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FALL 2002 VOL. XXVIII NO. 1 1 1 18 DEFYING DEATH Psychology professor FOC US Jamie Goldenberg looks at the surprising ways we react to our 9 own mortality. IDAHO'S TOP PROFESSOR For the fifth year in a 19 row, Idaho's top SMALL professor hails from PACKAGES Boise State. Nanoscale research 38 proves that bigger BODY isn't always better. WORKS ABOUT THIS ISSUE: From prehis 14 Alum's protein toric wonders to the latest research on research aids organ violence-prone youth, Boise State authors are BASICALLY transplant recipients. penning books, manuscripts and technical BASQUE 34 articles that not only influence research in A firsthand look THE BARD their fields but also sway public opinion. In at the Basque people this issue of FOCUS, we take a look at the and their culture. IN BOISE difficult writing process and how it can affect Boise State's an author's perspective on life and his or her long-standing performance in the classroom. Cover illustra collaboration with the tion by William Carman. Idaho Shakespeare Festival is a boon for both entities.
DEPARTMENTS FIRST WORD 3 CAMPUS NEWS 4 SPORTS 13 DISCOVERY 14 PHILANTHROPY 3:Z ALUM NOTES 34 IN TOUCH 36
FOCUS FAll 2002 BOISE • STATE UN VERS TV FO C s FOCUS is published three times annually qy the Boise State University Office of News ServiCes.
PRESIDENT: Charles Ruch PROVOST AND VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS: Daryl Jones VICE PRESIDENT FOR FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION: Buster Nee! VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH: John Owens VICE PRESIDENT FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS: Peg,Blake VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY ADVANCEMENT: Richard A. Smith
EDITOR: Bob Evancho (MA; '93) STAFF WRITERS: Janelle Jirown, Kathleen Craven, Patricia Pyke PHOIOGRAPHY: Joh!'l Kelly {BA, '91), Carrie Quinney (BfA;'Q~J EDITORIAL ASSISTANT/TYPOGRAPHY: Brenda Haight GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Bob McDiarmid ALUMNI NEWS: Theresa Bow, Christine Lukas (BA;'m} Arare opportunity to acquire ADVEmSING SALES: P.V: Quinn &: Co:; 1520 W. Washington Street, Boise, Idaho ~jyba residential and recreational acreage Phone: fzo8) 385-0338 in Idaho's beautiful PUBLISHING INFORMATION: FOCUS' address is Boise State University, Education Building, Room 724; Hells Canyon Rim country. 191.0 UniverSity Drive, Boise, Idaho $:t72,5-J030: Phone: {:w8) 426-1577. Letters regarding editori· Introducing Cuddy Mountain And each parcel is unique. al matters should be sent to the editor. t:Jriless Ranches, 110 homesteads Choose from majestic ridgetop otherwise specified, all articles may be reprinted spread over 5,000 acres of the views, pristine river frontage as long as appropriate credit is given to the most panoramic mountain or secluded, timbered author, Boise State University and FOCUS ~ga ranch counuyyou've ever laid hideaways; ranging in size zine. Diverse views are presented and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of FOCUS or the eyes upon, perfect for a from ten to over one hundred official policies of Boise State University. second home or a permanent acres, and priced from $34,900. residence. For additional information, ADDRESS CHANGES: Send changes (with address label if possible) to the Boise State University Enjoy small town living at its including a full-color brochure Alumni Office, 1910 University Drive, Boise, very best plus all the outdoor and area maps please call Idaho 83725-1035· Ifyou receive duplicate recreation Idaho is famous Creed Noah & Co. Real copies of the magazine, please notify the for, only ninety minutes Estate, Cambridge, Idaho. Alumni Office at the abave address. Friends of northwest of Boise. 1-800-576-3380. the university who wish to receive FOCUS may do so by submitting their names and addresses to the Alumni Office. Address changes can also be sent by e-mail to [email protected]
E-MAIL: Readers may contact the FOCUS editor by e-mail at [email protected] 1-8()()..576-3380 • www.cuddymtn.com HOME PACiE: FOCUS can be found on the World Wide Web at news.boisestate.edu/focusf FOCUS FALL 200 2 index.html FIRST WORD
The challenge of managed enrollment
s reported on the fo ll owing pages in this places two-thirds weight on high issue of FOCUS, Boise State again set a school grade-point average and one new enrollment record. This fall we third weight on ACT/SAT test scores) enrolled a record 17,714 students, or to include a new, middle category - 12,737 full-time equivalent (FTE) stu "possible candidate for admission." dents. Adding this band to the index will do This is a head count increase of 3 per two things: 1) identify a group of stu cent over last year and caps an 18 per dents who are currently being admit cent increase over the past seven years. ted but who are struggling academi Our 1995 Strategic Plan argued for a cally; and 2) allow the Admissions 2 percent per year growth rate. Up to last year we were on Office to admit from this group only track. During the last four semesters we have seen our growth the number of students we have the exceed this rate. When juxtaposed with our decline in resources to support and help be suc resources (a 10 percent decrease for fiscal year 'o3 over cessful in a given year. Current esti FY 'o2), this growth rate is way too fast. mates suggest that an additional 400- Doing more with less has its limits, and we are at that point. 700 students could be denied degree Our growth this fall was across the board. We recorded seeking admission to academic pro increases from applied technology through graduate level and grams next fall because of the across every aspect of our distributed campus: main campus, changes (see Pages 4-5). off-campus sites, Canyon County and through our electronic Second, those students who do not qualify for regular campus (Internet and television). Here are the numbers: admission into academic programs will be given several ·Our 17,714 students are taking a whopping 188,816 credit options, including participating in a new program we are very hours, or a 4·3 percent increase. We enrolled 1. 3 percent more excited about. This program is an intensive eight-week sum undergraduates despite practically running out of classroom mer "bridge" program, which will help students be successful seats before part-time students even got a chance to register. in their academic work in subsequent semesters. This pro Full-time undergraduate enrollment increased 4·3 percent. gram is possible because it will be self-supporting and will • Graduate enrollment was up 17 percent; applied technolo occur during the summer months when we have extra space. gy was up 12 percent. Students will also have the option of exploring one of the 38 • Enrollment on the Boise campus was up 2 percent while degree or certificate programs in the Selland College of growth in Canyon County was up 15 percent. Gowen Field, Applied Technology, which practices an open-admissions poli Mountain Home and our Micron sites also posted increased cy. And for others, admission as a part-time nondegree-seek enrollments. ing student will allow them to get started in college classes. • More than 1,550 students took one or more courses We believe that these additional enrollment management through our electronic campus, a 26 percent increase. strategies will permit the university to continue to provide Our success in meeting the enrollment challenges of this quality programs consistent with avai lable resources to the fall is due in no small way to several strategies suggested by most academically prepared students while continuing our our Enrollment Management Committee, ably led by Mark mission of providing access to post-secondary education for Wheeler, dean of Enrollment Services. Anticipating the fall the citizens of the Treasure Valley. crunch, this group encouraged continuing students to make Boise State is not alone in facing this enrollment dilemma. use of summer school and to increase their flexibility in One of my colleagues from another metropolitan university building a fall schedule. As a result, the number of continuing reported to his faculty on this issue, noting the following: students registering for summer classes was up 19 percent. "We realized that we needed to manage our growth if we Additionally, our ever-expanding use of Bronco Web pro wanted to provide the best education possible to our students vides students with information about class schedules and and maintain the optimum work environment for our faculty availability. Students are able to make changes in their sched and staff. In short, we were growing too fast. ules instantly across the total range of offerings throughout "It is, in some ways, a good problem to have. Students don't the distributed campus. Consequently, students were able to flock to bad universities! We are in demand because students build full schedules by using several locations, time slots, perceive that this is an excellent place to get a good education and/or the electronic campus. and at the same time enjoy the college experience. In this While these enrollment management strategies were most case, as you surely know, perception is reality." successful in building our fall enrollment, they alone will not It is clearly a reality at Boise State University. help to bring us back to the desired 2 percent per year growth For more information about admission to Boise State, con target. To help us achieve this goal, the Enrollment tact Wheeler at 208-426-2384 or [email protected]. Management Committee has recommended and the universi I appreciate your support and welcome your comments. I ty community concurred with two changes in our procedures can be reached at 208-426-1491 or through e-mail at for first-time undergraduate admission. [email protected]. First, we are modifying our current admission index (which -Charles Ruch, President
FOCUS FALL 2002 CAMPUS NEWS
Enrollment increases More students + less funding = despite fewer resources n response to the double wham tate-mandated cutbacks, reduced class my of further belt-tightening and selection and limited on-campus park I continued high demand for class ing have not significantly curtailed es, Boise State will ratchet up its S admission standards for students Boise State's growth pace as the university applying for fall 2003. set a state enrollment record for the seventh However, the university's deci consecutive fall semester. sion does not mean at-risk students Despite limited resources as a result of will be on the outside looking in, Idaho's current economic woes, Boise State's says Daryl Jones, the university's 2002 fall enrollment of 17,714 students was provost and vice president for aca an increase of more than 3 percent over last demic affairs. year's fall total of 17,161. In fact, there were "In light of rising enrollment, the more students wanting to enroll, but the uni budget reductions we have experi versity could not accommo enced, and the likelihood date all of them. Enrollment highlights of continued budget con IDAHO RESIDENTS comprise straints," says Jones, "we "While our ever-increas 92 percent of student body. have decided to raise ing enrollment numbers are AVERAGE GPA of traditional admissions standards in an indication of the univer age freshmen is 3·3· order to give highest pri subsequent semesters at the univer sity's growing stature, GOWEN FIELD ENROLLMENT ority to those most likely sity. Others will be encouraged to up 68 percent. there is no denying that - to succeed and then explore admission to the Selland CANYON COUNTY CENTER given the current economic enrollment up 15 percent. develop options for stu College of Applied Technology. Still climate - our situation ELECTRONIC MEDIA COURSES dents who will benefit others will be permitted to attend can be viewed as a double (Internet, compressed video, from more focused aca the university as part-time, nonde edged sword," says cable television, etc.) up 26 demic support." gree-seeking students. percent. President Charles Ruch. The new admissions "We are doing two things here," GRADUATE ENROLLMENT up "Quite simply, there were standards, says Jones, will comments Jones. "We are raising 17 percent. allow the university to standards while providing struc more students who wanted promote quality, better tured support for those who don't to enroll, but we ran out of class seats." manage enrollment, and preserve meet those standards." Mark Wheeler, dean of enrollment services, student access while providing The tougher admissions stan says one of the main challenges the universi more structured support for aca dards come as Boise State continues ty faces is to provide learning opportunities demically at-risk students. to struggle with serious budget to as many people as possible without com Statistics show that those stu issues. Earlier this year the State promising the quality of their education . "I dents who fall in the lower ranges Board of Education urged higher think we did an excellent job working to of the admissions index typically education leaders to spend at 95 meet the needs of our students, especially fail or drop out during their fresh percent of their budgets to have since we're working with Ss million less in man year, funds on notes reserve in state-appropriated funding in the current fis {{We are doing two things Jones. case of an cal year," he remarks. Redirecting here. We are raising standards while additional Students are also taking heavier class loads, these aca providing structured support for those who holdback. a total reflected in the number of full-time demically "We con- students, which increased by 5 percent. at -risk stu don't meet those standards." tinue to "Growth brings with it a series of opportu dents face the nities and challenges," says Ruch. "We are toward bet- - Daryl Jones challenges very pleased that so many students have ter options will improve their likeli of growth without adequate selected Boise State. Nevertheless, we remain hood of success. Many students will resources," says Jones. pressed for space and continue to seek solu be offered admission to an inten- "Unfortunately, turning away stu tions." sive summer "bridge" program, dents and a faculty and staff hiring which will help them to succeed in slowdown are among the by-prod- FOCUS FALL 200 2 CAMPUS NEWS
tougher admissions standards Energy conservation efforts
In addition to dealing with pay off at Boise State stagnant funding, the univer educed energy costs are one part of the sity has had to grapple with university's plan to meet state-mandated rising demands due to this budget cuts of 10.1 percent or approxi fall's increased enrollment. R mately $9 million less than Boise State's This semester Boise State 2001-2002 budget. received more than 9,000 Boise State realized an 11.6 percent savings applications for admission to its undergraduate programs in energy consumption between December as it set a state enrollment 2001 and August 2002- despite the opening record for the seventh con of t he Extended Studies build ing and const ruc secutive fall with more than t ion of the Student Recreation Center. That 17,700 students (see Page 4). translates to an avoided cost of $217,605 Those numbers, says Jones, ($150,091 for electricity and $67,514 for gas). are expected to grow in "Ou r staff have been great team players and future years. At the same have put forth a strong effort in energy conser time, the university is being vation," says Einar Norton, Boise State's asked to operate with less mechanical engineer. state-appropriated funding To reduce consumption, the university now ucts of our budgetary challenges. ($5 million less in the current only heats or cools buildings to human comfort Furthermore, the lack of salary fiscal year alone) and fewer teachers levels during official business hours. Those increases for employees is a nagging (22). By increasing admissions stan hours have been reduced on weekends and concern. We feel that in order to dards, Jones explains, Boise State classes have been consolidated to fewer bu ild attract and retain the best employ can address the challenges of high ings wherever possible. Building systems are ees, some increase in compensation demand and reduced funding while programmed to go to "unoccupied" status dur is necessary." also making a long-term commit ing other times. Heating and cooling systems To cope with the additional red ment to quality and improved stu continue to be upgraded by installing comput ink while protecting last year's dent learning. erized temperature controls in several bu ild record tax cut, government leaders Boise State will continue to use ings. sliced more than $64 million from an admissions index for traditional In addition, from May 20 through Aug. 16, last year's budget and more than age students that assigns two-thirds the university cut back to a four and a half day $100 million in basic spending from weight to students' high school work schedule, allowing air conditioning un its this year's - an amount that grade-point average and one-third to be shut off at 11:30 a.m. on Fridays. Most of included more than $30 million in weight to ACT/SAT scores. But now state support for colleges and other the university will be raising the the university's summer energy dollars are typi education programs. cutoff on the index, which will cally spent on afternoon cooling. While the news regarding higher curb overcrowding by steering education's current economic health an additional 400-700 appli- University rises in rankings is not encouraging, it could have cants to other options. been worse. In late August Gov. pirk This change in standards will B oise State continues to grow in national Kempthorne ordered a 3·5 percent make degree-seeking admission recognition as the university earned second- spending cut for all government to Boise State's academic pro tier status among master's universities in the operations with the exception of grams among the most compet West in the U.S. News & World Report's 2003 public and higher education. And in itive in th~ state, says Jones. college-ranking issue. mid-October the governor "Providing access to educa Master's universities are categorized as announced that education is safe tion in the Treasure Valley is schools that offer a full range of undergraduate from further budget cuts, despite the key to fulfilling the aspira the state's deteriorating economy. tions of Idahoans and ensuring degree and some master's degree programs but few doc- "Public schools and higher educa economic development and toral programs. tion will not feel any further effects future prosperity in Idaho," he Using the master's universities criteria on a national from this recession," Kempthorne says. scale, the College of Engineering was also listed among stated. -Bob Evancho the top so programs in the report. FOCUS FALL 2002 MPUS NEWS
