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.

Dear Friends,

The overwhelming sense of loss from the passing of our friend and fellow Bronco Steve Appleton can only be tempered by the memories and recognition of his legacy at Boise State University. From academics to athletics, we are remembering his widespread impact on helping to make Boise State a place of distinction.

The university is honored to host the public memorial service at 10 a.m. Feb. 23 in Taco Bell Arena, as we all pay tribute to a man who played a critical role in the transformation of his alma mater. We also are thankful that the Boise State University Foundation and the Make-A-Wish Foundation have been designated as the recipients of funds in memory of Steve, including a $25,000 donation by the Micron Foundation.

Steve was passionate about the importance of education, especially in business, science, technology and math, and keenly appreciated the need to have quality higher education and technical education available in the town where his business and employees were located. That was why he found time to co-chair our Comprehensive Campaign, show up to root for his old team at the tennis center he funded and which is named after him, and play a key role in our business and engineering colleges.

Steve was part of the university in countless ways as an adviser, donor, sports fan, alumnus, honorary doctorate recipient and Silver Medallion honoree. The common thread was his competitiveness and quest for excellence in those endeavors. His core values were evident in all he did – never forget where you came from and help those coming up after you.

His legacy at Boise State will be one of great example to our students, as it was during his life. They knew about Steve and understood that if he could accomplish all he did as a graduate of Boise State University, so could they. We at Boise State are committed to keeping his memory and accomplishments alive so they can inspire future Broncos as he did so well during his lifetime.

Sincerely,
Bob Kustra

Dear Friends,

Igniting innovation that breaks ground in new fertile fields of commercial endeavor and creates knowledge-based jobs right here in Idaho is a defining purpose of Boise State’s emergence as a metropolitan research university.

A new initiative proposed by Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter promises to support Boise State’s focus on economic development with the resources, strategic initiative and expertise of the State of Idaho, our sister higher education institutions and Idaho industry. Known as IGEM, the Idaho Global Entrepreneurial Mission is an outstanding common sense initiative that melds the realities of the marketplace with the talents and resources of our universities, all to the great benefit of Idaho’s economy.

It is a critical time for Idaho as a number of neighboring states have implemented comprehensive plans for economic development by investing in higher education. We are acutely aware of our job creation role in this technology-sophisticated economy. Boise State has the core faculty, research programs and facilities in place to effectively leverage the IGEM investment, especially with our strengths in materials science, nanotechnology, sensor development, energy policy and biomolecular science.

IGEM is one of the higher education budget recommendations that we support along with the proposal to fund the enrollment workload adjustment. Our students deserve a funding formula that follows them to attend the public university of their choice – thereby defraying some of the cost of their education. Since 2006, 71 percent of the new students entering the state’s public university system have enrolled at Boise State. Currently, we serve 43 percent of Idaho’s full-time resident university students. When we tallied the number of students who took courses over the fall, spring and summer sessions in fiscal year 2011, we were amazed to see that we had served more than 29,000 distinct students. This figure is a more accurate indicator of our increasingly metropolitan outreach and far in excess of the 19,664 that we reported on the 10^th day of fall enrollment per state guidelines.

Those daunting numbers not only drive our annual funding needs, but they have compelled Boise State to reinvent its academic and business practices, develop key competencies among our faculty and programs, and allocate resources that promote innovation, effectiveness and responsible risk-taking. Mindful of serving our students and our community, the university recognizes, too, that it must be nimble and transformational in its approach to higher education.

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:

Our Department of Music has entered into a unique partnership with the Boise Philharmonic to create four new graduate fellowships. The fellowships are partially funded by private donors and Boise State’s Arts and Humanities Institute. The graduate string fellows will be full-time students pursuing master’s degrees in music with an emphasis in performance, pedagogy or music education. The fellowships will provide tuition and fees as well as $10,000 per year for two years to study at Boise State and perform with the Boise Philharmonic.

A group of engineering students known as Greenspeed were showcased at the prestigious Washington (D.C.) Auto Show last month where they displayed the world’s fastest vehicle that runs on vegetable oil. Amid the likes of Audi, Chevrolet, Mercedes-Benz and Buick, Boise State was part of the ‘Advanced Technology Superhighway’ that focused on safety and sustainability in motion. It was an incredible accomplishment for our students to be invited.

Another Nobel Laureate is visiting our campus in March as part of the Honors College Distinguished Lecture Series. Climate scientist and MIT professor Susan Solomon is an internationally recognized leader in atmospheric science. The Distinguished Lecture Series features speakers who have had major impacts in politics, the arts, science, business or other realms of contemporary significance. Past speakers include Nobel Laureate in Economics Joseph Stiglitz, biologist E.O. Wilson and Nobel Peace Prize recipient and former president of Poland Lech Walesa, among others.

Next fall Boise State will implement a new way of learning that takes our undergraduate curriculum from black and white to high definition. The Foundational Studies Program emphasizes student learning through shared experiences, no matter what major or area of study. When students graduate, they will have four years of learning outcomes in problem solving, communication, innovation, teamwork, ethics and diversity that are relevant for the workplace and life. At the doctoral level, we are pleased to begin new Ph.D. degrees in 2012 in biomolecular sciences, materials science and engineering, and a fully online doctorate in educational technology.