trends hold true, more than 70 percent of them will remain in Idaho – living, working and paying taxes. Boise State plays its most powerful role in driving Idaho’s economy by serving as a proving ground for young minds seeking a path to tomorrow’s success.

Allen Dykman, an alumnus, donor and dear friend to our university for years, is a living testament to that kind of success. His work as a member of the community and as a Bronco will be celebrated with an honorary doctorate at our Commencement ceremony. A more suitable honoree would be difficult to find.

Allen came to Boise State on a football scholarship and earned his bachelor’s degree in economics in 1974. His work in the family business led to the founding of his own successful company, Dykman Electric Inc., in 1981 with his wife, Dixie. He is one of only two people in Boise State history to serve as president of the Bronco Athletic Association, the Alumni Association and the Boise State Foundation. He also co-chaired our first comprehensive fundraising campaign and currently is helping to lead the effort to build a new Alumni and Friends Center on campus.

George M. Fenton, a Post Falls native graduating with a 4.0 cumulative grade point average, is the featured student speaker. Earning a bachelor of arts in economics with a minor in mathematics, Fenton has had a brilliant academic career at Boise State. He has been accepted to Oxford University and plans to pursue graduate school after serving two years at the Federal Reserve.

I hope you will join me in congratulating all of our newest graduates on the beginning of a new and exciting phase of their lives.

As usual, thank you for all that you do for Boise State University. Go Broncos!

Sincerely,

Bob Kustra

Here are a few recent and upcoming items of interest from Boise State University:

Boise State and the Micron Foundation have teamed up to entice Idaho’s brightest science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) students into the state’s classrooms as a new generation of teachers who excel in technical subjects. The new program, called IDoTeach, is designed to meet a desperate need for Idaho science and math teachers in coming years by attracting a largely untapped pool of talented college students majoring in STEM subjects into secondary education careers. With $300,000 in initial funding from the Micron Foundation, IDoTeach will replicate an innovative and highly successful teacher preparation program created at the University of Texas at Austin that has been duplicated at 29 universities around the country, including University of California, Berkeley, Louisiana State University, University of Houston and Florida State University. IDoTeach is the only replica of the University of Texas program in the eight-state Pacific Northwest and Northern Rocky Mountain region of the country.

A record 2,300 participants helped raise $40,000 for the Boise State general scholarship fund by racing Boise State football coach Chris Petersen in the fifth annual Beat Coach Pete Scholarship Run/Walk on Saturday, April 14. Presented by Boise State University Health and Recreation, Bronco Athletics and the United Dairymen of Idaho, the race benefited the general student scholarship fund at Boise State while challenging participants to “Beat Pete.” Coach Petersen donated an additional $5 to the scholarship fund for each participant who crossed the finish line in front of him. Exactly 1,062 racers topped Pete’s 28-minute and 50-second run, generating a $5,310 payout toward the total.

Boise State recently honored faculty members Peter Müllner, engineering, and Marion Scheepers, mathematics, as the university’s newest Distinguished Professors. The title is one of the highest honors given to faculty members at Boise State and is reserved for a small number who have made major contributions to their academic disciplines. Müllner is among the leading researchers in the field of magnetic shape memory alloys, with research funding in excess of $5 million. Scheepers’ research has greatly influenced the field of set theory and he is the founder of the mathematical discipline of selection principles. In addition to recognition, the Boise State University Distinguished Professorship includes a stipend to support scholarly activities.

Boise State’s Model United Nations Club was awarded the Distinguished Delegation Award at the National Model United Nations conference in New York City on April 5. The prestigious and competitive conference is attended by more than 5,100 students from around the world. The delegation spent three months preparing for the conference, where they debated real issues that confront the international community, such as human trafficking, an arms trade treaty, disaster relief and emergency preparedness, and the upcoming Rio+20 Conference.

Boise State took another step in continuing to build its nationally ranked football program when it broke ground April 12 on a new $22 million football complex. The 68,000-square foot facility will be located in a grass area at the north end of Bronco Stadium. The target date for completion is June 30, 2013. This state-of-the-art, two story building will include coaches’ offices, meeting rooms, recruiting and players’ lounges, an academic center, weight room, athletic training room, equipment room, and a locker room for the Bronco team.