BOISE STATE RADIO EARNS U.S. SENATE RECOGNITION Boise State Radio was cited by the U.S. Senate for its "creative application of wind power technol ogy." The National Public Radio affiliate recently completed installation of what is believed to be the first public radio transmitter site to rely on the power of wind. The transmitter, located at 8,6oo feet atop Nevada's Ellen D. Mountain, was built by Boise State Radio's 24-hour news station KBSX-FM . Three state-of-the-art turbines help provide broadcast service to previously unreachable areas in southern Idaho and northeastern Nevada. U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo presented the station with the Spirit of Idaho award . "In an age when just 3 percent of electricity in today's national mix comes from renewable sources, BSU Radio has committed to expanding [its] services while advancing the use of clean, effi cient power sources," said the official U.S. Senate Ruch: No time to ponder citation. impending retirement MANUFACTURING CENTER CLAIMS AWARD FROM FEDS he countdown, which member in the department of TechHelp, the Boise State-based manufacturing started in an Evanston, counselor education at the extension center, received an award from the fed TIll., high school more University of Pittsburgh, serv eral government's Economic Development than 42 years ago, has accelerat ing as chair from 1969-74. Administration for its "dramatic increases in out ed for Charles and Sally Ruch. In '74 he took a job at reach assistance to rural Idaho" in the area of man Sometime in the summer of Virginia Commonwealth ufacturing design. (More on Tech Help, Page u.) 2003 the couple will vacate the University as professor of edu During the awards ceremony at the 2002 EDA Langroise House - the official cation and associate dean of the Western Region Conference in San Diego, it was noted that in the last two years, TechHelp has residence of Boise State's presi School of Education. In 1979 he completed 259 projects in 34 Idaho counties, 23 of dent and the Ruchs' abode for was promoted to VCU's educa them rural. Of particular note is Tech Help's involve only a few short months - and tion dean, and in 1985 to ment in the area of rapid prototyping. Since the move to their newly built home provost and vice president for fall of 2000, when Boise State installed a rapid in Boise to begin the next phase academic affairs at the prototyping machine in the College of Engineering, of their lives. Richmond, Va., school. TechHelp has forged a strong relationship with When Boise State's venerable For the last decade he has engineering staff and graduate-level students to chief executive retires next sum deliver rapid prototyping parts to manufacturers served as Boise State's fifth and entrepreneurs throughout Idaho. To date, 44 mer, he will have passed his president. On Aug. 19, at the Idaho companies from 15 counties have received 65th birthday and have com conclusion of his annual State rapid prototyping product development assistance pleted 43 years as an educator. of the University address to fac from Tech Help. The 2002-o3 academic year at ulty and staff, Ruch announced Boise State will be the culmina that he would step down upon EXTENDED STUDIES tion of a distinguished career the arrival of his successor next DESIGNER WINS AWARD Ruch began as a 22-year-Dld summer. In mid-October, he Julie Erb, graphic designer for school counselor at Evanston shared a few thoughts with the Division of Extended Studies, Township High School in 1960 FOCUS: received the first runner-up award - the same year he married the Q: The job of a college presi for "Best Catalog Cover" for Boise former Sally Brandenburg and dent is a hot seat; it's no pop State's Summer Programs 2002 earned his master's in education ularity contest. As such, Class Schedule from the Western Association of Summer Session Administrators. Erb was awarded a from Northwestern. you've had your share of crit certificate of achievement for her cover design. By the time he was 28, Ruch ics. The standing ovation you Erb's award marks the second time she has won had a Ph.D. from Northwestern received at the end of your a WASSA award. In 2000 she took first place in the and in 1966 joined the higher speech on Aug. 19 must have "Best Use of Theme" category. education ranks as a faculty been touching. Can you
FOCUS FALL 2002 CAMPUS NEWS Charles and Sally Ruch welcomed members of the campus community during an open house at the newly renovated president's Ten Years After home - the langroise House - after remarkable achieve taking up residency in September. Charles Ruch was hired as president of Boise State in ments for the institu October 1992 and assumed those duties in January 1993. tion. Different folks Here are some of Boise State's numbers then and now. will view what has hap describe your feelings at that 1992"93 2002·03 pened at Boise State moment? Enrollment* 14,908 17,714 during those years A: It was an emotional Student fees** $678 $1,548.25 through different moment. I was touched and Hispanic enrollment __2_ .7 percent 5.1 percent prisms. I hope that gratified that the university Degrees conferred- 2,083 2,453 when folks look back community was so warm. And Programs offered 119 191 most of them will say --- everything that has transpired Budget (all sources) $91.8 million $222.9 million that I was able to hand ------since then has been equally BSU Foundation assets $27-7 million $71.5 million off the institution in bet rewarding. I've received many ter shape than when I * Comparison figures are for fall 1992 and fall 2002. phone calls, notes and e-mails ** Amounts are per semester for a full-time state resident arrived. that have expressed apprecia undergraduate and do not include optional health insurance. Q: What is your - Comparison figure for 2002-03 reflects graduates tion for the last 10 years. That for winter 2001 and spring 2002. biggest challenge has been very gratifying to both in your final year as Sally and me. Q: Because the renovation on the Boise State's president? Q: Now that it has been a few Langroise House took longer than A: To get us through this difficult weeks since your announcement, expected, you and Sally will be resi [2003] budget year and to be able to have you had a chance to reflect on dents for less than a year. Any continue to provide the resources to your decision? regrets? accomplish what the community A: To be honest, I haven't really A: No. It has been a wonderful expects us to accomplish. It's a differ reflected yet. I have been focused on opportunity for us and we are enjoy ent environment than when I came. the present and the future. I want to ing it. It's an old house, so we hope to Folks are saying we are [anticipating] make sure that there are as few loose have all the bugs worked out by the the most difficult, tax-o riented, rev ends as possible when I pass the presi time the new president is ready to enue-oriented legislative session in the dency of this institution on to my suc move in. past 25 years. A major objective is to cessor. I'm sure I will take a moment Q: What do you hope your legacy make sure that the importance of sometime down the road, probably at Boise State will be? higher education is included in that around the first of the year when [my A: The decade I have been here has conversation. departure] gets real. been one of exciting changes and -Bob Evancho
into the forefront of postsecondary education goes according to member of the Boise State Foundation board. in the Pacific Northwest and beyond" and have plan, Boise State should • Mark Dunham, vice president of the Idaho him or her in place during the summer of have a new president Association of Realtors, past president of the 2003. before the start of the Boise State Alumni Association and member of At its October meeting, the board appointed 2003-04 academic ~oise State Foundation board. nine Boise-area residents to serve as the year. • Carol Martin, professor of English. Screening Committee. Under the leadership of board • Milford Terrell, DeBest Plumbing & Mechanical Inc. member Rod Lewis, the committee's main charge is to executive and Bronco Athletic Association past president. actively seek candidates, review applications and nomina • Lynn Russell, College of Engineering dean. tions and recommend to the board the names of three to • Ed Dahlberg, St. Luke's Regional Medical Center presi five finalists whom the committee believes have the charac dent and CEO. teristics for the position. The board's goal is to invite the • Chris Mathias, president, Associated Students of Boise finalists to Boise for an extensive series of interviews in State University. March and make a selection during the summer. • Sheila Sorensen, state senator.
FOCUS FALL 2002 CAMPUS NEWS
Postscript
In August of this year, Larry Burke retired as Boise State's director of BY LARRY BURKE University Relations. His myriad duties during . nearly 28 years with the t times it seems like only yesterday. At basketball tournament in The Pavilion ... the other times it seems more like an eterni first KBSU broadcast. The list could stretch for university included serv ty of yesterdays when I first opened the pages. ing as editor of FOCUS. A door to a cubbyhole office in the Administration A favorite memory? That would have to be He was involved in Building, grateful to boss Bob Hall for trusting the State Board of Education's decision in 1995 approximately 200 issues such an important job to a novice. to allow Boise State to offer its own four-year of FOCUS since its That was Nov. 8, 1974- Almost 28 years later, engineering program, thus ending an eight-year inception in 1975, 64 of on Aug. 9, 2002, I closed my office door for the "cooperative" program operated in Boise by the which were in magazine last time and wandered into the world of the University of Idaho. It was a hard-fought strug format. For FOCUS' retired. gle that reached deep into Idaho's business and entire existence he was I've had the extraordinarily good fortune to political power structure. In my view, it was the the guiding force behind meet and work with a Rolodex full of incredible first time the board recognized that Boise State's the magazine and the people with vision, ambition and creativity. Step market, led by its high-technology sector, simply by step, I've watched them- and hopefully couldn't be ignored any longer. The astonishing person most responsible helped on occasion- transform what was virtu success of the program in such a short time for its content, look and ally a new university in 1974 into the Boise bears out the wisdom of the board's decision. reputation. In many State we see today. Of course, the true story of any institution is respects, the editor of a Then, Boise State's enrol1ment was 9,350; add written by its people. During my tenure three periodical may view his more than 8,000 to that today. Two master's pro presidents have left their indelible marks on the or her publication as an grams, one in business and one in education, university. John Barnes, John Keiser and Charles offspring, an extension of were just getting started. Today there are more Ruch used their skills to push the university for his or her own persona. than 35, along with a couple of doctorates. ward, often butting against political headwinds The editor is responsible Biology, chemistry, math, physics and from northern Idaho. Each was masterful at for the publication's pre-engineering classes were all taught in what building coalitions and enlisting community growth, development, is now called the Math/Geosciences Building. support. Each was right for his time. health and public percep The College of Education faculty was shoe If there has been one constant challenge in horned into the library, which, by the way, Boise State's history, it is this: to provide tion. The editor nurtures didn't look anything like it does today. The services with inadequate resources to a growing it like a child, protects Morrison Center site was an expanse of grass; market and do so without making a political it, watches it grow. We tennis courts occupied the space where The fuss about it. asked Larry to write a Pavilion now sits. Bronco Stadium seated 14,000 Year after year, Boise State's faculty and staff retrospective for this - 16,000 less than today, but big enough to have met that challenge with a can-do issue because this maga handle the crowds that turned out to see the attitude that has been forged over decades of zine was his baby. In Broncos beat schools like Chico State and the doing more with less. Their teaching, research many ways, it still is. College of Idaho. and service are of the highest quality. They have My post-retirement mind is a kaleidoscope opened the doors of opportunity for so many filled with so many memories that even a list of students and enriched our community in so them both taxes a reader's patience and exceeds many ways that I can't help but believe very my allotted space. The first Frank Church deeply in them and the university that is their Conference ... the first issue of FOCUS ... the enabler. graduation of the first doctoral student ... the That Boise State has progressed so far is a tes first game on the blue turf ... the first perform tament to their collective efforts. To see this ances in the Morrison Center and The Pavilion unfold over the last 28 years has been an adven ... the first Rhodes Scholar, Michael Hoffman, ture, to say the least. It has been, to put the old and the second, Karl Knapp ... the first national John Keiser slogan in the past tense, a privilege championship in I-AA football ... the first NCAA to be a Bronco.
FOCUS FALL 1001 ! CAMPUS NEWS
Jozwiak earns SHALLAT NOT DEFINED education award Professor BY CLASSROOM WALLS im Jozwiak, an instructor in the Jsemiconductor manufacturing BY KATHLEEN CRAVEN technology program for the Selland ~ College of Applied Technology at Boise 1ear State, was named the 2002 winner of the top by Boise State history professor prestigious national Todd Shallat's classroom and you're Motorola Educator of likely to find the place vacant ..That's the Year award. not to say that his classes aren't full or Jozwiak was recog Sthat his students aren't immersed in learning; nized for his innovation and excel you just have to look a little farther abroad. Try lence in teaching courses as well as looking at the Idaho Black History Museum In for producing outstanding curricu julia Davis Park; in the yard of a Queen Anne lum and teaching aids that are used home on historic Harrison Boulevard; walking nationally and internationally in the trolley lines in Boise's North End; or touring semiconductor manufacturing Old Idaho penitentiary off Warm Springs training programs. He was also rec the Boulevard. These are jijsf a few .ofthe· places ognized for his collaborative efforts Shallat and his students might to partner with business and indus be. "Seventeen years as an undergraduate teacher try. Motorola is a global leader in have long since eroded my faith in the note-tak wireless communications and ing process," Shallat says. "To thrive, students need air and space; the air to embedded semiconductor solutions breathe fresh ideas outside of.a Formica classroom and the spac:e to inquire and for customers in wireless communi think beyond academe." cations, computing and transporta By getting his students out where they can see and feel the impact of history, tion markets. Motorola created the they learn to appreciate its. ti¢s to tbe present. It also sparks further thought. he award to recognize an educator says - "A visit to a desert homestead sparks debate over cattle grazing; a tour of who has made significant contribu Idaho's territorial penitentiary opens a teachable moment to talk about the history tions to the field of semiconductor of prison reform." manufacturing education both Fot his talent in engaging students and teaching them outside the box, Shallat locally and nationally. has been named the 2002 Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement ofTeaching Before teaching at the Selland Idaho Professor of the Year. (See Page 1.6 for an article on writing by Shallat.) College, Jozwiak was a process engi Shallat was honored as a. Top Ten professor in 1.995 and with the U.S. neer at Intel Corp. and a group Department of the Interior Outstanding Service Award in 1988. His six history leader in Intel fabrication in New books and more than 30 articles on technology and the environment have received Mexico and Oregon. several writing awards, among them the Abel Wolman Book Award, l:he Henry Adams Prize, and an IdahO Library Association honorable mention. This past February he presented the University of Maryland's Distinguished Lecture in Civil and Environmental Engineering, funded by the National Academy ()_f$cience. Forrest Church Shallat is the seventh Boise State professor to win th~ pres Author and Unitarian minister tigious Professor of the Year award in the past 10 years; Boise 19th annual Frank Church Conference on Public Affairs Sta~e claims nine wins overall, including a current five-year Sept. 27, 2002 streak. Past recipients include John Freemuth, political $d-, ence, 2001; Russell Centanni, biology, 2ooo; Pam Gehrke, "Politics must never be severed nursing, 1999; Stephanie Witt, political science, 1998~ Greg from morality or our nation will Raymond, political science, 1994; and Tom Trusky, English, betray its own ideals." 1993. Trusky also earned the award in 1990 and ~9~· - Kathleen Craven
fO CUS FALL 2002 Prize-winning science journalist speaks April 17 Award-winning journalist and public health expert Laurie Garrett will speak at Boise State on April 17 as part of the uni versity's Distinguished Lecture Series. The lecture is free and open to the public. A medical and science writer for Newsday, Garrett is the only journal ist to have won all three of her industry's top awards: the Polk, the Peabody and the Pulitzer. She is the author of The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out espite budget cuts, enrollment Participating in the ground-breaking continues to grow at Boise ceremony for the TECenter on the of Balance and Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of DState. In response, several build Boise State-West campus were, from Global Public Health. left, U.S. Rep. Butch Otter, President The lecture series brings to campus ing projects - most of them funded Charles Ruch, U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, by users - are currently under way Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, AI Ames of the speakers who have had a significant impact or in the bidding stages. The Division Economic Development Administration, in politics, the arts or the sciences. The of Public Works is managing all proj Nampa Mayor Tom Dale, Caldwell most recent speaker was Nobel Peace Prize Mayor Garret Nancolas and Jim Hogge ects. la ureate Lech Walesa. of the Idaho Small Business Designs have been completed for Development Center. two new RESIDENCE HALLS that will December concerts set accommodate 340 more students on A concert narrated by Gov. Dirk campus. The larger of the two struc levels. All four levels of the new struc Kempthorne will highlight four musical tures will be a three-story building ture will connect to the existing park performances at Boise State in December. north of Driscoll and Morrison Halls; ing structure. The project is scheduled Kempthorne will narrate "Liberty the smaller will be a four-story build for completion before the start of fall Fanfare" during a Dec. 5 performance by ing between Morrison Hall and the classes in 2003. the All Campus Concert Band in the Special Appleton Tennis Center and will con A 4,6oo-square-foot addition to the Events Center. The piece was composed for tain two classrooms, two faculty CHILDREN'S CENTER is being constructed the 1ooth anniversary of the Statue of offices, a faculty apartment and a north of the existing building at Liberty. Tickets will be available at the door. computer lab. Beacon Street and Oakland Avenue. Three other concerts will ring in the holi In addition, a bid competition is The project will be completed by day season: The BOSTON POPS ESPLANADE ORCHESTRA, Dec. 3 at The Pavilion; the Boise under way to design and construct an February 2003. State music department FAMILY HOLIDAY APARTMENT COMPLEX on the site now At the Boise State University-West CONCERT, Dec. 8 at the Morrison Center; and occupied by the old University Courts campus in Nampa, the 38,735-square Utah composer KURT BESTOR'S HOLIDAY CON TECENTER apartments and eight adjacent houses foot is under construction. CERT, Dec. 11 at the Morrison Center. purchased by the university. The new Funded by a $1.9 million grant from Tickets are available at the Morrison complex will include 175 apartments the Economic Center or Pavilion box offices, Select-a Seat, - 75 two-bedroom units (for fami Development (2o8) 426-1494 or www.idahotickets.com. lies) and 100 four-bedroom units. The Administration, project will also include space for a the business convenience store, a multi-purpose incubation center community space and leasing offices. will provide Lech Walesa Three semifinalist design-build teams 3o,ooo-square Former president of Poland will submit their proposals in early feet of lease Boise State University Distinguished Lecture Series November. Both residence projects are space for start-up Oct. 9, 2002 expected to be completed by July businesses. 2004. Two infra "The world needs the United States. In addition, construction has begun structure projects The world needs you even more on a second PARKING STRUCTURE at are also under University Drive and Brady Lane, way on the than you need yourselves." adding an additional 618 cars on four Nampa site.
