Boise State University

Boise State University

Former names	Boise State College (1969–1974) Boise College (1965–1969) Boise Junior College (1932–1965)
Motto	Splendor sine Occasu
Motto in English	Splendour Without Diminishment
Type	Public University
Established	1932
Endowment	$88.9 million (2016)[1]
Budget	$177.73 million FY(2016)[2]
President	Robert W. Kustra
Provost	Martin E. Schimpf
Academic staff	650 (Fall 2014)[3]
Students	22,259 (Fall 2014)[3]
Undergraduates	19,351 (Fall 2014)[3]
Postgraduates	2,908 (Fall 2014)[3]
Location	Boise, Idaho, U.S. 43°36′14″N 116°12′14″W / 43.604°N 116.204°W / 43.604; -116.204Coordinates: 43°36′14″N 116°12′14″W / 43.604°N 116.204°W / 43.604; -116.204
Campus	Urban 175 acres (71 ha)
Colors	Blue, Orange[4][5]
Nickname	Broncos
Sporting affiliations	NCAA Division I Mountain West Conference
Mascot	Buster Bronco
Website	www.boisestate.edu

Boise State University (BSU) is a public college in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934, and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees since 1965.^[6]

Boise State did not earn a ranking in the US News & World Reports' 2017 Best Colleges list; classifying it as a Tier 2 school^[7]. Boise State confers more undergraduate degrees than any public university in Idaho and offers more than 100 graduate programs, including the MBA and MAcc programs in the College of Business and Economics; Masters and PhD programs in the Colleges of Engineering, Arts & Sciences, and Education; and the MPA program in the School of Public Service. Boise State has invested in the future over the past decade, including spending over $300 million since 2003 on academic, residential, and athletics facilities across campus.^[8]

The university's athletic teams, the Broncos, have participated in NCAA Division I athletics since 1996.

History

The school became Idaho's third state university in 1974, after the University of Idaho and Idaho State University. Boise State now awards associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, and is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. As of 2010, the university has over 75,000 living alumni.

Campus

The campus is located in Downtown Boise. The primary campus covers 175 acres (70.8 ha), and includes more than 170 buildings. The campus is situated at an elevation of 2,700 feet (823 m) above sea level. Boise State broke ground in May 2017 on a $42 million Center for the Fine Arts, which will house sculpture, metalwork, painting, graphic design and other visual arts, as well as gallery space and a digital “World Museum” devoted to high-tech arts experiences. ^[9]

Albertsons Library

The school's library is named for grocery pioneer and longtime Boise resident Joe Albertson. It houses more than 650,000 books, over 100,000 periodicals, 107 public terminals for student use, and access to over 300 online databases.^[10] The physical structure also features a Starbucks and public lounge area, and houses the College of Innovation and Design, including the fast growing degree program in Gaming, Interactive Mobile and Media.

Student Union Building

The "SUB" brings together an eclectic mix of services under one roof, including the Boise State Broncoshop, bowling lanes, arcade, an art gallery, several fast food restaurants, banquet facilities and other student services. The building is located along University Drive, and is connected to the "SPEC" or Special Events Center. This part of the building houses a smaller auditorium used for community productions, including the Idaho Dance Theatre.

Morrison Center

The "Velma V. Morrison Center for the Performing Arts" has 2,000 seats in its primary performance hall, and hosts a wide variety of fine arts performances, including the Broadway in Boise series, concerts and other events. The venue opened its doors in April 1984.

Other campuses

Extended Studies at Boise State offers regional programming at the College of Western Idaho in Nampa, Idaho, at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Gowen Field, Twin Falls, Idaho, Lewiston, Idaho and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.^[11] Boise State also offers 29 degrees and certificates fully online.^[12] Beginning in 2016, Boise State began partnering with the Harvard University Business School to offer the HBX online business fundamentals program to Idaho students and the business community. This is the only such Harvard collaboration with a public U.S. university.^[13]

Campus events

An active student association provides a large number of activities and programs to engage students outside the classroom. In addition, the school rallies around its popular football program in the fall – and to a lesser degree, men's basketball during the winter months.

The Distinguished Lecture Series brings speakers such as journalist Seymour Hersh, author Michael Cunningham and Nobel Peace Prize winner Lech Wałęsa to campus. Other notable lecturers are sponsored by the Brandt Foundation and the Campus Read Committee. The university hosts the Martin Luther King, Jr./Human Rights Celebration every January and presents numerous cultural festivals and activities, including the International Food Song and Dance Festival and the Seven Arrows Pow Wow.

Academics and organization

Boise State's more than 190 fields of study are organized these colleges:

• Arts and Sciences
• Business and Economics
• Education
• Engineering
• Graduate Studies
• Health Sciences
• School of Public Service
• Innovation and Design

Boise State's fall enrollment in 2016 was 23,886 students. Approximately 76 percent of these students were Idaho residents, with the remaining 24 percent coming from out of state or out of country.^[17] Boise State University has the largest graduate enrollment in Idaho.^[18] More than 90 percent of Boise State's first-year students come directly from high school.^[17]

In the 2015-2016 school year, Boise State awarded diplomas to 3,916 distinct graduates, including 18 doctorates, 10 education specialists, 670 master’s and 2,998 bachelor’s degrees.^[19] Idaho State Board of Education figures indicate that about one third of all the students enrolled in Idaho’s public higher education system are Boise State students.^[20]

Publishing

Since 1971 the university has published the Western Writers Series, monographs focusing on authors of the American Frontier and American West.^[21] The university also maintains an on-line library of publications and documents related to Idaho history through the Albertsons Library.^[22]

A not-for-profit literary publisher, Ahsahta was founded in 1974 at Boise State University to preserve the best works by early poets of the American West. Its name, ahsahta, is the Mandan word meaning “Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep,” and was first recorded by members of the Lewis and Clark expedition; the founding editors chose the word to honor the press’s original mission to publish Western poetry.

