Wednesday marked 130 years since our founding as Idaho’s land-grant research university. That proud heritage informs our forward-looking mission to help students excel and graduate prepared for the challenges of today and tomorrow. This week I connected with Cher Hendricks, our vice provost for academic initiatives, to introduce a fresh face in U of I leadership and to gain insight on our efforts to help even more Vandal students succeed. President Chuck Staben: Tell us a little about yourself. How and why did you come to academic leadership? Vice Provost Cher Hendricks: I’ve had a varied career, from working in technical theatre building sets and props to teaching students with special needs at the elementary and middle school levels. I earned a Ph.D. in Educational Research and Measurement and began my university teaching career in 1998. After a stint at Georgia Tech as a research scientist, I started working in faculty development and really found my passion. It didn’t take long to realize that faculty are the key to moving academic initiatives forward, and I started working closely on various academic initiatives related to student success, undergraduate education, and general education. When I discovered the Vice Provost for Academic Initiatives position at U of I in 2017, it was a perfect fit. CS: U of I is a leader in student success – retention and graduation. How can we improve on that success? What is top of the list? CH: We have a great freshman retention rate, but we could do a lot better with achievement gaps for underrepresented groups and to improve our 4-year graduation rate. On-time graduation means less student debt and more earning potential. I think any of us who have or have had a child in college can relate to the desire for our kids to finish on-time. But we should also focus on providing students with courses and experiences that are meaningful and engaging. Success isn’t just about graduating in four years. It’s also about offering academic programs and co-curricular experiences that help students learn and develop habits of mind that will support them throughout their personal and professional lives. CS: The University of Idaho recently joined onto the APLU’s “Powered by Publics: Scaling Student Success” initiative. Why is that initiative important? CH: Powered by Publics focuses on student success, college completion and workforce preparation. There are 130 institutions taking part, and those institutions work within a smaller cluster of similar institutions. We’ll collaborate in our Western Land-Grant cluster with schools similar to us and facing similar challenges. We have the opportunity to share strategies that are working for us and learn from our sister schools about the effective student success and support strategies they’ve used. In a way, we are a learning community that’s focused on implementing evidence-based strategies to help students succeed. CS: What is the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning? Why is it critical, and what success have we had with it? CH: The CETL supports development of faculty at all levels, from tenured full professors to part-time instructors, focusing particularly on helping faculty build teaching skills to best support active, engaged student learning. CETL supports faculty whether they are teaching face-to-face, blended classes or fully online. Faculty can get help with using technology tools, but they also have access to staff who can help redesign an entire course using evidence-based practices that increase student learning and engagement. Students, of course, benefit from taking well-designed courses that set them up for success. For faculty, the CETL provides a place to tinker with their courses, try new strategies, and work with other colleagues who have similar interests in teaching and learning. This type of community building is a great outcome for the work the Center is facilitating. CS: You and College of Science Dean Ginger Carney are co-chairing this year’s Vandal Ideas Project: Transform initiative. What are your hopes for that project? CH: I hope we’ll see innovative, scalable and sustainable ideas that focus on on-time degree completion. I’ve been engaged in student success work for many years now, and it’s easy for me to get tunnel vision and focus on strategies I know to be effective or that I’ve seen have success at various institutions. But we need fresh ideas and new ways of thinking about and supporting student success. I’m excited to see some truly innovative ideas come from our students, faculty, and staff. CS: What do you like about your job? What experience that stands out? CH: I like the people I work with, the students I get to interact with, and the complex problems I get to try to solve with others. On the student side, I often work with students appealing an academic decision. A student may have had a tough semester or made poor decisions that put them in a difficult situation. We’ll often have a long discussion about where they are and how they got there, and sometimes I’ll get out the catalog and help map a way forward. In other cases, we may have a hard conversation about choices and the effects of those