Jaclyn Figg
Staff Writer
Idaho State University President Arthur C. Vailas shared the success of recent years, provided information on educational programs and discussed the economic impact for ISU with his annual State of the University Address at the Stephens Performing Arts Center last week.
As classified by the Carnegie Foundation, ISU is a comprehensive research high University. Throughout the nation only five percent of universities and colleges have this distinction.
The president stated that one-third of programs at ISU are health care related, offering all of the professions including residencies.
“We have a very large health mission. That’s kind of unusual because this health mission is integrated into our regular academic fabric rather than being separated statistically like other [institutions],” said Vailas.
ISU offers over 250 programs, which include professional technical, graduate programs, residencies and post-doctoral.
“It is unusual for a university to be like that,” said Vailas.
For the fall and spring semester, ISU has on average 14,000 students.
Though 82 percent of students are from Idaho, there are students from 48 states and 59 different countries.
The Early College Program/Dual Enrollment offers opportunities for high school students to earn college credits while still in high school.
The president stated that 14 students in Meridian this last spring got their associates degree at the same time as their high school diploma; next year it could be up over 40 students.
“Idaho State University is known for being a pioneer of developing both the standards and also the access and opportunity that we have offered to create a nice bridge with high schools and sort of give students the confidence they can do college level work and feel good about it,” said Vailas.
There are programs in place to help prospective students get their academic careers started. To help at-risk students that need extra help and advising, Vailas spearheaded the creation of The Bengal Bridge Program.
In addition, the Start Program helps GED students with only a 12 percent chance of pursuing higher education nationally. ISU has found ways through advising and other resources to boost the retention rate to 85 percent.
The Career Path Internship program is a nationally recognized program, which has had such an impact, the legislature awarded ISU $500,000 to compliment the program.
“We are very proud of it. We are proud to be the pioneers of it, and now we are seeing some of the other Universities doing it as well,” said Vailas.
According to Vailas, the graduation rate at ISU has increased 2.5 percent since 2012.
A growing focus for ISU is healthcare related fields with over 3,000 applications for health care programs this year alone, although ISU has accepted only 725.
ISU has been in the forefront of innovative facilities with a new $6 million state-of-the-art anatomy and physiology lab in Treasure Valley, as well as a $1 million upgrade to the anatomy and physiology lab in Pocatello.
The Institute of Rural Health brought in statistics and information regarding how to approach health care, intervene and deal with injuries. The institute’s primary function is to bring other institutes together.
The Bengal Pharmacy is new to ISU, owned by both ISU and the College of Pharmacy. This program was able to save a hospital in Arco and at the same time provide a full service pharmacy to the public. The Bengal Pharmacy recently did the same thing in Challis and is looking into other places in Idaho that may need help.
“This was an experiment that was very difficult to convince people that higher education should get involved,” said Vailas.
Idaho State University’s Family Medicine Clinic is in place to help underserved patients. It is in partnership with Health West, a federally qualified health center.
ISU has $400 million dollars of deferred maintenance with over $11 million dollars of improvements made already, and more planned for the future.
“We are lowering the debt and keeping our tuition increase maintained,” said Vailas.
Tuition increases are getting smaller and ISU has the lowest tuition out of any research University in Idaho.
The Huntington family gave ISU a gift of $2.5 million dollars. They also gave gifts to Stanford, Vassar, and Columbia Medical School.
“We are in Bengal country and we have a lot to be proud of other than just the great athletic benchmarks that we have achieved, but also the academic and services that we provide,” Vailas added.