10 F 0 ( US FA ll 2 0 0 2 Anne Frank Grants focus on outreach Memorial opens
ed by a grant totaling more Among its objectives, the grant is T he eyes of the world than $3.2 million in funding designed to educate Idaho students were on Boise during Lfor Boise State's Educational and practicing health professionals the recent dedication of Talent Search, three programs in an interdisciplinary approach to the Idaho Anne Frank affiliated with the university culturally appropriate wellness care Human Rights received a major infusion of federal and deliver wellness services to Memorial. Several Boise dollars while a fourth program was rural Hispanic families in nontradi State faculty and staff the recipient of a nationally com tional homes and community-based helped bring to life the petitive software grant. settings. The nursing department dream of a place where EDUCATIONAL TALENT SEARCH will use its portion of the grant, people can gather to received two TRIO Talent Search about $150,000 per year, to lease a reflec::t on human rights. £ grants totaling $646,023 a year for mobile unit that will deliver health Staff members involved with the projec::t induded jilt five years from the U.S. screening supplies and educational Gill (history), Dean Gunderson (facilities), Hy Kloc Department of Education. The ETS materials to rural Hispanic farm ( BSU Radio), Wanda tyM Riley {t,ls:k management) program identifies and assists stu worker communities on a regular and Mary Rohlfing (c::ommunication). dents from disadvantaged back basis. ------~~ grounds with the potential to suc A nationally competitive soft Danny Glover to speak in january ceed in higher education. ware grant was awarded to the The grant includes a funding COLLEGE OF EDUCATION to provide Hollywood actor Danny Glover, chairman of increase of $65,000 to a grant the both software and university sup the board ofTransAfrica, and Bill Fletcher, presi ETS program received last year for port to help Marsing School dent of TransAfrica , will be the a total of $456,023, plus a second District social studies teachers inte keynote speakers at Boise State's grant appropriation of $190,000. grate spreadsheets and databases 2003 Martin Luther King Jr. With the additional funding, the into the curriculum. Boise State is Human Rights Celebration. They program will be able to serve nine one of 10 institutions nationwide will speak at 7 p.m. Friday, new schools in the Treasure Valley, to receive awards in the first round Jan. 17, at The Pavi lion . benefiting approximately 700 stu of funding from the Innovative TransAfrica is a research, edu dents in grades six through 12. Teachers Program sponsored by cational and activist institution Glover for the African American commu TECHHELP, the Boise State-based Microsoft and the American manufacturing extension center, Association of Colleges For Teacher nity focusi ng on U.S. poli cy as it affects Africa, received a $110,000 Economic Education. The grant provides the Caribbean and Lati n America. Development Administration grant $184,800 in Microsoft XP operating Free tickets to the speech will be available at to help stimulate business growth system and educational application the Student Union Information Desk. For more in Idaho. The funding is part of a licenses for computer labs in the information and a complete list of Martin nationwide program that enables school district and in the College of Luther Ki ng Jr. Human Rights Week events call higher education institutions to Education. (208) 426-1223 or visit un ion .boisestate.edu . operate outreach programs that stimulate growth in economically distressed areas. Boise State's NURSING DEPART MENT was part of a group led by the Boise-based Idaho Rural Health Education Center that received a federal grant worth more than $6oo,ooo from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources Administration to help support a Hispanic wellness initiative in Idaho. The grant, titled 'The Idaho Hispanic Wellness Initiative: La Buena Salud," is for approximately $205,000 per year for three years.
FOCUS FALL 2002 II CAMPUS NEWS Web site improved DEBATERS NAMED ALL-CONFERENCE ocated on the news as well Ten members of the Boise State debate World Wide Web as Web ver and speech team were named to the 2001-02 Lat news.boises sions of Division I All-Conference team announced by tate.edu, Boise State's Spotlight, the Northwest Forensic Conference. news and events Web the univer lmran Ali, Christy Bowman and Misti site is offering more sity's Rutledge were named to the first team; up-to-date information monthly Nancy Henke, Ken Rock, Patrick Connor, about the university entertain Kristin Davidson, Nancy Greenway, Blake than ever before. ment Lingle and Nate Peterson were named to the Partnering with publication; the Boise second team. Google.com, the Web's State faculty/staff on the latest issues No. 1 search engine, while traveling or at The Talkin' Broncos' 10 all-conference selec newsletter; the Boise the office and allowing tions are particularly impressive as only 17 news.boisestate.edu State Viewbook; letters provides a quick and from the president; the FOCUS advertisers to members of the Boise State team were eligi easy-to-use search vehi Speakers Bureau; and reach an expanded ble for the honor, and because the team cle to find information statistical information audience. attended only two of the three NFC tourna you can use. from the Facts About Designed to be a ments last season. Administered by the Boise State pamphlet. user-friendly site, Office of News The Web site also news.boisestate.edu is PI ALPHA ALPHA CHAPTER HONORED Services, the site is features an online ver your one-stop resource The Boise State chapter of Pi Alpha Alpha, horne to daily updates sion of FOCUS, allow for everything going on a national honor society for public adminis for the latest campus ing readers to keep up at Boise State. tration, received the 2002 Pi Alpha Alpha Award of Excellence. The award was present ed to adviser Janet Mills and student leaders in October at the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration luncheon in Los Angeles. Boise State faculty continued to offer the media The award recognizes excellence in pro expert advice and opinion on topics ranging from abstinence to psychology. gramming and chapter management in pur Here are some national media members that have quoted or profiled Boise suit of Pi Alpha Alpha's goals of scholarship, State faculty in recent months. leadership, and excellence in graduate educa • Jamie Goldenberg, psychology, was quoted on how people cope with the tion in public affairs and administration. fact that they have cancer in an April 9 article in the New York Times. Chapter officers for the 2001-2002 aca • Margaret Kemp, nursing, was quoted in NurseWeek in July about nursing's demic year were Janet Howard, president; public image and in September about student recruitment efforts. Kelly Jennings, vice president; Brian Ashton, • Charles Honts, psychology, was quoted in a June 23 New York Times article about the unreliability of eyewitness accounts. The story centered on the secretary; and Russ Eanes, treasurer. Nov. 12, 2001, crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in New York. • Jim Weatherby, public policy and administration, was quoted in the Aug. n New York Times about Alan Blinken's campaign for the U.S. Senate seat in Idaho. • Charlotte Twight, economics, recently had a six-part article on medical privacy published on NewsMax.com. • John Freemuth, political science, was interviewed on an ABC show with Peter Jennings Sept. 3· The show profiled the wolf reintroduction program. • A book co-written by Gary Moncrief, political science, was cited in an article in Campaigns and Elections magazine. He was also quoted in the Oct. 1 Kansas City Star about term limits and Oct. 13 in The Oregonian on the lack of female political candidates. • Anthony Walsh, criminal justice, was quoted in a story about the healing power of love in the Oct. 8 Family Circle. Walsh is a psy- chobiologist. 12 F0 C US FA l l 2 0 0 2 Great grad rate! he term "dumb jock" doesn't apply at Boise State. Just ask USA TODAY and the NCAA. In an T announcement made by the NCAA, Bronco student athletes have moved to the No. 1 position among NCAA Division 1-A schools in regard to graduation rates above the average of the school's student body. Boise State was one of 12 schools receiving the 2002 USA TODAY-NCAA Academic Achievement Award. Along with the national recognition, the university also received $25,000. Bronco student-athletes aren't just excelling in the classroom. Here Boise State's 64 percent graduation rate of student-ath coach Dan Hawkins and his players letes was ranked No. 1 in the category "institutions with accept the Governor's Trophy from the highest student-athlete graduation rates above the aver Gov. Dirk Kempthorne after defeat age of the student body" with a plus-36 percent rate. ing Idaho 38-21 in their season The announcement marks the second straight year Boise opener Aug. 31 in Bronco Stadium. State has been ranked among the top five in that category. In 2001, Boise State was fifth with a plus-28 percent rate. The USA TODAY-NCAA Academic Achievement Award "The fact that the majority of our recognizes colleges and universities with the highest stu students work, unlike most scholar dent-athlete graduation rates above the average of the stu ship student-athletes, is a major neg dent body, institutions with the greatest increase in per ative contributor to our graduation centage of student-athletes graduating over the previous rate," he says. "The graduation rate year and institutions graduating the highest percentage of of our student body as a whole is student-athletes. typical of a metropolitan university President Charles Ruch says while the award speaks vol where a fair amount of students are umes about the academic accomplishments of Bronco stu not coming right out of high school dent-athletes, it should not be construed as an indictment and attending a residential-type of the university's overall graduation rate. institution for four or five years." Broncos on track with new world-class facility
he Bronco track team has a new Idaho Sports Center - a part of for world-class track and field events. state-of-the-art indoor surface to the Idaho Center entertainment com The banked, 200-meter track has Tcompete on and a new building plex in Nampa. Construction of the been used approximately nine times in to compete in. $2.2 million, 1oo,ooo-square-foot the Georgia Dome for the U.S. indoor Thanks to a $2so,ooo donation by building was completed in September. nationals. It is six lanes wide and fea Idaho native John jackson, founder and Located near the Boise State-West site, tures the latest in synthetic surfaces. president of jackson Food Stores, Boise the 4,500-seat facility will be suitable The Idaho Sports Center will host State has purchased the equestrian events when the indoor track that was previ track is not in use. ously used in Atlanta's The university and the Georgia Dome for the USA Treasure Va ll ey will now have Indoor Track and Field the only championship-suit Championships. The Broncos' able indoor track facility west track will be housed at the of the University of Nebraska . The NCAA and USA Track and From left, Athletic Director Field, the governing body of Gene Bleymaier, Boise State non-collegiate track events, President Charles Ruch, Jackson stipul ate that only 200- Food Stores president John Jackson and track coach Mike meter, six-lane, banked syn Maynard with Jackson's gift for thetic surfaces can be used the Broncos' new indoor track. for championship meets.
FOCUS FAll 2002 B DISCOVERY
Basque Tapestry
( BY ELLIE McKINNON emember," shouts a sign hanging from an this issue could be decided by a vote of the peo ancient wall in San Sebastian, "you are ple. Rnot in Spain. You are not in France, this is Halfway across the world, Idaho's Legislature Pais Vasco." Seven provinces - four in Spain, voiced its opinion in support of the right of self three in France, covering 7 ,ooo square kilome determination for the people of the Basque ters in the Pyrenees Mountains - comprise Provinces. If a vote of self-determination will Pais Vasco or the Basque Country. It is warm, ever occur is uncertain. But on the thriving and balcony doors are flung open. Euskera, the Iberian Peninsula that has experienced phenom ancient language of the Basques, and Castellano, enal social, political and economic changes the official language of Spain, mingle in the air since Franco's death in 1975, anything seems and trickle down from open windows. A breeze possible. lifts small banners marking the homes of The European Union has opened borders, Basques who have a family member incarcerat changed the currency and reshaped cultural ed as a political prisoner in a Spanish jail. The boundaries. Within Pais Vasco, Basque identity activities of some taken prisoner during the is thriving. High-kicking Basque dancers dance Generalissimo Francisco Franco regime have to the drumming of the Basque tabor and the not yet been forgiven. Other prisoners have ties whistling melodies of the txistu. In this region to the ultra-left wing ETA, whose terrorist activ where- during Franco's dictatorship- people ities have resulted in numerous violent con were forcefully denied any sort of ethnic cultur frontations within Spain. al expression, including the use of their own The political issues are complex and the polit language, Euskera is heard on the streets and ical agendas diverse. Some want the region to children may attend schools where all instruc become independent; others argue that little tion is in the Basque language. would be gained through autonomy. Potentially, When the sun sets over the bay in San Sebastian, the streets come alive. Fishermen line up on the Nuevo Paseo casting huge poles, The depth and rich each with six baited hooks, into the bay below. ness of the Basque Neighbors amble along the wide boulevard, Country, and Boise's stopping to greet friends and sip beverages at a Basque community, sidewalk cafe or enjoy a street-musician's per is shown in its peo ple and culture. formance. People crowd into the bars to sample Left, Basque dancers pinchos, extravagant Basque appetizers, while in France. Above, tantalizing aromas spill from the windows. from left, a Boise On a particular corner in Boise, similar aro Basque street festi val, a government mas emanate from Boise's Gernika, a Basque building and street pub and eatery. The restaurant bears the name musicians in San of Boise's sister city in the Basque country. Sebastian. A street sign carrying the name and city seal of Boise hangs over a street in the quiet town of Gernika. But it has not always been so quiet. Nazi bombers used unsuspecting Gernika for tar get practice, with Franco's permission, during the Founded early stages of World War II. That scene of car 1936 nage and horror in the Saturday marketplace is 9liJital permanently captured in Picasso's Gemika. THIS CREDIT UNION Near the market in Gernika stands the Junta, IS FEDERALLY INSURED FdtnOOrs BY THE NATIONAL CREDIT the house of government. There a fence surrounds FEDERAL CREDIT UNION UNION ADMINISTRATION the stump of an old oak under whose boughs the decision-makers of another era once met peace "' ably to make alliances. Serving the financial needs of FOUR CONVENIENT A new alliance now exists between Gernika and LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU Boise. The charter that unites the cities claims that BOISE STATE 275 S. Stratford Drive Boise is the region's eighth province, linked by UNIVERSITY Meridian Basque culture, heritage and family. It claims that Employees, fuiHime students, 7450 Thunderbolt the citizens of both cities share appreciation for (Franklin & Cole) the spirit of the individual, the essential nature of members of Alumni Association Boise freedom and the importance of community. in Idaho, and their families! 500 E. Highland (Park Center 8i Highland) Many of the progenitors of Boise's current NO SERVICE CHARGE Boise Basque community came to America in search of CHECKING 12195 McMillan opportunity; many intended eventually to return (McMillan & Cloverdale) to their homeland. In the American West, they FREE HOME BANKING Boise found work as shepherds in the foothills and NO SURCHARGE ATMs CALL US FOR INFORMATION mountains. Characteristic Basque hardiness and ALL 4 OFFICES determination helped many endure the arduous, 208-884-0150 PLUS ... lonely labor and overcome the language barrier. 800-223-7283 (Idaho) Some did return to their homeland, but more IN THE BSU BOISE SUB! www.capedfcu.org stayed and formed a new Basque-American identi ty. Today, on Boise's Basque block, the red, green and white colors of the Basque Country beckon. Secure your future with an The museum displays both the disappearing rural family farms of the Pyrenees and the Basque American culture of the West. Boise's Oinkari Educational Basque Dancers mirror the dance troupes of the Spanish and French Basque provinces. Children of Technology Boise's Basque-Americans learn Euskera in a Basque preschool. Members of Boise's Biotzetik Master's Basque Choir sing lilting folk melodies in that ancient language. Here two cultures meet and Degree mingle, each enriching the other. And now as I sing those melodies with the Or an Integration choir, I hear echoes of Euskera and Castellano spo Specialist Certificate ken on the streets of distant towns and cities. When I float Idaho's rivers and hike in Boise's entirely foothills, I recall contrasting landscapes of colorful fishing boats in languid ports and lovely paths in Online the intensely green Pyrenees Mountains. As I swim in Idaho's mountain-fed reservoirs and feel Boise State's Department of Educational the sunlight taste the surface, I remember the Technology is an operating unit of the silken touch of the salty waters and the shimmer College of Education ing sunlight on the Bay of Biscay. McKinnon, a member of Boise State's Division of Extended Studies staff, was the recipient of a Master's & Certificate programs Faculty/Professional Staff International Development Award for study in San Sebastian, Spain, this past Also available on campus summer. FOCUS FALL 2002 lS Biology professor Steve Novak, right, and student Kevin Hansen examine Medusahead Rye in the Boise State greenhouse.
Faculty, students take interdisciplinary action
iology and chemistry are different scien- The project also draws on Schimpf's expertise in BY JANELLE BROWN tific fields- but when it comes to bio- field-flow fractionation, a separation technique Bmedical research and other areas, they are he has developed over the past 15 years that can becoming increasingly connected. At Boise State be used to isolate and study the interaction of University, students are gaining a hands-on molecules. understanding of the relationship between the In Oxford's lab, Doan prepares cultures that two disciplines as part of a research program. contain vitreous humor, a collagen structure that Boise State is one of 15 institutions nation holds the eye's retina in place. Then, in wide to receive funding from the Merck Schimpf's laboratory, the team uses field-flow Foundation and the American Association for fractionation to study the behavior of the the Advancement of Science to fund undergrad propeptide in various environments. By modify uate research experiences that combine biology ing the cultures in specific ways, the team can and chemistry. then learn about the molecular mechanism that The $6o,ooo grant provides stipends over a leads to changes in the vitreous humor. That three-year period for selected students to work knowledge could help researchers develop a on interdisciplinary research projects with facul strategy to prevent vision loss where a deterio ty teams. Students each receive stipends of rating vitreous humor causes retinal detach $5,000 a year. ments. "By interacting with faculty from both the Other faculty teams include biology professor biology and chemistry departments on a single Steve Novak and chemistry professor Robert project, students will learn the role played, and Ellis, who work with students Robert Lefler and the language spoken, by the other discipline," Kevin Hansen on genetic studies involving says Martin Schimpf, associate dean of the Medusahead Rye, an invasive grass species, and College of Arts and Sciences and the program's on a project to study the responses of certain principal investigator. plant species capable of growing at mine sites 'This experience will allow undergraduate contaminated by heavy metals. biology and chemistry students to take a giant A third faculty team pairs biology professor step into the future, where multidisciplinary Marcelo Serpe and chemistry professor Henry teams will become increasingly important to the Charlier with student Amber Hibbard. They're advancement of scientific knowledge," he adds. studying the role of certain proteins in the Schimpf, a chemistry professor, is teaming development of plant cells that produce latex. with biology professor Julia Oxford and student Latex is an important source of natural rubber Phuong Doan to study the role a specific type of and also contains many compounds that have large molecule called a propeptide may play in potential pharmaceutical uses. molecular structures that lead to retinal detach The interdisciplinary approach provides ments and subsequent vision loss among elderly unique opportunities for both students and fac patients. ulty, Schimpf adds. "We're able to initiate under The project draws on Oxford's expertise in graduate research projects that would otherwise the structure and function of collagen, a protein be impossible to carry out." involved in a variety of biological structures.
