News Release
____________________________________________________________
November 18, 2005
FYI
What: Boise State preps for major growth
Contact: Bob Evancho, (208) 426-1643,
bevanch@boisestate.edu
As enrollment at Boise State University continues to increase, the
university has come up with a master plan, recently approved by the State
Board of Education, to control that growth and make sure it is an asset for
both the institution and the community. Below is an overview of the plan and
a look at where Boise State is along the path. Feel free to use this story
and the graphic however you wish.
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Boise State Sets Plans in Motion for Significant Growth
By Bob Evancho
Change — big change — is afoot at Boise State University. It won’t
happen overnight, nor will it be obvious in the weeks and months to come. In
fact, with the exception of a large-scale construction project at each end
of campus, there isn’t a whole lot of tangible evidence of the
transformation that is already under way.
Not yet anyway.
For years, Boise State has enjoyed a reputation as an excellent
undergraduate teaching institution. But it is now embarking on plans to
transform itself into a campus that includes state-of-the-art buildings and
facilities, professors with ambitious research agendas, and new graduate and
Ph.D. programs, some of which are scheduled to start next year. The
university’s plans are due in part to record-high enrollment of close to
19,000 students, the largest in Idaho, and a local economy morphing into a
dynamic marketplace of ideas and products.
“Boise State,” said Bob Kustra, the school’s president, “stands
uniquely positioned in Idaho as a metropolitan university empowered by a
dynamic, high-tech economy and one of the most attractive regions in the
nation.”
The university has ambitions to enter the top ranks of the nation’s
big-city research institutions of higher learning. Or as Kustra has said,
borrowing from the Oldsmobile television commercial, “this is not your
father’s Boise State.”
The transformation publicly began with the unveiling of a Campus
Master Plan, which was approved by Idaho’s State Board of Education in
October. This blueprint for the future, said Kustra, is part of the
university’s vision and strategic direction to transform itself into
something quite different than the institution that until 1965 was a junior
college that boasted a stellar faculty and a standout football team, two
characteristics that still hold true today.
“Our roots reflect an institution devoted to classroom teaching —
an emphasis that continues today and is evident in the 10 Idaho Professor of
the Year Awards from the Carnegie Foundation since 1990,” Kustra said. “Our
future lies in the convergence of our metropolitan character, excellence in
undergraduate education, and the research of our faculty, focused as it is
on the regional and state economy and public policy, the Western landscape
and the challenges of science.”
Among its various objectives, the Master Plan will expand graduate
programming to meet the needs of a more sophisticated work force in the
Treasure Valley. It is designed, Kustra said, to focus on increasing
residential living and learning and an increased emphasis on faculty who
come to the university to teach and do research and need the facilities to
do so.
“As our new identity drives annual enrollment increases, we are
focused on [plans] that accommodate new residence halls and apartments, not
only for our undergraduates, but also for growing numbers of graduate
students as we increase the number of master’s and doctoral programs on our
campus,” the president added.
Kustra said the Master Plan builds on the existing institutional values and
core beliefs and creates opportunities for students and their future,
developing partnerships, prioritizing academic programs, building research
potential, and defining Boise State’s identity.
While such concepts are crucial to the plan’s success, the physical
changes to the campus will be the most dramatic. Boise State’s Master Plan
provides a “blueprint for the future” that summarizes facility improvements
through 2015 and beyond. The Campus Master Plan serves as a fundamental
cornerstone to campus growth, Kustra said.
The plan would add 25 new buildings and Boise State’s main campus
would nearly double in size.
There are already early manifestations of these ambitious plans. An
indoor practice facility next to Bronco Stadium and its famous blue turf is
near completion, while on the other side of campus construction began
earlier this month on a new 54,000-square-foot Interactive Learning Center.
The $13.5 million building will include a 200-seat lecture hall and 12
standard classrooms in addition to a multi-media lab, multi-purpose/distance
learning classroom, visualization classroom, experimental classroom,
numerous study lounges and other amenities.
Kustra said Boise State’s most recent construction project is part
of the university’s efforts to accommodate its growing numbers of students
and provide them with a quality learning experience. “It will symbolize our
commitment to our students to facilitate state-of-the-art learning with
cutting-edge technology,” he said.
Next on the list of new buildings is a Student Health, Wellness and
Counseling Center, with construction scheduled to begin in 2006. After that
will come new science and engineering facilities, more parking garages and
other significant expansion and renovation to the overall campus.
How will Boise State pay for all this? First, the Master Plan is a
long-term initiative and will be put into action as such, Kustra said. He
added that it will need to be approved and supported by the state’s leaders
and policy-makers and implemented with a thorough and prudent — yet
entrepreneurial — funding strategy that will take a decade or two. “But I
have no doubt that it will place BSU in a position to become a major player
in the sphere of metropolitan universities by the end of the 21st century’s
second decade,” he said.
The Master Plan will make Boise State an exciting new force in the
Pacific Northwest, Kustra said. But at the same time he acknowledges that
there is much work ahead. “Communicating this metamorphosis from Boise
Junior College into an energetic university focused on innovation and
groundbreaking research to stakeholders and the university’s 50,000 active
alumni, however, proves to be a continuing challenge,” he said.
But the time is now, the president said. “As a distinctive
university with an expanding research role in the state’s economy, with a
faculty and students exploring the scientific frontiers of the 21st century,
and of course, with an athletic program that has reached premier status in
the West and nationally, Boise State University is poised for a bright
future as our capital city’s metropolitan research university of
distinction.”
Bob Evancho is Boise State’s associate director of communications.
The Office of Communications and Marketing
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Boise State University
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Boise Idaho 83725-1030
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(fax)208-426-4001
email communications@boisestate.edu
Last reviewed on Thursday, December 22, 2005