Communications & Marketing

Campus life offers adventure and activity. More than 200 student organizations, new residence halls along the Boise River Greenbelt and a state-of-the-art Student Recreation Center provide opportunities for both individual development and fun. More than one million visitors come to campus annually for Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning speakers, Bronco football, Martin Luther King Jr. Human Rights Celebration and other events.

General

• Emerging metropolitan research university of distinction, achieving its vision through academic excellence, public engagement, a vibrant culture and exceptional research
• Reflecting the character of Idaho’s capital city – a center of business, government, technology, health care and the arts
• Largest university in Idaho with 19,664 students
• More than 70,000 alumni live across the United States and beyond
• Ranked among the nation’s and West’s “top up-and-coming schools” in the 2010 and 2011 U.S. News and World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” issue
• Recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching with its Community Engagement Classification

Academics

• Undergraduate, graduate and technical programs in seven colleges offering 77 master’s degrees, 99 baccalaureates, seven associates and 16 graduate certificates
• Four doctoral programs — electrical and computer engineering, geosciences, geophysics, and education
• Idaho’s first Executive MBA program, accredited by AACSB International, the gold standard for accreditation
• Students and alumni include two Rhodes Scholars, a Truman Scholar, a Mitchell Scholar, four Goldwater Scholars, a USA Today Academic All-American, several NCAA Academic All-Americans, several NCAA post-graduate scholars, and many Fulbright scholars and professors
• Customized education with Internet-based courses and classes available in Meridian, Mountain Home, Twin Falls and Gowen Field
• Study abroad opportunities offered in more than 50 countries
• Formal international partnerships with the University of Cagliari in Italy, University of Calgary in Canada, Asia University in Tokyo, the Basque government in Spain, and more than 35 other institutions
• College of Engineering undergraduate programs ranked 15th in the nation among comprehensive public universities in the 2012 U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” issue
• College of Business and Economics is among 6 percent of business schools in the world and 26 percent in the nation with AACSB international accreditation
• Largest undergraduate nursing program in the state
• Only university in the United States to offer a master of science degree in raptor biology
• AfterWork program allows working adults to complete bachelor’s degrees in nine areas of study through a combination of evening, weekend and online classes without exiting their career tracks
• Master of Fine Arts program in creative writing was recognized by the Huffington Post as one of the top 25 underrated programs in the country

Faculty

• Communication professor Heidi Reeder was named the 2007 Idaho Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation, marking the 11th time since 1990 that a Boise State professor had won this award
• Home to Boise State Distinguished Educator in Residence and former NASA astronaut Barbara Morgan, who is providing vision and leadership to the State of Idaho on science, technology, engineering and math education
• Assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering Wan Kuang was honored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2009 with a $400,000 CAREER grant, NSF’s most prestigious award for early career faculty
• Adjunct English professor Alan Heathcock was named the 2009 Carol Houck Smith Scholar at the national Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the oldest writer’s conference in the country
• In 2010, Boise State faculty had two articles published in Science, the acclaimed academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Provide expert commentary for New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, New Scientist, The Economist, CNN and Newsweek

Students

• Student Construction Management Association has twice been named top chapter in the nation by the Associated General Contractors of America
• Student teams have participated in NASA’s Microgravity University, which challenges undergraduates to design, fabricate, fly and evaluate a reduced gravity experiment
• Honors College offers more than 450 talented, highly motivated students from all academic disciplines the personalized attention of a small liberal arts school while drawing upon the resources of a metropolitan research university
• Faculty regularly work side-by-side with undergraduate students on research
• A student/faculty ratio of 21:1
• Students have recently won national awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, Kappa Sigma, American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the National Environmental Health Association
• One of the largest internship programs in the Northwest with 1,300 job placements annually
• Talkin’ Broncos debate and speech team won the 2011 national championship and is a perennial contender for the title

Research

• Emerging research leader in biomolecular science, innovative materials, health and public policy, sensors, and nanoelectronics and integrated systems
• Named one of 20 CUDA Research Centers worldwide by NVIDIA, a world leader in visual and parallel computing using graphics processing units — only CUDA center in the Pacific Northwest and one of only eight in the United States
• An interdisciplinary group received $940,000 in federal funding for West Nile virus vaccine research
• The Center for Health Policy researches the challenges of recruiting and retaining family medicine physicians in rural areas of Idaho
• Fastest growing biomolecular research program in Idaho supports researchers studying Alzheimer’s disease, breast cancer, artificial cartilage, chemotherapeutic drugs and other areas
• Part of two Federal Aviation Administration research centers with other universities such as MIT, Stanford, Harvard and Cal Berkeley
• More than 50 centers and institutes on campus work for the common good of Idaho and beyond, including the Center for Health Policy, Idaho Council on Economic Education and Andrus Center for Public Policy
• Recipient of $16.1 million grant along with sister institutions in Idaho from the National Institutes of Health to establish the Network for Biomedical Research Excellence
• Conduct funded research in Asia, Europe, Greenland, South and Central America, and many other locations worldwide
• Recipient of a $4.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to establish a National Geothermal Data System
• Recipient of $1 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to pioneer a novel disease detection system with principal investigator Will Hughes
• Boise State currently holds seven U.S. patents and has filed for about two-dozen more, well above the 2009 national average for the number of invention disclosures and patent applications.  