16 F0 C US FA ll 2 0 0 2 DISCOVERY
Profs set the tone for Western music in China gobbling up everything you say and responding to every s a young man during China's Cultural Revolution in thing you say. It's a dream world for me teaching and play the 1970s, music was Neil Gu's ticket to avoiding ing." Athe harsh life on a work farm, the fate of his family Cook, Gu and other Western musicians hope to convey and university professor father. artistic understanding and interpretation to pupils whose Clad in green Mao suits, violinist Gu and other young studies focus mainly on technical proficiency. Red Guard musicians played patriotic music to inspire the "The [Chinese teachers] are mainly emphasizing tech revolutionary workers. But Gu yearned to learn Western nique; those kids are doing a great job on that," says Gu. classical music, and under the cover of darkness he careful "Maybe they need more opportunity to listen and to feel ly copied classical exercise books by hand and practiced the music.'' clandestinely. Gu is particularly suited as an emissary of Western artis "With Western [music], we had to put a mute on to prac tic interpretation. After the Cultural Revolution ended, he tice the exercise book," says Gu, now a violist and visiting was discovered in China by violin great Isaac Stern, who professor at Boise State. "Imagine this wo-page book we offered Gu a scholarship to study in the United States. He wrote by hand. I still keep it with me. Sometimes I look at studied with noted viola teacher William Primrose at it and I can't believe we did that." Brigham Young University, then went on to teach as a pro A quarter of a century later, Western economic and cul fessor at Montclair State University in New jersey and per tural ideas now play key roles in modernizing Chinese soci form in Asia and the United States, including at Carnegie ety, and playing an instrument such as violin or piano has Hall and with the New York City Ballet. become a status symbol for newly emerging middle-class "I want to try to get more students from Asia to come to families. With a population of 1.3 billion, China is primed to Boise State," says Gu. "I think it would really benefit the make a mark on the international music scene. university." Gu has seen those changes firsthand. The last two sum -Pat Pyke mer he and Boise State music department chairman and pianist james Cook have made trips to Nanjing and Beijing sponsored by the Chinese government. There they played with a quintet to sold-out houses and worked with motivated young musicians at con servatories. "They told me in Shanghai that in 1990 they had 250 people entered in the Shanghai piano competi tion, and this last year they had 25,ooo," says Cook. "I'm telling young musicians, 'Someday you're going to go to China, because that's where the cultural shift is taking place.' The Chinese are trying to compete or match the standards, maybe outdo the standards, of the West. "They [students] are so respectful, not to the point of obsequiousness, but in the sense that they are
Music department chair james Cook, left, and visiting professor Neil Gu say China's music con servatories are packed with up and-coming students. Boise State psychologist studies
terror management theory
Through a glass darkly
eath becomes her. Or rather, it's become a cen immediate sense of self-worth, thereby adding ter of focus for Boise State psychology professor value to their lives. This often takes the form of Jamie Goldenberg. She and research partner high-risk behavior, such as spending long hours Jamie Arndt of the University of Missouri in the sun in search of the perfect tan or smok Columbia have secured a five-year $1.5 million ing in order to fit in with a particular peer grant from the National Institutes of Health to group. study terror management theory, or how peo Reminding people that these and other ple's feelings about their own mortality impact behaviors increase the risk of death is rarely their health-related decisions. successful, Goldenberg says. "Despite the rise in Awareness of death deaths, it might unconsciously promote more of has long been a part a need to enhance self-esteem. We don't of life for Goldenberg. respond to our fear of death in rational ways. "It always amazed me What we do is not to avoid death, but to avoid how people could go death anxiety." about their business For instance, no matter how often we're told not thinking about that smoking causes lung cancer, we don't death," she says. ''I've approach that knowledge logically, Goldenberg always been very says. A more successful approach to convince aware of it and it sur people to stop smoking would be to taint the prised me how so image of smoking, making it appear less "cool" many people seemed and thus neither a ticket to popularity nor to be in denial." increased self-esteem. The field of terror Terror management theory manifests itself in management stems a number of ways, including prejudice. "It from the work of undermines our own belief system when others anthropologist Ernest think differently than us," Goldenberg says. It Becker, who won a also shows up as depression, obsessive-compul- posthumous Pulitzer Prize for his book Patent awarded to Boise State and Denial of Death. t's official. More than three years after filing an Becker theorized application with the U.S. Patent Office, a that all our thinking I patent has been awarded to chemistry professor patterns and social structures are designed to Psychology professor Dale Russell and to Boise State for Russell's inven shield us from the knowledge that one day we Jamie Goldenberg's tion, the Se lective Mercury Electrode. research focuses on i rra will die. Thus, we create a myriad of distrac The patent is the 12th that Russell, a former tional reactions to our tions to keep ourselves from dwelling on the fear of death. Hewlett-Packard scientist, has been awarded. unthinkable. Russell and the university will split so-so any Goldenberg and Arndt speculate that one way profits from the development of her device. people deal with the knowledge of their mortali "This is important ... because it shows that ty is by unconsciously attempting to boost their the university values intellectual property," Russell 18 FOCUS FALL 1001 sive disorder, neuroticism, sexuality, romantic attachments, greed, creativity and guilt. Many people also deal with mortality awareness through acts of patriotism or hero ism. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, peo ple suddenly had a massive reminder of their own vulnerability. 'The response was symbol ic," Goldenberg says. "It's the ultimate defense. The thing that's most heroic in our society is confronting death in a meaningful way, as with military heroes and firefighters. These are just different types of defenses." The research has a two-fold purpose. First, and Amy Moll check out new equipment. to demonstrate that the hypothesis that Engineering professors Bill Knowlton humankind lives in constant fear of its own demise is true and second, to figure out the best way to convince people to act in their own best interest. ometimes, big things come in tiny packages. That's the case when it Utilizing both students and the general comes to nanotechnology or nanoscience, the study of ultra-miniatur population, the pair will expose people to sit individual atoms and uations likely to remind them of their mortal ized systems that are formed by manipulating ity, then ask them questions dealing with rel molecules to create tiny but complex electronic and mechanical devices. evant issues. For instance, they might have Boise State scientists are pursuing research projects on a number of someone watch a half hour of the evening fronts in this newly emerging fteld. Their work has many practical applica news, or stop them on the street in front of a tions; nanoscale materials are widely regarded as essential to the future of funeral parlor. the computing, optical, aerospace, electronics and biomedical industries. "When they're standing in front of a funer Among the"research efforts are two recently funded projects. al parlor, they tend to feel more people will In engineering, researchers have powerful new t6ols to study nanoscale agree with their opinions," Goldenberg says. materials after receiving a $234,000 grant from the National Science "They need to have others agree with them in Foundation. order to feel more value." Professors Amy Moll and Bill Knowlton are co-principal investigators for Understanding those self-motivators is the the new NSF grant, which funds equipment to enhance the capabilities of best way to influence human behavior, the the university's atomic force microscope, or AFM. pair says. "I think the mark of a good theory is not The AFM is used to analyze tht! surface structures, electrical properties only the extent to which it provides answers and mechanical integrity of nanosca le materials. The NSF grant will .be used to questions, but how it directs us to new and to fund a variety of research projects at Boise State involving researchers lrt interesting theories of social behavior," Arndt engineering, physics, chemistry and biology, and will also be available for says. "I think this theory does that quite researchers in local industries or at government laboratories. well." In physics, professor Charles Hanna is the recipient of a three-year, -Kathleen Craven $1os,ooo grant from the NSF~s Division of Materials Research to conduct nanoscience research. His grant is titled "Broken-Symmetry States of chemistry prof for invention Confined Interacting Electrons." says. The university will also benefit if her The project involves modeling low-temperature quantum systems con patent is developed into a commercial product. fined to two dimensions. According to Hanna, the project will help expand Russell's invention gives scientists an easy scientific understanding of how interacting electrons and interacting and reliable way to measure mercury levels bosons behave when they are confined to nanoscale dimensions. without sending a sample to a lab for analysis. Bosons are particles, like photons or helium nuclei, which can join It eliminates the inaccurate reading that some together to form huge single quantum states, Hanna explains. The tendency times occurs because the mercury can be lost of a collection of identical bosons to form a single quantum state is the is tested. by vaporization by the time a sample physical basis of lasers, superconductors, and superfluids, which are liquids The invention could be used as part of cleanup that are free of friction and can flow practically forever. efforts at mine sites or in medical analyses such - Janelle Brown as telling dentists when to replace fillings. f (lCUS FA H 200 I 19
"i'l't''i' 11 ,.1111il
11 Many suffer from the and director of Boise State's Center for books, arti School Improvement and Policy cles and sto incurable disease of writing Studies. ries. Add and it becomes chronic in their sick minds." That's certainly the case at Boise another State, where professors like Parrett 1,000 journal - early Roman satirist juvenal produce an astonishing number of and book written works each year. In the 2001- reviews and almost 650 professional colleges and universities using these 2002 academic year, faculty members paper presentations and the total is books as required text or readings, as wrote close to 750 books, poems, text- impressive. Factor in the number of well as those who read for pleasure, and you begin to see the power Boise State wields through the written word. That same power has engaged read ers for eons. The earliest known writ he hardest challenge Shelton Woods faced while growing up was grassr ing system dates to about 3200 B.C. ing English. But it became his pas Ancient Egyptians believed that hav sion and hts to61Jor: telling the stories ing their name inscribed was essential to achieving immortality, and in China that are dose to his ~~rt.; Born and ra1sed ln the Philippines, ancients believed that writing was Woods spoke Tagalog .and .llocano at read by the gods. home and learned English at school. While we no longer attribute mysti Now an associate professor of cal powers to the written word, it's East/Southeast'Asian history and undeniable that it can and does stir up associate dean of tne CoOege of deep emotions and inspires scholars Social Sciences and Public and the masses alike to both new Affairs at fl0~$e State, he heights and unexplored depths. has a keen .interest in his Through the written word ideas can (O{:y, a unique perspective from be widely disseminated, schools of which to teU it, and a dream job thought launched and traditions either that ~!lows him to do~· bolstered or undermined. His parents were both in the A.rrjty during Werner Hoeger, a kinesiology pro the Korean War and wound up ln the Philippines as missionaries. fessor and Olympic athlete who has Woods doesn't remember ever reading a book in high school; instead he focused written several textbooks on fitness much of hjs youthful energy on playing basketball. In his mid-~os, after moving and wellness, says writing is a satisfy to the United States, he became interested in academics and history. ing medium for changing lives. His As .a young adult, Woods began checking out books on writing ancl reading textbooks are currently used in more every day. The discipline he displayed then is paying dividends today. In the than 400 colleges nationwide, and as piUt year he has had four hooks .published, with two mor-e due out in tl:le, next the first to address both fitness and six months. The books rcu}$~ fi:oin a look a~ fundamentalism in the Ph ilippines wellness, he's been called the leader in to a his tory of Vietnam to an edit ofct book on Valley County, ldaho - ·aU of his field. As he touts the benefits of them the culmination of many years of hard work. physical activity, good nutrition and ''The ,thing that keeps me fresh is the writing," Woods ~; noting th~t he disease prevention, hearing that his arrives at ~ork about 6 a.m. to write befqre he starts the rest of his day. "I books are helping others take control don't have aha~
22 FOCUS FALL 1001 THE WRITE STUFF
escribing Will Browning as a translator of books is a guiding me,n bit like describing Julia Child as a baker of cookies. says Browning, The job tides aren't wrong - they're just seriously who has ri.ever understated. talked to Browning, a professor of French at Boise State, might Ducharme and better be characterized as a high-wire ~rd$1;, a deft anq dar doubts he ever ing purveyor of the double entendre, the witty aside and win. "I dorit t~ alliterative pun. His English translations of two books think he's a by Quebec author Rejean Ducharme are filled with literary recluse inventions that allow the spirit of the language found in because he's the original French to shine through. unhappy. I "tt's a creative performance that is. completely invisible," think he's a says Browning. 4 ft's alsC) an enormous responsibility and a geniuswho & great joy." · is:dc>ing ~-- Browning· rec~ived accolades from the Canadian media what he ,fo(his translation of Ducharme's The Daughter of Christopher wants to do!' Columbus. And f'le'.s just finishing the translation of Go Figure, Browning digs deep for the])!~~t to be published by Taron Books lrr 2003. expression. Sometimes he gets it just right, such as coining By any measure·, the challenges Browning faces are "fixer-upper" to refer to the house a character in Go Figure immense. firs.t, there's Ducharme's dense language, which 'ts wants to remodel for his wife, who is off traveling through rich in allusions, invented word~ and :puns that would be Europe to heal from the miscarriage of twins. Other times, nonsensical if translated literally. Then there's the fact that Browning says he "sweats bullets" over a small phrase. Ducharme has f>een a hermit for more thart 30 years, com "It's true there is something lost in translation, bud municating with the outside world only through his part think there's something gained in access as well," Browning ner, cactTesS Clalr(f Richard. He reportedly doesn't own copies says. "Ducharme deserves a wider readership. I'm passionate oftlls books because ne can't bear to re-read tli~m? about this work." "I carry his VO,ice with me and a( times he's like a friend -Janelle Brown en their positions. In modern day, cen Who is the most important one? and "The spoken word, unless it's sors have banned titles such as What is the right thing to do? In find recorded, gets distorted through the Catcher in the Rye, Lady Chatterley's ing the answers, he learns the impor second telling," he says. "When it's Lover, Huckleberry Finn, and Brave tance of relationships and putting oth printed, it's substantive." New World as well as the Bible, the ers first. It's also permanent. What may have Quran and other books of scripture. "It touched me," Steiner says. "It's started as a simple thought or idea What is often seen as a knee-jerk about life skills that continue to work becomes etched on the official record reaction - banning books to prevent through adulthood." once it's placed in print. "A book is for the dissemination and adoption of Steiner has written four books and ever, it transcends place and time," ideas - is at least based on some fact well over 40 articles while also pub says Bob Barr, an education professor according to Stan Steiner, a professor lishing an ongoing book review col who collaborates with Parrett on of elementary education specializing umn for three different journals. books dealing with teaching at-risk in children's literature. "People are Along the way, he's come to realize the kids. "It's truly incredible to be in an influenced by what they read. We've power of the written word. airport and see someone reading an all had those 'Aha!' moments when we've read something, it's made an impact and we then look at the world differently," he says. "~ut it be.fore them briefly so they One such book is a picture book by wdl read It, clearly so they will appreciate it, Jon J. Muth called The Three Questions, based on a short story by Leo Tolstoy. picturesquely so they will remember it, and above all, In the book, a young boy seeks the accurately so they will be guided by its light." answer to three important questions: When is the best time to do things? -joseph Pulitzer, publisher
FOCUS FALL 2002 2l THE WRITE STUFF
old, dog-eared copy of your book." I believe until I write it down," says state Senate and House to pass the That permanence requires an Barr. Once written down, however, his Idaho Reading Initiative, which author to organize his thoughts more and Parrett's strategies are clear encourages all children to be reading clearly than he otherwise might. enough to hold weight, as evidenced at grade level by third grade. "I don't know what I know or what by their success in persuading the And the ever-looming deadlines that come with writing assignments pro vide a much-needed opportunity for self-evaluation. "One of the things I like about writ writing stems from his longtime ing is the time for self-reflection," says love of reading. "It comes out of Cliff LeMaster, a biology professor and being a reader from childhood on, editor of the journal The Chemical and loving books as far back as I Educator. "Especially in the sciences, can remember," Wieland says. "For you can be working on a project for me, it's a love of language and quite some time. Writing gives you a working with words." relative stopping point, a chance to Wieland, who directs Boise look back and ask what the project State's master of fine arts pr0c was about and what you learned." gram in creative writing and LeMaster says that writing forces a edits The ldQho ReView, iS- at work researcher to be concise, accurate and on his second novel. convincing. "It's easy to have a conver His ijr:Stnove.l, Willy Slater'5 sation with someone because it's a Ulne, was written about six dynamic situation where you can years ago. It's loosely based on stories Wieland's father used adjust [your theories] based on what to tell him about two eccentric brothers comes up. With writing, you have to who lived together in Ohio, which is Wieland's home state. [try and] give it your best shot the first "I just thought, 'These are great people to try to write about.'" Wieland says. time." The brothers died in the ;1.96os so Wieland never knew them. "When I went to That self-reflection and need for write the novel, I invented their personalities from scratch." concise thought also make writers bet Wieland started the novel as a short story. Though he had written several ter teachers, some say. "At an institu short stories, he had never attempted a longer work. ''To suddenly have a narra tion like this, teaching without writing tive that moves beyond 20 pages is exciting," he says. is unaccountable," says Todd Shallat, a Wieland, who had just returned from teaching English as a second language history professor who has written sev in Japan, worked on the novel full time while living in San Diego. "One of the eral books on local and environmental keys to writing is to be able to afford the time to immerse yourself in the mate history. "You can say what you want in rial," he· says. your classroom - students are in Excerpts from his new novel, The King of Infinite Space, have been published in your home court and don't dare say several literary reviews. It's the story of a man, Ferrell, who divorces his wife anything to challenge you. And in and moves to 100 acres of sagebrush land in Owyhee County. some areas, especially the social sci "lt has a lot to do with the landscape and the w1de-open spaces down there," ences, so much of it is open to inter says Wieland, who drew inspiration for the setting from thtfview out of his for pretation. Who can challenge you?" mer home near Emmett, and from trips to Owyhee County to help friends build But with a published work, he says, a:cabin there. you're accountable to fellow experts in The story explores the idea that people have a need for solitude and, at the the field. And that can be frightening, same time~ a desire for companionship. no matter how many books or journal As a full-time teacher, his new novel was more time consuming than his first. articles you've published. But he finds his work with students helpful to his writing. "You always have a doubt hanging "It's interesting to teach writing while you are writing. You are able to talk over you that you're not such an about fiction and what makes it work. The two just go together," he says. expert," Shallat says. "You can con "Certainly, it makes you think about your own work. It keeps you honest, invig vince your students, even yourself, but orated and charged up." you're still riddled with self-doubt." - Liz Melendez For some, writing is a creative out let. Bill Carman, an art professor who
24 FOCUS FAll 2002 THE WRITE STUFF
"The pen is mightier than the sword." (a - British novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton imposed. Even the very process of crafting words can be intimidating. recently had his first children's picture teachable. The imagination is still "It takes a unique skill to be a book published by Random House, there - they still believe that magical writer," says Hoeger, who recently fin says publishing a book was a natural things are out there, like dragons and ished his 32nd edition of his six titles progression for him. "I like story monsters," he says. currently in print. "The uniqueness of telling, it's part of the reason I'm in 'That's why I teach. I like to get the pen is to convey a message in such illustration," he says. them excited about the possibilities a way that readers will continue to Publishing also provides access to a and let them discover the flame and enjoy that message." broader audience. "If people really passion inside of them. That's why I Despite the difficulty, writing also have a message to tell, fine art is not do it - not just to put food on the has tangible rewards, LeMaster says. the way to do it," he says, noting that table or buy a new car." "The reward is in the sense of books reach a whole group of people But few rewards can completely completion. At the end of the day, you who might never see a gallery show. compensate for the angst that have to be able to have something And because his work is aimed at accompanies the creative process. that's completely finished, done and children, Carman says his writing Finding time to write in the midst of out the door. When you put the last works to expand his teaching. other responsibilities is tough, as is the period on the last reference and put "With this book I'm reaching a chil chronic stress of meeting deadlines - it in the mail, that's a marvelous dren's audience where they are still whether determined by editors or self- feeling."