choices. Connecting with students always puts me back in touch with my purpose for being in higher education — which for me centers on the student and the student experience. Those moments with students are important and special to me. President Staben: Thank you, Cher, for serving our students. We appreciate your energy and passion for innovation. Go Vandals! | | Go Vandals! Chuck Staben President | | | Erstads Design Vandal Educational Opportunities While not themselves University of Idaho alumni, Andy and Shannon Erstad have plenty of branches on their Vandal family tree, including parents, siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews, and, closest to home, two of their children. The Erstads have also participated as Parent Advisory Board Members and served on the College of Art and Architecture’s Advisory Council. They’ve felt inspired to advance the university’s mission of a world-class education for students, especially those with financial need. The Erstads created two endowed scholarships for CAA students. “Endowing two scholarships is a small step in assuring that students inspired to pursue a career in architecture and interior design will have an opportunity at some financial help,” Andy said. “I was fortunate to receive scholarships as a student, and am committed to providing that opportunity to others.” The Erstads are also excited about the opportunities U of I students earn at erstad ARCHITECTS, their Boise-based company, through internship programs and as exceptional graduates. Vandals comprise the vast majority of their workforce. To learn more about supporting scholarships and the College of Art and Architecture, contact Brad Martin at 208-885-0935 or bmartin@uidaho.edu. | | 53 Vandals Earn Big Sky Academic Honors The University of Idaho landed 53 student-athletes on the 2018 Big Sky Fall All-Academic Teams for football, volleyball, women's soccer and men's and women's cross country. The Vandals were led by 15 women's soccer student-athletes earning all-academic accolades. Football followed close behind with 14 all-academic team members. Idaho led the Big Sky in women's cross country with 11 all-academic honorees. Men's cross country (seven) and volleyball (six) rounded out Idaho's contingent. Each of Idaho's fall sports teams increased or maintained its number of all-academic team members from 2017. Women's soccer student-athletes Kelly Dopke and Claire Johnson concluded their Vandal careers as four-time Big Sky All-Academic recipients. Nine more Vandals were honored for a third time this year. To be eligible for the recognition, a student-athlete must carry at least a 3.2 cumulative grade-point average (on a 4.0 scale) and participate in at least 50 percent of the team's competitions. | | State Rep. Maxine Bell Given Honorary Jean’ne M. Shreeve Research Excellence Award Longtime Idaho State Rep. Maxine Bell has been presented with the first ever honorary Jean'ne M. Shreeve NSF EPSCoR Research Excellence Award by the Idaho Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), the first time since the award’s 2011 establishment it has gone to a non-faculty member at one of Idaho’s universities. The award recognizes Bell’s long-standing support for high-quality scientific research at Idaho’s universities and her extraordinary leadership at the state level. Bell, of Jerome, recently retired after more than 30 years in the Idaho Legislature. She was appointed by the State Board of Education to the Idaho EPSCoR Committee in 2001 and has been an active member ever since. Since Bell’s appointment to the EPSCoR Committee, research and development expenditures from all sources at Idaho’s universities and colleges have nearly doubled, from $82.5 million to $155 million in 2016, and Idaho’s share of National Science Foundation research funding tripled. Those investments address water and natural resources issues, biomedical science needs and other topics of importance to Idaho, as well as educate and train scientists. | | Safe Routes to School Celebrates 10 Years at U of I The Safe Routes to School program at the University of Idaho, which helps encourage walking, biking and other physical activity, is marking 10 years in 2019. The group’s next event is the Polar Walk on Wednesday, Feb. 6, which includes hot chocolate for elementary and middle school participants. Elementary and middle school students, with the help of 50-80 U of I students, staff and other volunteers, will walk to school and participate in morning activities designed to help the young students get to their classes safely. The mission of Safe Routes to School is to educate and encourage physical activity as well as change the perception that walking and biking to school is inconvenient or unsafe. With the help of an army of U of I student volunteers, student-athletes and others, participation among Moscow School District students for the walk-to-school events has increased from about 50 percent to 70-80 percent over the past decade. U of I students, staff or faculty interested in volunteering for the Polar Walk or other programs can contact Erin Bacon, U of I’s Safe Routes to School program coordinator, at ebacon@uidaho.edu. | | | | |