Kyle Keckler
News Editor
Those present at this fall’s homecoming game will recall when Idaho State University’s President, Robert Wagner, dramatically repelled from the ceiling of Holt Arena, descending some 100 feet from the rafters to the field below, game ball in hand. One week later, President Wagner would again stun attendees by leading the Idaho State Bengal football team onto the field from the back of a motorcycle, riding to the center of the arena, and waving to a cheering audience. All this to say, President Wagner has had a busy first fall semester, one that goes beyond just school spirit and dramatic game-day surprises.
Recently, eleven months after beginning his tenure, President Wagner sat down with The Bengal for the second time to discuss his early impressions of campus, the university, and his vision for Idaho State as a whole.
To start the interview, The Bengal asked President Wagner to introduce himself to readers who may not already be familiar with him. “My name is Robert Wagner. I’ve been president here at Idaho State University since earlier this year, specifically since January 29th, so this is my first fall semester here at Idaho State, and it’s been a fantastic experience.” As for his academic and administrative background, “Before I came to Idaho State University, I was at Utah State University for the previous sixteen and a half years – I had a great experience. My faculty background: I have a PhD in political science, public policy, and public law. That’s my teaching and faculty background. I have a masters in public administration and a master’s degree in psychology.” Prior to his presidency at Idaho State, President Wagner was Utah State’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Still before that, Wagner held multiple leadership positions during his career at Utah State, including executive vice provost, vice president of academic and instruction services, and dean of students.
When asked how he felt about Idaho State University’s current momentum, President Wagner said, “I feel like our momentum is good – we’re growing. This is the third fall semester in a row that our enrollment is up… At a time in higher education across the country where many institutions are struggling, Idaho State University is growing. We’re growing at both the undergraduate and the graduate level. That momentum is continuing; my predecessor and his colleagues … worked very, very hard at this institution to build that momentum, and I’m very pleased.” This year, the university reported its largest enrollment of first-year students in a decade, with a full total coming in at 13,078 students.
However, with growth comes growing pains; for Idaho State, these aches have manifested in recent difficulties regarding campus infrastructure. In response to parts of our campus that are aging or otherwise in need of a touch-up, a recent deluge of renovations have appeared across campus– it seems wherever you go, you encounter some kind of construction or redevelopment. When asked about the meaning of the recent renovations, President Wagner said, “I think it’s important to understand why the renovations are occurring. It doesn’t take long [for] you [to] walk around campus [and] know that we’re not a new campus here in Pocatello. We have many buildings and structures that have been around for a long, long time, and we’re very proud of them. We’re very proud of the history, look, and feel of our campus. But with that age comes important and necessary regular repairs.”
When asked which of these renovations he thought readers of The Bengal would be most interested in, President Wagner highlighted three projects in particular: the Student Union parking lot, the tunnel upgrades around the Physical Science and Engineering Buildings, and the long-awaited swimming pool renovation. Regarding the parking lot, President Wagner empathized with individuals who may be frustrated with the challenges the construction has posed. “… I know that it was hard for our institutional community to have the parking lot next to the Student Union Building out for about five or six months, but the bottom line is that’s a project that needed to happen. Anyone who knew that parking lot knew that it was in really, really rough shape; it was confusing [and] very difficult to navigate – we were able to use funds from the state to redo that parking lot. And, in fact, we’re ending up with more stalls and more trees than what we had before. I think although it had an impact and while it was inconvenient, it’s really really important for this institution.”
Another of the renovations President Wagner emphasized is the tunnel and steam piping improvements, which have grown to dominate lower campus. “Another project that we’ve been working on, and you can see the fences around the quad and the Administration building – those are our steam tunnels. Idaho State University has a central heating plant here on our Pocatello campus…The boilers circulate that heat through the different buildings by way of tunnels. Some of these tunnels are 50, 60, even 70 years old, and they not only run heat and steam through the tunnels, but they run electrical and other utility work.” The hope is that the maintenance of these tunnels will ensure all the buildings on our campus are able to be both comfortable and productive for those within. “We have to address the needs of our central heating plant by upgrading our boilers as well as taking care of steam tunnels and making sure we’re getting the heat to the buildings in a very efficient way.” As winter draws near, the supply of heat to the whole campus grows more and more crucial to the function of the university – certainly a driving factor in the timing of the aforementioned improvements.