n tbe wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks last year, federal government the federal government passed the U.S. Patriot Act, has a tendency to supposedly to protect Americans' civil liberties. package the good People were scared, says Boise State economics professor with the bad Charlotte Twight, and "how could anyone vote against an wneo crafting act with the name patriot attached to it?'' But Twight laws. asserts there are "sneak and peek" provisions within the act lfpeople had that allow the federal government to took inside your home complete infor now and present you with a search warrant later. mation regard }wight, who holds a Ph.D. in economics and a law degree ing public poli~ tf"olll the University of Washington, iS a national expert on cy, ~hey might privacy issues and the economics 9f politics. Her interest in make different these areas led to her decision to write a book on the sub choices, 'she ~~~After 10 years of work, Dependent onD£. was published says; ''I often earlier this year. tell my sttr Twight began researching the issues in the mid 1970s, dents that poring over Congressional records and federal documents to the nicer the title discov-er the truth about what goes on beyond the eyes and of the statute sounds, the more skeptical ears of the public. After publishing her findings· in several lam." academic journals, she began work on a book as a way to Twight credits th~ support of her husband for her success shed more light on the issue. as a writer. Because of the Intensity and depth of her "J wanted to bring this ,perspective to the attention of research, Twight says, she often spends hours fost in the ordinary people, not specialists in economic law but those. details ()f her work. "k's very helpful to have his support and who are interested in public policy," she says. "Not all of us encouragement," she says. have time to be specialists. If we don't know what's in those Twight began teaching at Boise State in 1.986. From 1983· laws, how can we protect ourselves?" 86 she taught at the University of Washington School of The book asserts that each of us is heavily dependent on Business. She is a member of the Washington Bar the federal government in most areas of our lives- for our Association and previously served as an executive editor of incomes, our retirement security, our education, our health the Washington Law Review. care, the viability of our business and much more. Yet the -Alexis Ross Miller
F 0 CU S FA ll 2 0 0 2 25 THE WRITE STUFF
By Todd Shallat
The ·author at work in his Boise State office. ALLING HORT
The search for perfection can lead to the depths of despair
J• }\ilth\>rti:'iT#Y: Lukas - authOr and trial !"porter; a .----..-...... ---- ~fi9'~~yeq piyjJ~f.igfi.ts cnisader twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize .-. ·· saw pity in the faces of friends who wondered if the :pensiv¢ New Yorker had the stamina to survive. Lukas, age 6,q, was visibly exhausted and
~ cliliically (le,pr~&Sed! Awarded his first Pulitzer for a
Lukas 1967 New York Times series about the bludgeoning of a teenager in Greenwich Village, his second for a 1985 study
26 FPCIH fAit. 20 o2 THE WRITE STUFF
of racial strife in Boston, Lukas was four years into his fifth book when, in orrie Kelley doesn't see herself as a February 1993, he visited Boise State writer. But out of necessity the and spoke to my history students. Boise State radiologic sciences His manuscript concerned the 1905 professor became one to .improve bombing assassination of Idaho's ex the resources available to. herself and governor Frank Steunenberg. The proj fellow health-care edudltors across ect was "pure history," said Lukas, and the country; problematic because the archives had Along with radiologic sciences yet to reveal the villain who had ad}unct instructor Connie M. bankrolled the man who planted the Petersen, Kelley authored Sectional bomb. No amount of research could Anatomy for Imaging Professionals. establish the motive behind the mur The pair wrote the text der. Lukas didn't know what to write. book after discoveTing "Writing is easy," said a cynic who t~~ was no book avail must have known men like Lukas. able to address the $pedfic "You just stare at a blank sheet of information t_he)' teaCh in their paper until drops of blood form on courseS; your forehead." Most medical sciences ,students are comfortable with anatomy, On Junes, 1997, having relin Kelley explains, but in radiology the studentsclook at parts ofthe body ·in dif quished more than 1,700 pages to his fe rent orientations. "It's to\lgh to teach it without liiog able to show it," Kelley editor at Simon & Schuster, one of says. America's finest writers returned to from the planning stages to the finish~d product, the book t90!( about two his Upper West Side Manhattan apart )'~l'S to complete. The process included research, gathering images to include in and sorting through t~rminology. Various f'telds such anatomy, . ment and hung himself with a dte book a:s medicine and.physiology use different languages, Kelley~~.Experts from each bathrobe sash. discipline even disagr~ over some ana~my iSS!Jes: ...... Even giants fall short of perfection. "There is actually some disagreement even with where a1latomy is," she adds. History, a "bracing challenge," said "EspeciaUy.when you a>me to the smaRer ligam~nts and vessets:fi Lukas, is patched together from scraps The book, she says, "ackfressenhe whole body; boxed into yellowing archives. At best Kelley calls ita "neighborhood project," noting that many area physicians and the patchwork result is plausible medical facilities donated images and use of their equipment. simplification. Not the past as it actu Sectional Anatomyfor Imaging Professionals has become a popular seH¢r In lti. ally happened. Not the reporter's market. "It's a small )'nark~; so we'll never get rkh off of it," Kelley says. ,.But it irrefutable truth. sure is nice to .ha'Ve [the book available) ~" · "He never found the smoking gun," Kelley and Petersen 'ate working on the book's first revision;· which wnt said Kathy Hodges of the Idaho State include more images from ultrasound arid nuclear medicine. Historical Society, the author's ace ''We aren't tedmkal writers by profession, so iti was a hit' of a stretch for researcher. us/' says Kelley. Author David Halberstam, having But; tike radiot6gic medicine~ it posed a .welcome chaHenge for her. worked with Lukas on The Harvard "I love mysteries," she says. "looking for answers, thai's what diagnostic Crimson and later The New Times, medicine is. With all oft:he new technology, we're learning so much about t~ because we're seeing the body in new ways." recalled that his colleague had .-.~,._ .. , ...... llll>ru f .. mOfe body !afttWA~fOII.,_ always reserved the harshest -~- Anq her bQ<>k is helping to take that new knowledge to radiologic words for himself. Said Lukas' sciences students across the country. wife after the suicide: "You could -Sherry Squires have told him that he won the Nobel Prize. It wouldn't have Big Trouble, for me, is the class-torn region exploded in made any difference." book's vaulting ambition: mayhem. Few scholars would reach Historians mostly applaud the to capture that violent so far from a single event. book Lukas called Big Trouble, a study moment when capital collided with Big Trouble nevertheless remains of anarchy versus the law in the shad labor, when assassins carried dynamite one of the best books ever written ow of majestic mountains, an epic and Idaho hired Pinkerton thugs to about Idaho's history- surely the aptly named. The biggest trouble with kidnap labor leaders and the riotous most thrilling I've ever read.
F0 CU S FA ll 2 0 0 2 27 THE WRITE STUFF
"Something about Frank us had lost mothers to 6 "Writing is easy. You just Steunenberg's last walk through the suicide; and both, ever stare at a blank sheet of paper until snow captured my imagination," Lukas since, had a short in the explained. "In my mind's eye I saw dimmer switch that modu- drops of blood form on your forehead. " him thread his way by store windows lated emotions. -Anonymous still festooned for the holidays with "He was the happiest and boughs of holly, chains of cranberries saddest man I know," said a friend of Lukas-like among 3o-some linear feet and popcorn ... a familiar Currier and the reporter with a fatal genius for of decaying correspondence and mite Ives print of an American town at painstakingly detailed prose. infested reports, I hunched in a coal Christmastime, the mythic village suf Worlds apart Lukas and I - he was chute basement. Fingerless gloves in ficient unto itself, proof against an dapper, erudite, cosmopolitan, calm; I the winter. Down at the keyboard by uncaring world." am rolling chaos in mismatched socks. 5 a.m. or the rest of my day was I knew upon reading that posthu Yet we cursed the same preoccupation, ruined. I'd glare at people who asked mous passage that we had shared writing for ego and economics, but what I did over summer vacation. more than a classroom. Lukas and I also for self-assessment, for clues to Had it not been for my history both pined for a more simple and the people we had become. I too knew students - for the diversion of class chaste Idaho. how to obsess. room teaching, for the ego-pumping Both of us, I learned, had battled Compulsively I had worked almost exhilaration of touring the vibrant depression since adolescence. Both of 15 years on a history of engineering. past beyond the tunnel of my research
coauthored his first book while teaching at the University of Idaho. He decided to write CMOS: Circuit Design, Layout, and Simulation because no textbook like it existed. interest jn a sev "You see a need for something lh education and you eral-hundred- want to fill that need," Baker says. IIIJI"l!'"-.._ page textbook Jn addition to teaching full timer he worked 40 hours a about integrat week for three years to finish the book. "I was working a lot ed circuit of evenings," he says. design. Not He's sin~;.e published DRAM Circuit Design:A Tt~torial in 2001 even an elec and CMOS: Mixed-Signal Circuit Design earlier this year. Baker is trical engi considering a second edition to his first textbook, but only neer's~ aft1'!r sales drop off indicattng a newer version is needed. That's wby Baker has found textbook writing to be mut.h more time jake Saker {:onsuming than academic writing he'd done in the past. ft's works hard an effort he describes as both painful and rewarding. to ensure his «You have to focus. You have to be coherent. You have to three be consistent, and a· you want a successful book, you have lengthy t~tbooks cmihe ~ubject tri hWe some aftruistic feelings about what people reany include more than just pages and pages oftext, theory and want;' he says. "16 very easy to write a book - it's much data. The Boise State associ~t~ professor ofelectrical engi more challenging to wdte a book people will actually neering made sure to incqrporate many examples and iHusc: b'I:IY·" trations in the texthooks he's written. His experience authoring textbooks Js rewarding, mainly "lu~f fike kid~ learning to read, the rnore pictures you put because the books hetp his students to be more marketable. i'nf the more people like it," Baker says. "Otherwise it's real "You are helping students to get a good, quality educa ly, really hard to wade through a tech bOok." tion," he says. "You don't get famous from this - It's about His formula has worked. One of Baker's textbooks has sold how many people you can help." more than 25,000 copies and is read by students and work Information on Baker's book is available on the Web at ing engineers around the United States and world. http:/jcmosedu .com/jbaker/jbaker.htm. Baker, who has taught at Boise State since january 2000, - liz Melendez
28 FOCUS FALL 2002 THE WRITE STUFF
The Classicist focus - I'd be writing that history esearch for his biography on still. • Constantine the Great has These days I seldom read writers as taken Charles Odahl to battle good as Lukas, and then mostly to can fields and historical sites across nibalize information for my own France, Germany, Egypt and other research. If Lukas in the fog of depres countries key to the fourth centu sion killed himself because he thought ry ruler. his work mediocre, dare I take pride in "I've done the whole thing all mine? The higher a writer strives, the the way from Northern hltl•§ijd' more the process humbles. Seldom Europe clear down to the Middle East," he says."! can you put on paper the prose in take my vacations to your mind and heart. Constantine sites." Falling short of perfection cripples He hopes this travel will set writers more severely than most. A his biography apart from 1995 report published in Scientific other Constantine works writ~ American found that writers suffer ten by authors who never followed in his foot episodes of clinical depression 10 steps. times more frequently than the gener "There's ju#, been terrible work on tlim," Odahl says. "So what I'm trying to do al population. And writers are 18 is make an interesting text for the public and scholars." times more likely to die from suicide. Odahl's 400-page biography will likely be published next year as part of a "We put so much of ourselves into our British series of books on Roman emperors. work that it's hard to separate our Odahl, a Boise State professor of ancient and medieval history and director of selves from it," wrote children's author classical languages, is an authority on Constantine, who ruled the Roman Empire Nancy Etchemendy in an article about from 306 to 337· He also oWtls what may be the largest private collection of finding the courage to write. Constantine coins in the world. "When I write," said novelist Kurt "We owe so much of our culture to him, I thought this Would be an interest Vonnegut, "I feel like an armless leg ing guy to write about," he says. "He fought some of the greatest battles in his less man with a crayon in his mouth." tory. He completely changed Rome from a pagan city to a Christian city.'' I feel like that crayon-mouth man even Although he's written many articles on Constantine, this is Odahl's first on my 14th draft. attempt at a biography. "I'm really enjoying it because you get into people. You Why then bother to write if the get into their inner motivations," he says. "Writing ought to be fun." obsession wreaks havoc on ego? Odahl enjoys the storytelling that comes with writing about the emperor. "His "Because I'm good at it and I can," said story has battles, political changes, religious changes, a soap opera - it's reaHy Anne Lamott, author of a writing text. fun to write and realty fun to research," he says. Because writing, in academe, forces One story involves Constantine's second wife who, fearing that her son might wife the scholar to specify, authenticate, not become emperor, framed Constantine's son by his first for rape. Constantine ordered his son put to death. When he later found out son had document and defend the unchal hj~ been falsely accused, he sent his wife into the palace hot tub with a bottle of lenged ideas so freely scattered in wine, where she drank herself to death. classrooms. "It was the nicest Vli~Y he could get her to commit suicide," Odahl says. Because the Boise State Faculty That's the kind of story that makes a well-written book more than just there Manual specifies that research and telling of history, Odahl says. writing account for 40 percent of a "If you can be dramatic in your writing," he says, "it makes for good reading." professor's value to the institution. - liz Melendez Because heartfelt historical writing also works through personal conflict, seeking explanation from lives that Lukas saw our lives as puzzles with the Stream: Water, Science, and the Rise mirror our own. missing pieces. We write to patch of the U.S. Army Engineers (winner of the "All writing is therapy," said Lukas, those places. We write to make our Henry Adams Prize for historical writing) explaining his motivation. "To some selves whole. and the coauthored Snake: The Plain and extent all writers seek their craft to Todd Shallat is a Boise State professor its People and Secrets of the Magic Valley heal a wound in themselves." of history. His books include Structures in and Hagerman's Remarkable Horse.
