At the University of Idaho, we head into spring excited about delivering on our mission and meeting our strategic plan goals. We continue to focus on growing enrollment and helping students progress toward graduation. We’re delivering innovative research that makes statewide impact for students and for economic development. And we’re continuing to connect with communities across this great state. | | Go Vandals! Chuck Staben President | | | Idaho Wheat Commission Endows Risk Management Chair A $2 million gift from the Idaho Wheat Commission has established the Idaho Wheat Commission Endowed Chair in Risk Management at U of I. In a first for U of I, the chair will enhance collaboration between the College of Business and Economics and the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. An endowed chair is a high honor for any faculty member, and a tribute to the organization creating the position. This position will help U of I recruit a leader who can support research, teaching and experiential learning in risk management. The chair will also be a resource to wheat growers seeking to have more advanced marketing tools. The search process to fill the position is commencing at U of I. | | Education Building in Coeur d’Alene Moving Ahead From the Couer d'Alene Press: A public education building project in Coeur d’Alene that has been discussed for almost a decade could break ground this spring, with completion a year away. Bids on the estimated $8.2 million project located inside the higher education campus of the education corridor — the former DeArmond Mill site along the Spokane River adjacent to North Idaho College — will be received this month for the 30,000-square-foot facility funded in part by Idaho’s public universities and colleges. Called the North Idaho Collaborative Education (NICE) facility, the two-story structure is expected to house University of Idaho, Lewis and Clark State College, Idaho State and Boise State university classrooms. It’s also supposed to create one-stop student services — admissions, financial aid and advising. Read more. | | Exhibit, Policy Forums at Energized McClure Center The legacy of Idaho Senator James A. McClure is highlighted at a new exhibit at the University of Idaho’s James A. and Louise McClure Center for Public Policy Research in downtown Boise. The exhibit features information posters, historical pictures, and various artifacts, and represents a new way for the center to engage Idahoans. The center, led by director Katherine Himes, has also embarked on a Policy Pub series for spring 2018, an opportunity for the public to learn about current policy and engage in conversation with decision-makers. A March panel discussion focused on policy and the law. A May 3 Policy Pub will focus on natural resources and policy. In addition, the center continues to provide objective, data-driven analysis to inform policy-making. | | On March 2, 1887, the Hatch Act became law, providing federal funding for agricultural experiment stations, including the Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station, born in 1892 at U of I and now the research umbrella for the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. In Idaho, agribusiness contributes $10.1 billion to the economy and represents 16 percent of GSP. The IAES operates from nine Research and Extension Centers statewide, conducting research in areas such as new crop varieties and irrigation methods across 4,000 acres of dedicated land. IAES also partners with industry and government agencies such as the USDA. | | | | Law and Idaho WWAMI Program Shine in Rankings The University of Idaho’s professional degree programs continued to shine in the recently released 2018 U.S. News and World Report’s "Best Graduate Schools" rankings. The Idaho WWAMI program partners with the University of Washington School of Medicine to provide qualified Idaho students access to a medical education curricula largely set in the state of Idaho. The UW School of Medicine was again among the top schools in the nation (No. 3 nationwide) for primary care and a top-10 school for pediatrics, internal medicine and surgery. The U of I College of Law ranked No. 119 in the nation, the only Idaho-based law program ranked by U.S. News, recognizing standout value for legal education. | | VIP Initiative Focuses on Student Success The University of Idaho’s 2018-2019 incarnation of its annual Vandal Ideas Project takes on the “Transform” goal of the U of I Strategic Plan. The annual initiative asks faculty, staff and students to develop ideas that make an impact. This year, VIP: Transform will support those students who are already in college by focusing on ways to help students succeed and graduate. Projects will tackle innovative ways to improve the college experience for students and improve upon U of I’s leading retention and graduation rates. Grants will be awarded in Fall 2018; Vice Provost for