Campus Life

• Seven residence halls and five apartments, including eight Ivy League-modeled residential colleges and living/learning communities for students and faculty
• Vibrant campus life with more than 200 student organizations
• Award-winning $12 million Student Recreation Center with one of the largest collegiate climbing gyms in the United States (7,200-square-foot rock wall)
• Intercollegiate athletics features 19 sports as a member of the Mountain West Conference, including a nationally recognized football program that competes on the blue turf of Bronco Stadium
• Host a variety of events each year, including Homecoming, Pow Wow, Earth Week, Martin Luther King Jr. Human Rights Celebration, International Food, Song and Dance Festival, and more
• More than 1.1 million people annually attend campus cultural, athletic and entertainment events

Facilities

• 175-acre main campus situated less than a mile from Boise’s bustling downtown
• Main academic facilities include Albertsons Library, Engineering Complex, Norco Building, Communication Building, Kinesiology Building and Annex, Liberal Arts Building, Math/Geosciences Building, Business Building, Education Building, Science/Nursing Building, Interactive Learning Center, Public Affairs and Arts West Building and the Multipurpose Classroom Building
• Micron Business and Economics Building, at the corner of University Drive and Capitol Boulevard, to open in fall 2012
• Five-story, 90,000-square-foot Environmental Research Building opened in 2011
• In  last three years, opened or started construction on seven major new buildings encompassing a half a million square feet of classroom, laboratory, office, event and common areas
• Entertainment and athletic facilities include Bronco Stadium (33,500 capacity), Taco Bell Arena (12,400), Morrison Center Main Hall (2,000) and Centennial Amphitheatre (800)
• Student Union venues are the Grace Jordan Ballroom (1,000), J.R. and Esther Simplot Grand Ballroom (700) and Special Events Center (435) in addition to the Boise State Bookstore and Bronco Shop
• Additional education centers at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Gowen Field, Twin Falls, Meridian and in north Idaho

Community

• Guest speakers on campus have included illustrious figures such as Seymour Hersh, Al Gore, Mary Robinson, Kurt Vonnegut, Lech Walesa, Walter Mondale, Gloria Steinem, Danny Glover, E.O. Wilson, Peter Jennings, Ralph Nader, George McGovern, Cornel West, Barack Obama and John Wooden
• Annual Gene Harris Jazz Festival brings world-famous jazz artists to Boise
• Hosts Martin Luther King Jr. Human Rights Celebration every January
• Connected to Idaho community, serving more than 30,000 people annually in workshops, short courses, apprenticeship training and other non-credit programs
• Osher Lifelong Learning Institute partners with faculty and community organizations to offer its aged 50 and older members unique insight and experiences
• Largest Service-Learning program in the state has engaged more than 12,000 students in giving an excess of 285,000 hours of service to community organizations
• Unique partnerships with dance troupes Trey McIntyre Project and Idaho Dance Theatre bring quality performances to campus while offering educational opportunities to dancers

City of Boise

• Welcome to Boise, Idaho, the last great place in the American West – where housing remains affordable, Western culture still thrives, and access to the nation’s wildest state begins within city limits.” — National Geographic Adventure magazine, September 2006
• “Sitting at the junction of the arid plateau of the high desert and the western foothills of the Rocky Mountains, the capital of Idaho offers all the outdoor advantages of more ballyhooed Western towns but with less, well, ballyhoo.” – The New York Times, July 2006
• “The secret to living large affordably – do it in a small city like Boise…Despite its diminutive size, I conclude, this city has star quality.” — National Geographic Traveler magazine, March 2006
• “A rejuvenated downtown and a budding arts community mean that after a day of rafting…you don’t have to turn in once the sun fades.” — The New York Times, July 2006
• Top 10 places for outdoor activities — Sperling’s Best Places, October 2005
• No. 8 for best places to live — Money magazine, July 2006
• No. 4 for best walking cities in the U.S. — Prevention magazine, April 2006
• No. 1 for best places for business and careers — Forbes magazine, 2005
• No. 2 for best places for job growth — Inc. magazine, 2005
• No. 1 for best places to live and bike — Bike magazine, 2003

Noteworthy Alumni

• Hollywood director and Boise State’s first Rhodes Scholar Michael Hoffman (’79) — his movies include “Restoration” (which won two Oscars), “One Fine Day,” and “The Last Station”
• Micron Technology CEO and chair Steve Appleton (’82) — joined Boise-based Micron after graduation from Boise State and helped shape it into one of the world’s top suppliers of memory chips and image sensors
• Civic and political leader Bethine Church (’43), widow of the late U.S. Sen. Frank Church
• Actor Earl Boen (’61) — appeared in television shows and more than 50 feature films, including “Terminator,” “The Man With Two Brains,” “9 to 5” and “Nutty Professor II”