BOISE, Idaho — This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
Boise State President Marlene Tromp said other higher education leaders are often surprised to hear she’s still in the same position five years later.
She acknowledged there’s been a recent “negative energy” aimed at higher education, but during her annual State of the University address Wednesday, the BSU leader focused on the school’s successes over her tenure — such as increasing graduation rates, research funding and donations that have happened in her five years heading the state’s largest university. Classes at BSU begin Monday, Aug. 19.
“For me, this is in many ways a five-year retrospective,” Tromp told the audience gathered in ExtraMile Arena.
Tromp and BSU have been the subject of some stark criticism and questioning from Idaho lawmakers who question spending on anything they deem related to DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion. Some have called for large budget cuts.
Tromp said that ire has been “fixated on universities as this site of damage, when there’s so much good that universities do.”
The school’s four-year graduation rate has increased substantially, up to 42.7% in 2023 — a 39% increase from 2019.
“A 1.5% graduation rate increase is phenomenal, 39% is meteoric,” Tromp said.
Almost 25,000 students from BSU have graduated in five years. There are students who hail from, and alumni living in, every county in Idaho, she said. One of her goals was to increase the number of in-state students served, she said, and in her time the enrollment of first-year Idahoan students has grown 20%.
“We are changing the face of Idaho with the work that you do,” Tromp said.
She also highlighted the rise of fundraising over her time at the university, much of which goes toward athletics. In fiscal year 2024, BSU raised nearly $21 million for its North End Zone project at Albertsons Stadium. The total planned renovation to the football stadium, which would add premium seating, an open-air bar, a wider concourse, a club and lounge, is expected to cost around $65 million, the Idaho Press previously reported.
In total, the university has raised $61.3 million in donations this year, in a third straight record-setting year for philanthropic support.
When it comes to the school’s strategic goals, which center on access, innovation, research and creative activity, community, and partnerships, there’s been some progress made since the goals were set in 2020.
One of the goals was to increase Latina/o students to match Idaho’s demographics, and the school is at 90% of its target, Tromp said. Idaho’s population is about 13% Latino, according to a report from the Idaho Commission on Hispanic Affairs.
BSU has reached its target for increasing enrollment of low-income students who receive a Pell grant and sits at about 94% of its target increase of first-generation Idaho students.
Tromp underscored a new certification in artificial intelligence, which will be added to the existing certificate programs for cybersecurity and semiconductors. These certifications are open to students in any discipline.
“There’s so many ways AI can change the world around us for the better, but we have to understand the tool,” she said.
The amount of money coming in for research has also significantly grown in the past five years, with a 57% increase in awards in that time. The institution brought in 10 grants worth over $1 million this year.
BSU is nearing the threshold to become what’s called an R1 university, which is a classification indicating a school has high research activity. If BSU has six more doctorate research graduates per year, it will meet the requirements set by Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.
“It will not be long before I’m standing on this stage and we are celebrating that achievement,” Tromp said.
Connections with community, national and global partners are also a focus for BSU leadership, she said.
Tromp highlighted the Idaho Listens series conducted through the Institute for Advancing American Values, which will be hosting conversations about the upcoming federal election in October and November.
The campus this month hosted a recent summit for the National Council on Competitiveness, during which BSU unveiled a new semiconductor machine that’s the first of its kind at a U.S. university.
Tromp also noted her emphasis on creating new endowed professorship positions and endowed scholarships, which are persistent and ongoing through the revenue made on interest of the endowment.
This year there are six new faculty endowments. A campaign to raise money for these endowments has also resulted in 1,081 new scholarship funds and $60 million coming in for endowed scholarships since it launched in October 2023.
She congratulated the faculty present on their accomplishments and thanked them for the work they’ve done toward achieving the milestones she’d mentioned.
“Let’s go forward and make the next five years even greater,” Tromp said.
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.