Academic Initiatives Cher Hendricks and College of Science Dean Ginger Carney are project chairs. | | Raven Scholars Program Helps Students Find Their Way From the Spokane Spokesman-Review: Aidan Neelon’s grades rose from straight C’s to A’s and B’s last semester when the University of Idaho sophomore found the place he belonged on campus. Neelon, who grew up in Moscow, said he made the academic leap by joining the Raven Scholars, a university transition program for students on the autism spectrum. Since the program’s inception in 2011, the retention rate among students who participate has been higher than the university’s undergraduate retention average. “Getting into a career and building a life I can be happy and comfortable with, and being able to successfully manage my life as my own, is a lot more possible,” Neelon said. “It’s nice to find somewhere you belong, because if you find it once, you can find it again.” Raven Scholars such as Neelon, who expects to graduate in 2020, may indeed have to find that place again. The privately funded program has an expiration date, with only enough money in its gift budget to operate through the 2018-19 academic year. Read more. | | Student Success: 2/3: undergraduate participation in high-impact research and scholarship 82%: first-to-second-year retention, leading among Idaho public institutions 90%: Vandals with a job or plans for continued study upon graduation 53%: 2015 U of I graduates were STEM majors – more than 1,000 graduates $91,700: average mid-career salary for a U of I graduate, according to PayScale | | | Project ECHO Supports Healthy Communities The Idaho WWAMI program’s Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) creates a telehealth education program for healthcare providers in rural and underserved areas of Idaho, focusing especially on opioid addiction and treatment. Opioids are the second-most abused illicit drug in Idaho and are specifically called out as a focus of the governor in the Idaho Opioid Misuses and Overdose Strategic Plan, 2017-2022. Rural and underserved communities often lack specialists to treat those who need care. Project ECHO’s learning and guided practice model helps provide best-practice specialty care and reduce health disparities through hub-and-spoke knowledge-sharing networks. Expert teams (hubs) use multi-point video conferencing to conduct virtual clinics with community providers (spokes). In this way, primary care doctors, nurses and other clinicians learn to provide excellent specialty care to patients in their own communities, improving outcomes and reducing costs. | | Snapshots: Building U of I's Future Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment: U of I continues to make progress on the proposed largest research dairy in the U.S., to support workforce and economic development in dairy production and processing in Idaho. Idaho Central Credit Union Arena: ICCU's $10 million naming rights gift bolsters ongoing fundraising for this innovative wood-engineered facility, a long-awaited home for student-athlete success and community use. Idaho WWAMI Facilities: $2.4 million in FY18 Permanent Building Fund support is helping renovate the Idaho WWAMI building at U of I and additional space at the new Gritman Medical Center building in Moscow. Aquaculture Research Institute: The U of I's construction of a new ARI facility continues this spring, with a summer 2018 open date planned. | | | From Vandal to Olympian Gresham, Oregon, native Sam Michener ’12 was the brakeman for one of three sleds that qualified for the U.S. Olympic Bobsled Team. “My job is to call the cadence and that cues us all to start pushing the sled,” he said. “I’m the last person in but the first to sit down because we all kind of sit on top of each other.” As the brakeman, he pulls in the bars used to push the sled and knows where the finish line is so he can pull the brakes. Michener started competing in 2012 and was placed on the national team in 2014. Michener graduated with his bachelor’s degree in exercise science from the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences in 2012. The skills he learned in the program helped him as a professional athlete, he said. | | Improving Logging Safety Each year, hundreds of workers in agriculture, forestry and fishing industries die as a result of on-the-job injuries, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It’s a huge concern for states like Idaho, where natural resources and associated industries contribute more than $5.4 billion to Idaho’s economy annually, according to the UI Policy Analysis Group. Researchers in the University of Idaho’s College of Natural Resources want to help. In 2015, UI alumnus and Assistant Professor Rob Keefe, director of UI’s Experimental Forest, received an $825,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to explore ways that technology can improve safety in the logging industry. | | | | |