April 29, 2004

Boise State Signs Agreement With Italian University on May 5

A major Italian university on the island of Sardinia that enrolls more than 40,000 students and whose history dates back to the early 1600s will sign an agreement on Wednesday, May 5, with Boise State University to establish a formal relationship. Dignitaries from the University of Cagliari, including President Pasquale Mistretta, will join Boise State President Bob Kustra and other university officials in signing a memorandum of understanding at 3 p.m. Wednesday in the Salmon River Room at the Boise Centre on the Grove. The public is invited and a reception will follow. The memorandum encourages student and faculty cooperation between the two universities for research and teaching in the field of geosciences. The signing ceremony is one of the culminating events of regional meetings of the Geological Society of America that is expected to bring 1,000 geoscientists to Boise. “This is a major step forward for Boise State,” said Phillip Eastman, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “We’re connecting with a major university with a very large geosciences department. The opportunity to work and do research together benefits both universities.” The agreement with the University of Cagliari follows the establishment in 2002 of a Boise State summer geology field camp in Sardinia that has attracted students from universities throughout the United States. The camp, designed as a capstone experience for geosciences students, has also involved faculty from the University of Cagliari and other Italian universities. It was founded by Clyde J. Northrup, chair of the geosciences department, and Claude Spinosa, an emeritus geosciences professor who was born in Sardinia. According to Northrup, the formal agreement builds on the relationship Boise State has already established with the University of Cagliari and will facilitate new faculty and research collaborations. Although the two universities are literally a world apart, each has a strong geosciences program with funded research projects around the world, Northrup said. “This connects Boise State to the international science community in a direct way,” Northrup said. “Our students benefit greatly from opportunities to develop a global perspective.” The University of Cagliari, founded in 1620, is located on the southern coast of the island of Sardinia near both Bronze Age and Roman-era ruins. The university offers comprehensive academic and research programs in the sciences, medicine and surgery, law, economics, education, languages, humanities and economics, and houses a number of unique museums, including a 30,000-piece mineral display that contains one-of-a-kind samples of mineral deposits that have since been depleted. The display was donated to the university about 200 years ago by the governor of Sardinia. Sardinia is located off the west coast of Italy’s mainland and traces its cultural history back to the Stone Age. The mountainous island contains ruins of many civilizations, including thousands of nuraghi, small prehistoric villages dominated by conic, tower-like fortifications made of rocks. The complex geology of the island makes for a rigorous and interesting geology field camp, said Northrup. “The history of the geology of Sardinia reflects the history of the development of Atlantic and Mediterranean basins,” Northrup said. “Students who study the geology here gain an awareness of global processes.” -30- Contact Clyde J Northrup and Claude Spinosa Geosciences 426-1581 (Northrup) and 841-4386 (Spinosa) Media contact Janelle Brown communications and marketing 426-1790