FOCUS FALL 2002 29 admits that other col the Hemingway Center in 1995, it leagues assisted him. became impossible to continue as edi , Trusky began teach tor of cold-drill. ing at Boise State That final issue was a writer's College in 1970 and workout video. Having discovered immediately began his thermochromic paper, which changes love affair with from blue to orange in a reader's Western literature and hands, he used this paper in the final literary publications. issue. Small booklets were printed and Feeling that other col placed inside a video box. "Part of your lege literary journals workout was to assemble the book were too conventional, with rivets that were also included he was the driving inside the video box," he says, tongue force behind cold-drill, planted firmly in cheek. Boise State's literary journals a creative literary publi Another part of the "workout" cation he started that theme included authentic Boise leave an indelible mark same year. The journal State athletic wear. "I got jockstraps was created in a three from the Broncos and cut 2-inch sk Mitch Wieland, director dimensional format "to indulge every squares from Bronco jerseys so you of Boise State's master of book art whim" he had. actually had athletic gear in the box," A fine arts program in creative The name comes from a Gary he says. writing, about the history of literary Snyder poem - a cold drill is a hand Wieland took over the journal at publications on campus and he'll give held chisel used in mining and is "a Trusky's urging. With the establish all the recognition to fellow English great metaphor for pens and pencils, ment of the MFA program four years professor Tom Trusky. those things we hold in our hands ago, Wieland was able to turn publica Trusky, director of the Hemingway when we write," Trusky says. tion of cold-drill over to MFA students. Center for Western Studies, laughs Trusky's favorite issue was also his Each year a graduate student is and gladly accepts the praise, but last. With his selection as director of selected as editor and students in both
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30 F0 CU S FA ll 2 0 0 2 h:IJ@;hiJiiiUi the MFA and English MA programs contribute to the publication. "Helping Build the Wieland is also editor of The Idaho Review, a publication that hit literary newsstands in American Dream" the fall of 1998. Wieland approached Daryl Jones, Boise State's provost and vice president LOCAL! '-OCAL! for academic affairs, and asked for his UNDUtWJUfl & LOSING support on the endeavor. Jones, himself a published poet and former member of the Conventional Loans English faculty, donated $6,000 from his own Jumbo and Specialty Loans budget and suggested the name for the Construction Loan journal. "He was surprised that no other FHA & VA Loans journal in the state had taken that name," Wieland says. Zero Down Programs Nothing, says Wieland, matches the experi First Time Home Buyers~ ence of working on a literary journal. "I would UNDER put it way up there as a growth experience for $250 Lender Credit me as a writer ... literary journals are what For one of the keep literature alive." following Onanelng options The journal's budget is still $6,ooo and that 1. Buy \'our Rate Down covers printing only. Wieland has formed The z. Ru.n• \'our Loc-k Friends of The Idaho Review to assist with 3. f:.....Ut Tow.,... Q081ng l:ost fund raising. "We are a nonprofit organization and we PACIFIC REPUBLIC welcome tax-deductible contributions," he says, MORTGAGE noting, "Literary journals publish the literature Corporation of tomorrow." 921 S, Orchard Boise, lD 8.3705 The Idaho Review has garnered numerous awards since it began four years ago. Three stories were short-listed for the Best American Short Stories from the first issue and two short See Idaho in stories from the second issue were listed as honorable mentions in the 2001 Pushcart Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in .91_{{ i the literary arena. A story by David Huddle in the 2001 issue has been included in the 2002 Pushcart Prize. Other literary endeavors at Boise State ~~WJ...;.J..:.J~~r-1•.:..~1 J L.> J include Ahsahta Press and the Western GOLD RUSH DAYS AND GHOST TOWNS Writers Series. IDAHO, AN ANGLER'S PARADISE Trusky was also the driving force behind RIVER OF NO RETURN: Ahsahta Press, which began in 1974 and is IDAHO'S SCENIC SALMON now officially under the auspices of the MFA OLUfJME FIDDLERS program. Janet Holmes, a poetry professor in ALL ABOARD: A NORTHWEST RAIL JOURNEY the MFA program, is the current editor. Since IDAHO: AN AERIAL TAPESTRY its inception, Ahsahta Press has published (Ha lf- hour version available on DVD) books of poetry by Western writers, usually THE WHITEWATER STATE three books per year. • ECHOES OF A BITTER Professor Tara Penry currently edits the CROSSING: LEWIS & CLARK IN IDAHO Western Writers Series. It began in 1971 and ... and many more has published more than 150 titles focused on These videos can be yours for just $19.95 each the life and work of individual writers who have made significant contributions to V i sit us online at -, , IDAHo Western literature. .d h - PuBLIC I a optv.org ~ -==~ TELEVISION -Alexis Ross Miller
FOCUS FALL 2002 31 PHILANTHROPY
Donor Notes OctoberW est j.A. & Kathryn Albertson Foundation, $44o,ooo for the Creating High Performance Schools Boise State said thanks Initiative -2002. Associated Governmental Accountants, $1,000 for the Associated Governmental Accountants Scholarship. to its many supporters during Bank of America, $1,000 to the Unrestricted Fund. the second annual joan E. Bergquist, $1,000 for the Brian Bergquist Student leadership Fund. O ctoberWest on Boise Cascade Corporation, $1,500 to the Boise Cascade Minority Scholarship. Boise Rotary Foundation, $3,000 to the Bob Gibb Memorial Scholarship. Oct. 19. More CARE Committee, $1,125 for the Idaho Engineering Science Camp. than 250 people Robert & Suzanne Carlile, $2,390 for the Accounting Research Endowment. attended the west jean Cenarrusa, $5,000 to the Mary M. Hopkins Nursing Scholarship. Pete & Freda Cenarrusa, $1,120 for the Ansotegui-Fereday Memorial Scholarship. ern-themed event, Central Paving Co. Inc., $3,000 for the Micron Engineering Building. which included an Trudy Comba, $5,000 to the Ruth Marks Endowed Scholarship for Single Parents. auction, dancing, Cooper Norman & Co., $2,000 to the Accounting Department. Coopers & Lybrand, $24,500 to the Accounting Department Administration Account. dinner and games. laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, $18o,ooo for the laura Moore Cunningham O ctoberWest was Scholarship & $6o,ooo for the laura Moore Cunningham Restricted Nursing Scholarship. held on the proper Estate of Helen Wright, $85,200 to the Helen Wright Nursing Scholarship. Estate of james l. McCraw, $55•780 for the McCraw Family Single Parent Scholarship. ty of J.R. and Tom & Marguerite Frye, $1,000 to the Unrestricted Fund. Esther Golden Eagle Audubon Society, $1,421 for the Idaho Bird Observatory. Simplot and Humphries Family Foundation, $10,350 to the Ruth Humphries Campbell Memorial. sponsored by Idaho Community Foundation, $2,000 to the Don & Evelyn Grable the Boise Memorial Scholarship. State Idaho Fish & Wildlife Foundation, $5,000 to the Idaho Bird Observatory. University Intermountain Gas Company, $2,000 for the Intermountain Gas Foundation. Company Scholarship. Douglas & Ann james, $500 to the Ella judith james Memorial. Scholarship & $500 for the Ann & Doug james Early Childhood Educational Scholarship. Bill & Rebecca lathen, $500 to the Business Adm inistration Account & $500 to the Gordon Pirrong Accounting Department Scholarship. Terry & jennifer McEntee, $1,000 for the Micron Engineering Building. Micron Technology, $3,000 to the Idaho Engineering Science Camp, $9,6oo for the Micron Scholars in Productions Operations Management, $25,600 to the Micron Scholars in Engineering and $1,200 for the Physics Department Administration Account. Among the com Harry W. Morrison Foundation, $2oo,ooo for the Micron Engineering Building. munity and uni Harvey & Margo Neef, $29,213 for the Harvey Neef Mane line Dancers. versity leaders get jim & Karin Nelson, $6,250 for the Micron Engineering Building. jane Ollenburger and Mark Nicholas, $1,000 to the Ollenburger Endowed Account. ting into the spirit of OctoberWest Wendell & Myrtle Phillips, $12,500 for the Wendell & Myrtle Phillips Endowed Scholarship. was Boise State President Charles Thomas l. Rea, $2,000 for the Alumni Center Building Fund. Ruch, top. Numerous guests, center, Peter & Betty Richardson, $1,000 to the Unrestricted Fund. Riverside Inc., $1,000 for the Machine Tool Technology fund. were rounded up throughout the Ross Medical Foundation, $3,000 to the Gordon Ross Medical Foundation. evening for mug shots at the Sheriffs Timothy & jill Schlindwein, $1,000 for the Schlindwein Technical Account. Office including, clockwise from left, Elizabeth & Eric Schneider, $1,000 to the Schneider Computer Science Scholarship. Shepler's, $1,000 for the Unrestricted Fund. Tom and Bonnie Stitzel, Becky lathen, john W. Sparks, $1o,ooo to the Diana Burleigh Sparks Nursing Scholarship. Esther Simplot, Bill lathen and Christopher & Marjorie Thomas, $500 for the Accounting Department Administration Account & $500 to J.R. Simplot. Bottom, Idaho Gov. Dirk the Gordon Pirrong Accounting Department Scholarship. True Step Ministries, $1,100 to the Gene Harris Administration Account. and Patricia Kempthorne take a Gayle & Daniel Weinberg, $2oo,ooo for the Children's Center Expansion. moment to pose for their own mug Welcome Club of Treasure Valley, $1,000 to the Welcome Club of Treasure Valley Scholarship. shot. Western Association of College & University Business Officers, $1,100 for the Boise State University General Endowed Scholarship Fund. Zions Bank of Utah, $2,980 to the Zions Bank Founders Scholarship. Zonta Club of Boise Foundation, $1,000 for the Zonta Business Scholarship.
l2 f 0 ( US FA Ll 2 0 0 2 Get out of town! Milk money grows Free shuttle to ski mountain. to sizable endowment Walk to Shopping, Fine Dining & hat started as a humble nest egg Entertainment. hatched into a sizable sum for W the descendants of Ruth Clarion Inn of Sun Valley Campbell Humphries.
Humphries would sell milk from the cows • Great Mountain Views For Reservations Call: on her Nebraska farm and keep the money • Balconies & Fireplaces 800-262-4833 in her sugar bowl. Periodically she would • Air Conditioning • Refrigerator, Microwave & dip into the fund to buy stocks from the Coffeemaker in all rooms "penny stock man" who would come around. • Cable TV with HBO She primarily invested in a small company, • Fitness Center • Restaurant on Site Nebraska Consolidated Mills, which today is • Best Pool in Ke tchum Con Agra Foods. • Pets Welcome e • Conference Room After she and her husband passed away, their three children inherited the stock and See our website at Clarion www. resortswest.net further diversified their holdings. The third ------::.. .,. generation of Humphries children began the 600 N Main • Ketchum, 10 Francis W. and Louise Humphries Family Foundation from the investment, named for their great-grandparents. After some family members moved to Professional Boise, the family foundation established the Ruth Campbell Humphries Memorial Investment Advice. Scholarship at Boise State for students majoring in business to benefit future gener Serving the needs of the individual investor ations of with conservative investment ideas. students and honor • TAX-EXEMPT BONDS • QUALfiY STOCKS their • INSURED BROKERED COs • IRAs grand • MUTUAL FUNDS • TRUST SERVICES mother's memory. • PROFESSIONAL MONEY MANAGEMENT • TAX-DEFERRED ANNUffiES Founding Board members of the Francis W. and louise Humphries Family Foundation are, back row, from left, D.A. Steve deGraaf, David Hum phries and Steven Humphries. Front, from left, Davidson Ruth Humphries Cole, louise m~~~er Humphries and Carol Humphries & Co. Roberts. (208) 388-4200 or 800-413-2326 Brent Koetter Senior 801 West Main • Suite 100 • Boise Financial Co11511 ltant
FOCUS FALL 2002 H ALUM NOTES
Acting Up
arts chair Richard Klautsch consults with fellow faculty member Charles Fee on the subtleties of a scene while student Dwayne Blackaller practices his lines in the wings and alumnus Stitch Marker mulls the finer points of playing the fool. No, it's not a university-produced play. Instead, it's the Idaho
Shakespeare Festival's 2002 production of Twelfth Night. Klautsch plays the role of Orsino and Fee is the Festival's artistic director. To paraphrase Shakespeare's The Tempest, the partnership between Boise State and the Festival is the stuff of which dreams are made.
That partnership dates to the Festival's actual'doing' of theater." birth in 1977, when a group of actors It also lets students work with profes (many of them former or current Boise sionals from all over the country, he says. State students) decided to put on a show. "To get that kind of exposure and experi Their first choice, Hair, proved to have ence right here in Boise is extraordinary." expensive royalties, so they moved on to The experience students gain when they Plan B. step out of the university environment "The next logical choice was and work side by side with professors and Shakespeare, because he's dead and you professionals from across the country is don't have to pay anyone to do him," unparalleled, Klautsch says. "The demand recalls Marker (BA, theatre arts/secondary this places on students is very educational. education, '89), one of the founding mem They get to see how we approach our bers and still a Festival draw. "It was not a work in a professional environment." real noble beginning." But the partnership is complementary Noble or not, the Festival has grown to in other ways as well, says managing include a top-notch cast performing in a director Mark Hofflund, calling it a part world-class outdoor amphitheater. Its mis nership of opportunity. "On a practical sion, to "produce great theater, entertain basis, we're getting actors, we're getting and educate," encourages a continued designers and we're getting opportunities bond with the university that sits practi for ourselves." cally in its backyard. Because several Festival directors also "What this gives students is real educa teach at Boise State, they have the oppor tion for the real world," says Klautsch. tunity to try things that may not fly on the "Learning about theater, about how to professional stage. "New ideas are always do it, can never be separated from the being born in the academic world," he ALUM NOTES
Sara Bruner, left, as Viola; Richard Klautsch, below left, as Orsino; and Dwayne Blackaller as Curio in Twelfth Night.