To some, the most exciting recent campus renovations will be the imminent restoration of the Reed Gym swimming pool, which has been closed since July 2021. President Wagner says the pool is set to open soon. “It’s not taken me long, being here, to know that the pool has been down for a long time, and it’s something that the community has missed, it’s something that the institution has missed. It’s been a number of years that that’s been offline, and it’s really exciting to be able to get the pool back. It’s great for our institutional community, our faculty, students, and staff, as well as the greater community, too, that can come and enjoy the pool and come on campus.”
The president acknowledged that the projects caused some disruption. “I know that these projects are inconvenient; you have to walk around a fence, you can’t use the sidewalk you’re used to… being a campus at the age we are, that just comes with the territory.” He also emphasized the importance of these projects to our campus. “We’re going to do our best to minimize the impact, like with the parking lot, the bulk of which was done during the summer months when a lot of our students and faculty weren’t here. We’re going to try [to] minimize that as much as we can. But we must try to do these projects so that our students, faculty, and staff are well taken care of on this campus.”
Renovations cost money; President Wagner was glad to speak further about the funding that enabled them: “The last two years the state of Idaho, through the governor’s office, have given institutions like Idaho State University funds that are referred to as ‘Deferred Maintenance’ funds. These are funds that are given to institutions to be able to put them directly into the infrastructure needs that we have, especially into projects, buildings, and areas that have needed attention that we just in the past have not had the funds or ability to fix. So in the last two years, when those dollars came in, we worked very, very hard to work up a priority list and started putting those funds to projects that would really make an impact.” This is likely why many of the renovations on campus feel as if they are occurring right in the most inopportune place. The areas most important to our campus community were those selected for reconstruction and maintenance.
The issue of money is a topic that has long plagued Idaho State University. In The Bengal’s January interview with President Wagner, the issue of the budget deficit made up the bulk of our talk. The Bengal again asked President Wagner where the institution’s budget stands now: “I’m very, very pleased to say that the budget deficit started with just over 15 million dollars; that’s what the deficit was. I’m very pleased to say that over half of that deficit is now gone, and the institution has worked very, very hard. Our faculty and staff have done a lot to see that deficit drop. Many have worked very, very hard, and I’m very appreciative of their efforts. As we now move to tackle the rest of the deficit, I’m pleased to say that we have plans to be able to do that, and I fully expect that the rest of the deficit will be taken care of within the next year.”
For a university that has grown used to the prospect of a general lack of funds, the notion of now looking for where to invest feels refreshing. President Wagner is hopeful that Idaho State University’s next chapter will be dedicated to seeing where the university can expand. “What we now need to be thinking about as an institution is going forward. Instead of thinking about what we don’t have or what we have to give up, we need to start thinking about where we are going to invest and what we are going to do going forward.”
How exactly funds will be appropriated was a significant topic of President Wanger’s inaugural address earlier this fall, where he unveiled the Opportunity Aligned Resourcing (OAR) program, which he outlined as follows: “The idea is OAR will be a philosophy, a way for us to budget and orient the funds that we have to make sure that we can go after the opportunities that are presented to us and to make sure that we can go forward with innovation and ideas that are going to help us meet the mission that we have as an institution, but that also are going to bring a return in revenue to us… It’s been a hard-fought effort to take care of the deficit we’ve had. Our faculty and staff have worked very, very hard; now it’s time to turn a corner. Now it’s time to look forward.”
Between massive campus renovations, intensive budgeting, and, of course, game-day surprises, President Robert Wagner has made the most of his first nine months here at Idaho State University. “I love Idaho State University. I love our students, faculty, and staff. I love being here. We’re going to go boldly forward as an institution.”