The Center for Idaho History and Politics offers a nine-credit place-based field school called "Investigate Boise" which focuses on heritage, government, and urban affairs. Each series of classes results in a student written and faculty edited publication.^[23]

Athletics

Official Athletics wordmark

Boise State's athletic nickname is the Broncos. The official mascot is Buster Bronco. BSU fields many different teams in sports. Its men's teams include football, basketball, cross country, track and field, wrestling, golf, and tennis. Its women's teams include volleyball, basketball, cross country, swimming and diving, soccer, track and field, gymnastics, golf, softball and tennis. Most of these teams compete in the Mountain West Conference.

Football

BSU Football has faced substantial challenges since moving up to the Mountain West Conference in 2011. Despite ten years of strong performance in the Western Athletic Conference, BSU has only won one outright Mountain West Conference Championship.^[24] This struggle in the MWC has come despite the fact that, due to major conference realignment, most of the MWC membership is the same as the former WAC membership. Former MWC stalwarts, the University of Utah, Brigham Young University, and Texas Christian University have all left the MWC.

The Broncos are currently coached by Bryan Harsin.

The Boise State Spirit Squad consists of the BSU Cheerleaders and the Boise State Harvey Neef Mane Line Dancers. They perform at basketball and football games, as well as gymnastics meets and occasionally soccer games.

Albertsons Stadium

Albertsons Stadium is home to the Boise State football and Track & Field programs. It has played host to the NCAA Division I Track and Field Championships in 1994 and 1999, and is home to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

Bronco Stadium is best known for its bizarre blue playing surface. Originally nicknamed the "Smurf Turf", "the Blue", as it is commonly known to fans, was originally a bright blue AstroTurf installed in 1986. The NCAA considered banning BSU from wearing blue uniforms on the field in 2013, due to the unfair advantage that the team receives from the lack of contrast between the artificial blue pigments

Ground was broken for the stadium in 1969, and it opened in September 1970 with a capacity of 14,500. Subsequent expansions were completed in 1975 and 1997, and current capacity sits at around 37,000. In August 2010, the university unveiled a $100 million expansion plan for Bronco Stadium. The first stage will include: adding a new facility to the north endzone to house the football offices, weight room, training room, equipment room and locker room; removing the track; and adding a 13,200-seat grandstand behind the north endzone. Later stages include: lowering the field to add 3,300 seats; completing the south endzone horseshoe; building an east side skybox; and renovating the east concourse. Seating capacity for the fully expanded Bronco Stadium will exceed 55,000.^[25]

Taco Bell Arena

Known as the "Boise State University Pavilion" until June 2004,^[26] Taco Bell Arena (TBA) is home to BSU basketball, wrestling, women's gymnastics, community events, and several concerts each year. Opened in May 1982, the arena seats 12,380 on three levels. The TBA has hosted rounds one and two of the men's NCAA Division I basketball tournament on eight occasions from 1983–2009, and the third and fourth rounds of the NCAA women's Division I basketball tournament in 2002.

The construction of the pavilion began in February 1980 on the site of the tennis courts and a portion of the BSU baseball field. The Bronco baseball team played their home games in 1980 at Borah Field (now Bill Wigle Field) at Borah High School. Baseball was discontinued as a varsity sport following the 1980 season. The tennis courts were rebuilt immediately west of the arena, on the former baseball field (infield & right field).

Student life

Boise State's fall enrollment in 2016 was 23,886 students. Approximately 76 percent of these students were Idaho residents, with the remaining 24 percent coming from out of state or out of country.^[17] Boise State University has the largest graduate enrollment in Idaho.^[18] More than 90 percent of Boise State's first-year students come directly from high school.^[17]

Spring Blossom, Broncos Stadium

Housing

The dominant form of school-supported housing is in coed residence halls. Twelve such options are offered on campus. Boise State recently broke ground on a new $40 million complex to house the Honors College and new student housing.^[27]

Social Fraternities and Sororities

Boise State has seen a growing in Greek Community on campus, from less than a couple hundred in 2010 to over 1,400 today. There are eight fraternities (Alpha Kappa Lambda, Delta Sigma Phi, Delta Upsilon, Sigma Chi, Pi Kappa Phi , Phi Gamma Delta , Kappa Sigma and Tau Kappa Epsilon), and nine sororities (Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Xi Delta, Alpha Sigma Alpha, Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Omicron Pi, Delta Delta Delta), Alpha Pi Sigma, Lambda Theta Alpha and Sigma Lambda Gamma on campus.

Transportation

The Boise State Shuttle Service offers a circulating shuttle on campus, and walking and biking are encouraged. The city of Boise is served by the Boise Airport and the Greyhound Bus company. Transportation is available through Boise's City busing system. Since the campus is close to Downtown there are many bus stops within walking distance. Many students also have cars.

Broadcast media

Boise State Public Radio is broadcast from the Boise State campus. Stations include KBSU-FM 90.3, KBSX-FM 91.5, KDBI 730 AM, and KBSW-FM 91.7.

Notable alumni

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Boise State University.

• Official website
• Boise State Athletics website