says. "The partnership between Boise State and the Festival gives us a forum for these ideas and issues with in the profession. It's a creative association!' And Hofflund does n't discount the bene fit of an educated audience, noting that they bring with them a level of experience atypical in a commu nity without a university. And guests who graduating from business and finance come to town to teach or attend seminars add schools." an additional dimension to the mix. Marker agrees the partnership has been a "I can't tell you how important it is to have good move. "The Festival and the faculty at members of our audience who are at a deeper Boise State's theatre department have been level and can perceive the quality of what we really smart since the beginning about [build are doing," he says, noting that those audi ing] an allegiance and nursing it," he says. ence members are just as likely to have a "It's had great benefits for the Festival, for background in other disciplines as they are in Boise State and for audiences." the arts. "We become a stronger arts commu -Kathleen Craven nity as we stand on the shoulders of people IN TOUCH
Our policy is to print as advisory board. Brennan is D.C.) Labor Relations much "In Touch" informa· employed at Benchmark Committee. Kennedy will tion as possi ble. Send your Construction in Nampa. serve as vice chairman letters to the Boise State during 2003. She is vice Alumni Association, 191 0 president of administra University Drive, Boi se, ID tive services for Inter 83725, or send e-ma il to mountain Gas in Boise. [email protected] . In addition, if you know some WILLIAM "BILL" KENNETH DEAN RHOADES, one who would make a ASSENDRUP, BBA, account BBA, general business, '77, good feature story in our ing, '71, has been elected retired from the military "Aiumnotes" section, to the board of the as a colonel in 1995. He contact the office of News Professional Insurance worked for five years as a Services at the same Benson, second from right, does the coin Agents of Oregon/Idaho. defense analyst. He resides address. Assendrup has worked for in Carrollton, Va. flip prior to last year's UTEP-BSU game. Clear Lakes Agency since 1971 and served as presi dent for the last 22 years. Leader of the WAC He is a board member and past president of the Buhl f you love sports, you'll envy Karl Benson. BARDELL T. BAILEY, attend Kiwanis Club and has also DANIEL B. HAGUE, AAS, He gets one of the best seats in the house ed 'sos, is the recipient of horticulture, '83, recently been active in local cham Ifor just about every game he attends. a donor's award from The bers of commerce, the joined CDF Design/Build, a Phoenix Companies. The Magic Valley Home landscaping firm in Coeur As commissioner of the Western Athletic award recognizes exempla builders Association and d'Alene. Hague has more Conference, Benson manages the athletic ry financial advisers by the Idaho Youth Soccer than 25 years in the land making charitable dona Association. scape maintenance field. interests of the league's member institutions, tions in their names to He works in a similar including his alma mater, Boise State. community organizations. KEITH D. BURKE, BS, physi capacity for Kootenai Bailey is a financial advis· cal education, '71, works. Medical Center. From officiating to bowl game negotiations, er for Phoenix's Portland, for export company Benson sees to it that WAC athletics run Ore., agency. He joined the Natchiq Sarkhalin LLC in BRENT D. CARR, BBA, mar- company in 1969 and was Anchorage, Alaska. The keting, '84, has been pro- smoothly; in the process, he attends numerous inducted into its hall of company was named moted to director of sales games. fame in 1984. He is the Alaska exporter of the year for the nine-state Western "People think I have the best job in the president of First Advisory for 2001 with exports division of Fresh Express Corp. and principal of country," he says. "I watch games from press totaling $11 million. rl···~~ lnc. Carr also was First Financial Resources .. inducted into the boxes and good seats, and I get to enjoy a lot Northwest. .. KENNETH RAY PATTERSON , of victories. Every week there's at least one of RUTH WOODARD WILSON, our teams that wins a game." AA, general arts and sci· workBA, social '73, Who in A former Bronco baseball player, Benson ences, '54, recently partici has been ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Exec- pated in a 1o-mile walk named utives and (BS, physical education, '75) began his non hosted by the Laytonville director of Profes- playing athletic career at Boise State in 1975 School in Laytonville, the sionals." Calif. Wilson was awarded Community Brent and as assistant baseball coach under Ross a cash prize for being the Services his wife, Vaughn, current chair of the university's kine oldest to complete the Agency for Lorri, have event. She last worked as a Stanislaus been selected to siology department. cataloger for the Reformed County, Calif. represent Capital Benson is beginning his ninth year as head Theological Seminary in Patterson previously was High School on an of the WAC, a job that followed a four-year Jackson, Miss. the western division direc- "Interlock" advisory board. tor for the Child Welfare Interlock was created to stint as commissioner of the Mid-American League of America in Salt improve and promote Conference, four years on the NCAA staff, Lake City. Prior, he worked sportsmanship in high as the director of the Child school athletics. master's level course work in athletic adminis and Family Services tration at Utah, and various coaching jobs. LARRY D. ROBERTS, diplo Division of the Utah State CHE RYL M. (QUALMAN) "I first came out of school as a coach, want ma, arts and sciences, '62, Department of Human O'CONNOR, BS, nursing, recently retired from the Services. '84, is a nursing supervisor ing to devote my life to intercollegiate athlet Filer School District after for St. Dominic's Home in ics," Benson says. "My job couples intercolle 22 years of service. Born ELIZABETH "BETTY" Blauvelt, N.Y. O'Connor in Parma, Roberts began (HARDY) ARCHIBALD, BBA, oversees the administra giate athletics with the business side of athlet teaching in Notus in 1971, business education, '76, is tion of medical and dental ics, and I enjoy it very much." where he also drove the a keypunch supervisor and services for foster chil school bus. He later instructor for Harry and dren. She resides in Benson is often on the receiving end for worked as a teacher and David Corp. Archibald Congers, N.Y. both accolades and complaints involving his coach for the Meridian dis· retired from Boise public league. While he admits that his job is some trict. He completed his schools and substitute MARTHA TERESA ROLETTO, master's degree at the teaching. She lives in BA, mathematics, second times a hot seat, he is seldom chided for his College of Idaho. Boise. ary education, '84, received Boise State connections. the 2002 Presidential SUSAN G. (MIKOLASEK) SUSAN (KOEHLER) Award for Excellence in "''m subject to criticism and complaints BRENNAN, BA, general KENNEDY, MBA, '77, has Secondary Mathematics regardless of where I got my degree," he says. been selected chairman for Teaching. Roletto, a business, '67, was recently "It comes with the territory." appointed to Boise State's 2004 for the American Gas teacher at Coeur d'Alene construction management Association (Washington High School, is one of only - Sherry Squires 36 FOCUS FALL 2002 IN TOUCH
two Idaho math teachers officer and assistant vice to receive a 2002 award. president of real estate She received a $7,500 for Idaho Independent grant for her school's Bank. Carter resides in mathematics department Meridian. and a trip to Washington, D.C. DEANNA KAY McWHIRTER, BBA, marketing, '89, is a LARRY LAVERTY, BA, politi commercial loan officer cal science, '85, is an actor for the Nampa office of working mainly in Los Farmers and Merchants Angeles in film and televi Bank. She has 14 years sion. He appeared most experience in commercial recently on ABC's The financial sales, financial Practice. analysis and account man agement. STEPHEN FRANKENSTEIN , BA, history/secondary edu SUE J. NEWCOMBE, BS, cation, '86, has been pro nursing, '89, recently trav moted to assistant princi eled to Guatemala with the F0 CU S FA ll 2 0 0 2 )7 IN TOUCH lies by the Nevada Press (BA, elementary education/ bilingual Thummel's research aids Association in 1997. He multicultural, 'So) has been named one was employed as a transplant patients reporter for the Battle of the 100 Most Influential Hispanics Mountain Bugle in by Hispanic Business magazine. Honorees Nevada at the time of the award. were announced in the October 2002 issue B ~:!:::t~:s of the publication. Gutierrez was recently appointed PATIY LEE NEAVILL, BS, sliare 6f \:VQrld~ to the idaho Court of Appeals. physical education/second class scientists. When ary education, '91, was see~g a dassfc recently named secondary school teacher of the year resides in Meridian. ment, '94, was recognized example, look no ful"" for the Nampa School by the Idaho Business ther than Univ~,rslty District. Neavill, an eighth KAREN GESELLE, BBA, Review as one of the "top marketing, '93, recently 40 under 40" young lead of Washington d1ni• grade science teacher, has taught at West Middle joined Idaho Properties ers in Idaho. Menchaca is ciij phaimacol~t School for seven years. GMAC Real Estate, as a a Life Flight membership Kenneth Thunimel real estate sales profes program manager in Boise. VALERIE J. (MEAD) ROBERT· sional. Geselle's back Prior, Menchaca was a (BS, premed/biology SON, BS, chemistry, '91, ground includes sales financial manager for the experience in print adver Saint Alphonsus '78, chemistry ~~h). recently joined Micron as a technical editor. She tising and the Internet. Foundation, a business After.his schoolirig resides in Boise. manager for the atBQ~ State, Thummetcwent on t~ earn.~· WAYNE E. GILLAM, BA, Orthopedic Institute and advertising design, '93, is vice president of develop Ph.D.inpharmac(!utica,l science from in THOMAS W. THOMSON, tJW BBA, finance, '91, has a graphic designer for the ment for Clearwater 198~. After he completed a post-doctoral fel joined Eastern Idaho city of Redmond, Wash. Mortgage. He was elected Gillam previously worked the 2002 national presi lowship at the University of Connecticut Regional Medical Center as chief operating officer. for Boise State Printing dent of the Association of Health Science Cetltel'f''Wher~ he studied the Thomson comes to EIRMC and Graphics. Air Medical Membership Programs. structure and function of the ~.~ metabolizer from Delta County Memorial Hospital in CHRISTINA (HALL) cytochrome P.}j)O, he o:tetm:rrei:l to Washington Delta, Colo. Before that, he MARINEAU, BBA, account KAREN ELIZABETH HODGE, in 1989 ils a faculty member. was CEO at Colorado ing, '93, has been admit BBA, general business Plains Medical Center in ted as a partner with management, '95, is direc "When ~omeone ~es an1\mrH fuf,a Fort Morgan. He holds a Deloitte and Touche in tor of Women's and heaqaclte, foi instance, P450 ,PreRks it dQwl). to master's in health Ontario, Canada. She is Children's Services at administration from responsible for leading Saint Alphonsus Regional metab9ll,tes iJ!at can ;rn=: excreted from the Washington University in the International Medical Center in Boise. body," Thummel explains. Most of ~1£~ time St. Louis. Assignment Services She is currently working group dealing with cross on a program geared drug metabolism is beneficial, he says, but M. SEAN O'BRIEN, BS, border tax implications of toward teen parents. sometimes it is not. physics, '92, has accepted a employers and employees When Thummel started his research, he was position around the world, special KENNETH DALE KIRKLAND, as asso izing in Canadian and BS, sociology, '95, is a st(ldying Tylenol toxicity. Working With edt: ciate U.S. taxation. licensed clinical social leagues at Washington, he di scovered that iilro research worker and has begun scientist DANNY DEAN SCHOOL developing his own men hol ingestion could modify thee activity of P450 , and lec CRAFT, TC, welding/metals tal health counseling prac conye{ting ilie drug into a potentially liV~r~ turer in fabrication, '93, has joined tice in Idaho City. After the Idaho Testing and completing his degree at toxic metabolite; Package I~lip.g {dr Tylenol astrono- Inspection as a welding Boise State, Kirkland now. warns :against this combination. my inspector at Gayle earned a master's degree O'Brien Manufacturing. He previ in clinical social work at Thuimlli'\f has concentrated his research 9n depart ment at ously was a welding Walla Walla College. the. immune suppreSsors {IS} given ttT organ Yale University, where he inspector for Materials Kenneth's wife, CAROL Testing and Inspections, transplantation recipients. The c Jl FOi:US fAt( 20~ l IN TOUCH D. GRIGG, BS, health sci· University of Wisconsin· Conner is a captain in the Planning, a business she He is responsible for the ence studies, '96, have Madison Law School and U.S. Army and is stationed started after graduation. master gardener program, opened Precision Family is currently an associate at Fort Rucker, Ala. Tooman's company spe- 4-H programs and the fruit Eyecare in Kuna. Both attorney with Melli, cializes in planning events industry in the Payette physicians attended Walker, Pease, and Ruhly, ROBERT M. "ROB" DAVIS, for small businesses and area. Davis completed his optometry school at the S.C., in Madison, Wis .. BBA, accounting, '98, has families. She resides in master's degree in plant Southern College of been named business Boise. science at the University Optometry in Memphis, BRIAN D. BURKS, MBA, '98, manager of Journal of Idaho in 2001. Tenn. has recently opened Burks Broadcast Group's televi- JOEY BARROSO, BS, sociolo- Investment Services, an sion and radio operations gy, '99, is the operations WEN DINER. THOMPSON· CHRISTINE ANN Idaho-based financial con- in Boise. Davis previously manager for Western DAWSON, BA, math and (MOHLMAN) KEILTY, BBA, suiting and money man- was controller/business Building Supply, a build- economics, '99, is currently marketing, '96, is agement firm. Burks previ· manager for KNIN-TV, the ing materials retailer. He working on her disserta- employed with Keilty ously was a stockbroker UPN affiliate in Boise. resides in Caldwell. tion in labor economics Construction, Inc., a for Prudential Securities. while teaching at the remodeling company in He resides in Meridian. SHARON ORLENA (HARLE- TRAVIS JAMES BLAMIRES, University of Utah. She is Boise. She handles man- MAN) TANDY, MA, interdis- BS, biology, '99, received the recipient of several agement and marketing MICHAEL GREGORY CON- ciplinary studies, '98, the prestigious alumni scholarships as well as a activities for the company. GER, BA, communication, recently presented a award upon his graduation faculty-selected fellowship. '98, has joined M&T keynote address about his- from Penn State NICOLE KIRSTEN PICHAR- Mortgage Corp. in Boise as torical quilts to a confer- University. The award is DANAE M. (YODER) DO, BBA, marketing, '96, is a mortgage loan officer. ence for the based on academic KLIMES, BBA, general an ED! marketing consult- Conger has a Genealogical achievement and leader- business management, '99, ant for CIGNA Healthcare background in Society of Idaho. ship abilities. Blamires has been promoted to Medicare Administration financial and Tandy is a member degree was in turfgrass business banker at Wells in Boise. She has been real estate lend- of the Idaho management. He is now Fargo's South Central with CIGNA for two years. ing. He lives in Humanities Council an assistant supervisor at Idaho Business Banking Boise. Speakers Bureau Troon North Country Club Center in Twin Falls. MATTHEW D. "MATT" and has addressed in Cave Creek, Ariz. Klimes joined the bank as McLAUGHLIN, BS, biology, DONALD STEVEN audiences through- a trainee in 1999 and '97/BA, history, '93, recent- CONNER, BS, out the United DAWN AGNES DALRYMPLE, worked as an assistant ly started a five-year resi- social science, States. Her back- BS, biology, '99, is a gradu- relationship manager at dency in urology at Kansas '98, has been ground is in quilt ate student in Idaho State the Twin Falls location. In Conner University Medical Center promoted and and textile history. University's physical thera- her new position she in Kansas City. recently py program. will be responsible for assumed command of ·c GLENNA M. TOOMAN, BBA, developing new commer- ANGELA BLACK, BA, visual Company, 1st Battalion, managementfentrepre- TIMOTHY SCOTT DAVIS, BS, cia! and agricultural art, '98, earned her juris 13th Aviation Regiment, neurial, '98, is the owner biology, '99, is a Payette business. She recently doctor degree from the 1st Aviation Brigade. of Memory Makers Event County Extension agent. attended the Western Membership Welcome to the Boise State Programs & Activities Jf5W Alumni Association websitel Stu ent Programs Enjoy current alumni news, local and national event information, Alumni Association the latest membership benefits, membership information, new stu dent programs, chapter programs, and much morel Alumni Center Go Broncos JOIN NOW! Carry It With You Visit ALUMNI.BOISESTATE.EDU and carry the connection with you! FOCUS FALL 2002 39 IN TOUCH Agricultural Banking JEREMY LEE ROBBINS, BSC, School. civil engineering, 'o1, is an engineer-in-training for Alum at helm of Montana college MATTHEW N. ORTON, BBA, Doherty and Associates in accounting, '99, recently Boise. Major transportation arrel Hammon is bringing big aspirations to a small college on received his license to design projects on which the eastern Montana plains. Now entering his second year as practice as a certified pub he will be involved include lic accountant in idaho. U.S. 95, Setters to Bellgrove Dpresident of Miles Community College in Miles City, Hammon Orton joined Cooper in north Idaho, and the (BA, English, '82; MA, English education '86) is quick to sell the Norman in January 2000. Twin Falls Alternate Route. He lives in Twin Falls. school's virtues to anyone who will listen. DAVID W. SCOTT, MA, educa And he's having fun in the process. tion/curriculum and instruction, '01, is an art "There's no limit to what you can do with teacher at Boise High. two English degrees from Boise State," he PHYLLIS ANN CANOY, AS, says, laughing about the chain of circum KEVIN GAMACHE, BA, com munication, 'oo, has joined nursing, 'o2, was recog stances that has put him at the helm of the the business development nized by the National 700-student college that serves five Montana team of HNA Impression League of Collegiate Management, an advertis Scholars for ranking in the counties. ing, public relations and top 