One way of ensuring that our graduate programs maintain the highest quality possible is by hiring new faculty who excel in research. By hiring strong researchers who are also good teachers we can continue to develop and expand our graduate offerings.
— Al Dufty, associate dean, Boise State Graduate College
Support of Learning — $26 million
As Boise State University grows, so does its ability to attract top-notch teachers and researchers with impressive credentials. Faculty researchers’ areas of interest include sensor research, nanotechnology, electrical and computer engineering, materials science and engineering, wildlife habitat, raptor research, climate change, geological hazards, the efficacy of polygraph testing, biomechanics, stroke recovery, cancer and Alzheimer’s research and more. Research grants now total about $5 million per year and are funded by institutions ranging from local organizations to the National Science Foundation. Boise State defines its research agenda as responding to national, state and local needs, with primary focus on producing new knowledge to strengthen the Boise community and economy.
Recruiting and Retaining the Best Faculty
The competition for excellent faculty and staff is as intense as that for top-notch students. Hiring the very best teachers and researchers is paramount in advancing Boise State to the next level. Recruiting and retaining talented faculty requires resources that allow them to do their jobs well. This includes competitive salaries, equipment, laboratory/studio/work space, state-of-the-art classrooms and other resources.
Endowed professorships are an incentive to attract faculty who excel in their fields and can inspire their colleagues and the students who study with them. Funds raised to support this activity will be leveraged with existing university resources to provide competitive salaries, travel and start-up funds for research projects. The endowed professorships would be in areas of targeted interdisciplinary growth and strength such as environmental science, business, engineering, education, biomolecular science, health sciences, public policy, and community and regional planning.
Enhancing the Research Infrastructure
Cutting-edge and competitive research requires internal research seed grants that allow faculty the time and resources to initiate research projects and develop grant proposals. Support for research development, grant management, technology transfer patents, cross-college and multi-institutional collaborations, and university visibility with funding agencies are all critical elements of the research infrastructure.
Fact: Since 1990, the top professor in Idaho – as selected by the Carnegie Foundation for extraordinary dedication to undergraduate teaching – has come from Boise State University 10 times.
Boise State friends Duane and Lori Stueckle have established an endowed chair in their names for the Department of Biology. Earnings on the fund are awarded annually to a current professor who conducts biomedical research, particularly in developmental biology, molecular biology, genomics, proteomics and cell biology. This endowed chair fund is the first of its kind for Boise State’s Biology Department. The current chair holder is biology professor Julie Oxford (center, with the Stueckles).
Duane Stueckle in particular has a very keen interest in biomedical research and wants to ensure that quality educational opportunities are available to Boise State students. “I’d had this idea of providing some support in this area for a long time, but I figured I’d have to go to MIT or Harvard to do it. Then I found out what was going on right here at Boise State, and I thought, why go across the country when there are great things happening in my own backyard,” he said.