15 percent of her grad Hammon taught ninth grade in Mountain marketing firm in Boise. uating class and was Gamache previously awarded the advanced Home for several years before taking a divi worked for TVTV Public placement-outstanding stu sion manager position at Eastern Idaho Access. dent award. She has been an LPN at Midland Health Technical College in Idaho Falls. That led to NANCY LEE HOALST, BA, and Rehab in Nampa for his next position as associate vice president elementary education, 'oo, 14 years. During her full time employment at •:-oo~....,~r~ for extended programs at Lewis-Clark State has been named Glenns Ferry School District's Mid land, she was able to College in Lewiston, where he had a hand in Teacher of the Year by maintain a 3·4 GPA. developing an aggressive outreach program that touched all corners Masons Fidelity Lodge #8o in Glenns Ferry. of the state. Hoalst teaches special edu cation at Glenns Ferry In July 2001 he moved into the MCC presidential suite, where he middle and high schools. immediately set out to focus the school's mission on academic prepa She previously was a spe MECHELLE MAE SCHOEN and Christopher J. Wilson ration and regional economic development. cial education teaching assistant with the (Boise) March 2. From helping local attorneys learn new courtroom technology to Mountain Home district offering an online course for cattle buyers or developing a cadre of for 17 years. SHERRON M . "SHERRY" EGELAND and Rick Gray registered nurses, MCC stands ready to help build the economy of the JENNIFERJ. HOLLEY, BA, (Boise) May 4· town of 9,000 that is a center for commerce and health care, he says. political science, 'oo, is an administrative assistant JUSTIN GENE WORTHAM Backed by a "progressive board of trustees," Hammon has aggres for the Idaho Humanities and Karina Reneau sive plans to develop the school. Construction on a new residence Council in Boise. Holley (Caldwell) May 11. previously worked for the hall should begin in March and plans are afoot to develop a student Boise Metro Chamber of DEREK LEE ALBERT SAUER union and family apartments. He is lining up community partner Commerce, Hewlett WEIN and Jeanine )omae Lewis (Meridian) June 1. ships and seeking grant funds to develop new programs. Packard and St. Luke's Regional Medical Center. "I like to go fast. The decision-making environment here is good BRIAN DOUGLAS CHESS and Laura Ann Walker (Boise) because we can very quickly decide what needs to be done and then ROGER D. SPARROW, AAS, computer network support June 22. do it," he says. technician, 'o1, has worked JAIME FARRAH SEVERSON Despite its small size, the college and its president aren't immune at the Idaho Statesman for almost 22 years, first in and Matt Lenz ( Bonners to the pressures that face larger institutions. Already he is dealing the platemaking-camera Ferry) June 29. department and now as a with anticipated budget cuts as the state comes to grips with a $250 computer technician. His CYNTHIA M. PACE and million shortfall. wife, BARBARA LEE MAR Robert M. Edwards And the college is devising strategies to recruit new students in a TIN-SPARROW, BA, art, 'oo, (Encinitas, Calif.) July 6. is in the master's program region that experienced a population loss in recent years. in interdisciplinary studies Through it all, Hammon is excited to reach a goal he has had for at Boise State. In addition to her art degree, she holds several years, which was to lead a small college like MCC. three degrees in theatre 'This is a great job for me ... there isn't a minute I don't enjoy," he from Boise State. The cou DWIGHT ALLEN BARROWS, ple recently celebrated CC, wastewater technology, says. their 25th aniversary. '91, died June 28 in Boise - Larry Burke at age 52. Barrows had JASON R. BEAR, BA, music, worked for Main and Fifth 'o1, is a music teacher for Grocery, Fred Meyer, the Dietrich School Shopko, and as parts man District. He resides in ager for Da-Lon Motors. He Jerome. also worked for the west 40 FOCUS FALL 2002 IN TOUCH Boise wastewater treatment of Nampa at the time of his facility. death. He graduated from the FBI academy in 1993. When it comes to meeting NORMA LEE (SCHUTT) your Real Estate needs. BEAVERS, BA, sociology, '7s, JOHN EDWARD DURHAM, died April 4 in Boise at age CC, culinary arts, '83, died 49· Beavers began her Aug. 12 in Nampa at age 44· WE SCORE 4 OUT OF 4 ! career at Ore-Ida Foods and Durham grew up in the later partnered with her Wilder area and graduated When it comes to choosing a realtor who husband Carl in Shannon from Bishop Kelly High Distributing, Idaho's largest School in Boise. Durham will successfully help you through the independent food service was active in high school entire process of finding and securing the distribution company, until sports. He used his culinary 1999. She also served on talents at Boise's Mode Tea right home, you need someone with Bogus Basin's board of Room, which he managed, directors. as well as Crane Creek and knowledge, service, integrity and ingenuity. Hillcrest country clubs. He Look no further. We score 4 out of 4. DAVID M. uMARV" BROWN later worked in mainte JR., diploma, general arts nance for the Idaho State and sciences, '48, died May Veterans Home. Call us today for your 12 in in Boise. He was 77· Real Estate Needs. Brown served in the Army PATRICIA J. DURIE, BA, the Air Corps during World atre arts, '98/BM, music, '91, War II, attended Boise died July 12 in Boise at age MONTE SMITH Junior College and complet 7S· Durie earned both her 375-3750 ed his education at the degrees after retiring from University of Oregon. He Boise State in 1988 after 18 440-3053 had a 3o-year career with years of service. At the time Albertsons Inc., primarily of her death, she was work as a construction manager. ing on her master's in musi cal theater. Durie lived in SUE NIELSEN Associat• Broker RONALD JOSEPH CASH , BS, Boise for more than so 375-3750 radiological technology, '90, years and performed at died June 21 in Boise at age many weddings, funerals 866-1316 so. Prior to his Boise State and other events. education, Cash worked for Nezperce Railroad, Colley BRYAN KENT GREEN, BBA, Aviation and Dokken marketing, '7s, died June 2 Implement and studied art as the result of a motorcycle at University of Idaho. accident near Chico, Calif. After he graduated from He was 56. Involved in ath Boise State, he worked for letics his whole life, Green St. Luke's Regional Medical was recruited for football by Center in Boise. several institutions, includ ing Notre Dame, Nebraska BRENT H. CAYWOOD, BS, and the universities in ARTHUR BERRY & COMPANY physical education, '78, Idaho. He ultimately attend Professional Business Brokerage and Commercial Real &tate Company died Aug. 9 in Nampa at ed Idaho State to play base age 49· Caywood grew up ball and basketball. Green Call the Regional Authority for Twenty Years at (208) 336-8000 in American Falls and served in the Army during for a no-<:ost, no obligation valuation of your business Nampa and was a high the Vietnam War. At the school athlete. He worked time of his death he had Please v1s1t our webs1te for listtngs as a salesman and manager just completed the first year for Town and Country of a master's degree pro www.arthurberry.com Volkswagen in the early gram at Chico State. '8os and later in a similar 960 Broadway Avenue, Suite 450 capacity for Edmark BARBARA JEAN (ARCHER) Boise, Idaho 83 706 Chevrolet in Nampa. He GUSSOW, BA, elementary earned several sales excel education, '70, died May 20 lence awards. in La Jolla, Calif., at age 73· A Rexburg native, Gussow ALAN DEAN CREECH, BA, attended beauty college YIU ttAVEII'T SEEII criminal justice administra and had a hair styling busi tion, '77, died in a plane ness for many years. She AIIYTtlllll YET. crash June 21 in the Idaho continued her education at 6 wilderness. He was 48. Ricks, Albion Christian Born in Boise, Creech College and then Boise attended Meridian and State, after which she Boise schools and graduat taught in Palm Springs, ed from Glenns Ferry High Calif. Gussow returned to CINEMAS Showing the latest independent,foreign and art films in 4theatres. School. He completed an Idaho in the early '8os and CAFE Gourmet, deli-style dinner on the polio, by the firePate or in the theatre. AA in criminal justice at opened Barbara's, a clothing the College of Southern store in Burley. She had FUN Wine Bar, Sped~ty Been, Es!Jesso, Dessert. Idaho before transferring resided in Yuma, Ariz., VIDEO RENTALS Over 2000 great tides to Boise State. He was since 1991. GIFT CERTIFICATES For any occasion employed in law enforce ment since 1972 and was HARVEY BOBBY HARRIS, BA, Hours: Mon.· Thurs. 4 pm-9:30 pm • Fri.·Sun. 12 pm-9:30 pm chief of police for the city communication, '84, died 342·4222 • 646 F1lton • http:/ /rhefUduboise.com F0 CU S FA l L l 0 0 l 41 May 9 of cancer. He was Building and work on the translator/interpreter for Alumni Association 66. Originally from historic restoration of the Refugee Service in Boise, Lynchburg, Va., but a long- state Capitol. He was as well as the J.R. Simplot time resident of both active in several profes- Co. and West Valley Ca lendar of Boise and Eugene, Ore., sional organizations, Medical Center in Harris was a retired staff including the American Caldwell. sergeant for the U.S. Army Institute of Architects, Events and served in Vietnam. He from which he received MICHELE ERIN KRESGE, BS, received a Purple Heart, design awards during his biology, '96, died June 6 in November two bronze stars and career. Missoula, Mont. She was 1 Alumni Chapter Survey Deadline. other honors. While in 31. In addition to her Details: alumni.boisestate.edu. Boise, Harris owned and BENJAMIN ANDERSON Boise State degree, Kresge operated an architectural JAYNE, diploma, general completed a bachelor's 9 Bronco Bash Tailgate Party, Alumni company called Special arts and sciences, '49, died degree in philosophy from Center. 11 a.m.; Rice vs. Boise State, Designs and Drafting Sept. 8 in Gig Harbor, Albertson College of Idaho Bronco Stadium. 1:05 p.m. kickoff. Services in the late 1970s. Wash., of a heart attack. and was working on her He was also a member of He was 73· Jayne was a doctorate in molecular 13 Board of Directors Meeting, Alumni the Westside Optimists football AJI-American at biology at the University Center. Noon. Club and the Lions Club. BJC and an Athletic Hall of Montana. As a research of Farner. He went on to scientist, Kresge made a 16 Bronco Bash Tailgate Party, Alumni DARIN E. HAYLETT, BBA, earn a Ph.D. in forestry breakthrough develop- Center. 11 a.m.; Louisiana Tech vs. accounting, '85, died May engineering from Yale and ment for a new gene Boise State, Bronco Stadium. 29 in Flagstaff, Ariz., at served as dean of Duke's marker for the Lyme age 40. Haylett grew up in School of Forestry from Disease bacterium. 1:05 p.m. kickoff Homedale. His career in 1976-85. During his aca- 22-23 Alumni Association and Bronco grocery retail took him to demic career he was on VICTORIA "VIKI" (MOON) Athletic Association tour to Nevada Arizona in 1989, where he the faculty at Yale, MARDIS, AS, nursing, '75, had since resided. Washington State, died July 26 in Seattle at Reno Football game. Washington and North age 49· Mardis worked at 22 Reno BroncoBash, Circus Circus Hotel, VICTOR K. HOSFORD, the Carolina State. Prior to his St. Luke's in Boise and the university's architect for retirement he occupied Veterans Hospital in Reno, Nev. 7-9 p.m. 10 years, died Aug. 21 in the Morris Goddard Chair Boston before moving to 23 Pre-game Pep Rally, El Dorado Hotel, Boise after a battle with of Forestry at Penn State. Seattle where she was cancer. He was 67. During employed at Group Health Reno, Nev. 9-11 a.m. Hosford's 45-year career in LILIANA (RADULESCU) Acute Care Hospital. She architecture in the Boise JOHN SON, BBA, human had recently worked at Decem ber area, he was a partner in resource management, '94, Home Health Plus in 20 Winter Graduation Celebration, 8 a.m., Dropping, Kelley, Hosford died June 14 in Caldwell. Lynnwood and as a home Kinesiology Building/Bronco Gym and LaMarche and then She was 4 3· Johnson was health nurse for Apria started the Design born in Bucharest, Healthcare in Redmond. january Planning Group. His archi- Romania. She came to the 15 Nomination deadline for Distinguished tectural credits include the United States in 198o and EDGAR LEE MERCER , JR., Alumni Awards design of many public lived in Portland, Ore., BA, English, 'o2, died of buildings, including the before moving to Idaho. cardiac arrest july 4 while 15 Boise State Day at the Legislature, Idaho Supreme Court She had worked as a hiking into the Jarbidge 8 a.m.-noon, Capitol Building 15 Legislative Reception, Louie's Events planned for Reno game Nov. 22-23 Restaurant, downtown Boise. 5-7 p.m. February B ronco fans in Reno for the Nov. 23 Boise State vs. Nevada-Reno 15 Application deadline for Alumni football game will once again be welcomed by the Boise State Alumni Association Freshman Scholarship Association. The Reno weekend traditionally attracts thousands of 19 Board of Directors Meeting, Alumni Center. Noon. alumni and fans. This year the association is hosting a "Reno BroncoBash" on Friday May evening, Nov. 22, and a pre-game Pep Rally Saturday morning, Nov. 23. 7 Alumni Association annual meeting, Student Union. Each event costs $15 in advance with a limited number of $20 tickets available at the door. Auction 'o3 set for May 3 The BroncoBash will be held from 7-9 p.m. Friday evening at The biennial Boise State Auction is set for Circus Circus and will feature door prizes, guest speakers, heavy May 3, 2003. The auction is a Boise State appetizers, no-host bar, and a special welcome by a "Frank Sinatra" tradition that raises funds for athletic schol entertainer. The event is a great opportunity to meet up with arships and the Alumni Center. The event is friends and hundreds of Bronco fans to kick off the weekend. coordinated by the Alumni Association and Saturday's Pre-Game Pep Rally is from 9-11 a.m. at the El Dorado Bronco Athletic Association. For donation or Hotel. It includes a full breakfast, door prizes, no-host bar and ticket information contact auction coordina- more. tor Valerie Tichenor at (2o8) 426-2570. For reservation information, call the Alumni Association at (208) 426-1698. 42 FOCUS FA l l 2002 - Wilderness with friends. with cancer. She was 51. He was 44· Born in Reed grew up in Pocatello Baltimore, Mercer was a and attended idaho State lifelong advocate for University. Recently, she wildlife and wilderness taught in the Kuna School and was involved with the District. Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, the Sierra Club, DAVID RAY ROESSLER JR., Alliance for the Wild BA, criminal justice Rockies and most recently administration, '78, died the Idaho Greens. In 1992 July 2 in an automobile Mercer began his compa accident. He was 57· ny, Back to the Source, Roessler's wife Rose Marie leading clients from all was also killed in the over the world on trips crash. David joined the into remote areas through U.S. Army in 1966 and out the West. He was also served in Vietnam as a hel an avid writer. icopter pilot. He received Purple Hearts, the Bronze H. IRVING PIERCE, AA, gen Star and many other eral arts and sciences, '58, awards. He also served in died Aug. 9 in Boise at age Germany and was dis 64. Pierce completed med charged in 1972 as a cap· ical school at the tain. He joined the Boise University of Oregon in Police Department in 1975 1965 and trained in inter while attending Boise nal medicine at an Army State and retired from the medical center in Tacoma, department as a sergeant Wash. He served on active in 2001. and reserve duty with the U.S. Army, retiring as a MARY L. SWARDZ, BA, colonel in 1991, having English, '73, died June 5 in been awarded the Marysville, Wash., from Meritorious Service medal. complications due to can· Pierce worked for Medical cer. She was 51. Swardz Oncology and Hematology grew up in southern Associates in Tacoma until California and moved to joining Saint Alphonsus in Boise in the late '6os. She Boise in 1999. He also was taught English and French the principal investigator at Fairmont Junior High in of the Northwest Boise from 1978-1980. She Community Clinical later earned her master's Oncology Program. degree at Leslie College in Cambridge, Mass., com AMY M. (GRATTON) PRIEST, pleting the program with a BA, communication, '99, 4.0 GPA. She relocated to died June 8 in Boise at age Marysville in 1985, where 28. Priest worked for she taught at Lakewood Phillip Morris Co. as a ter Middle School. ritorial sales manager. She had also attended college BETTY (AMOS) THIER in Eugene, Ore. HAUSE, AA, general arts and sciences, '45, died July STEPHEN G. PROVANT, 13 in Boise at age 77· A diploma, general arts and Boise native, Thierhause sciences, '58, died of can and her husband founded cer Aug. 16 in Valdez, Meridian Insurance Alaska. He was 64. Provant Agency, which is still in spent 22 years with the operation today. She was Environmental Protection the first woman in Idaho Agency in Alaska and to receive her certified Idaho. He retired in June insurance counselor desig 2002 from the Alaska nation, which she retained Department of for more than 30 years. Environmental Thierhause was also Conservation as manager involved with Order of of the Marine Vessels Eastern Star and was a Section overseeing oil spill lifetime member of the response and contingency Boise State Alumni planning. He was the Association. state's first on-scene coor dinator for the Exxon JOHN CHARLES TISCHEN Valdez oil spill. DORF, BA, communication, '74, died April 29 in Boise DEBORAH SUE (BLACK) at age 54· After serving in REED, BA, elementary edu the U.S. Coast Guard in the cation, '92, died July 10 in late '6os, Tischendorf's Boise after a long battle career was in the televi- FOCUS FALL 2002 43 sion industry. He was assis most recently worked as an tant general manager for electrician in the Hailey both KJV! and KPVI in area. EMPLOYERS! Boise and programming, promotion and operations PETER K. WILSON, an emeri manager for KTVB. He tus professor of business, Adver~ise your job worked in similar capaci died Oct. 9 at age 92. ties for stations in Wilson received his under lis~ittgs for FREE Sacramento and graduate degree from the Albuquerque. He was hon University of Illinois, his ored with Iris, Emmy, CBS law degree from V:'st..fEK EJ~J?1D1J~JE 1J and NAB awards for chil Northwestern and prac ..) dren's programming and ticed law in Illinois for educational efforts. many years. He served as a naval intelligence officer J DAVID EUGENE WELLS, AT, during World War II and water/wastewater manage was awarded the Purple 'lJV9EJ1f EJ~JYLDYJttJE 1J ment, '93, died July 3 in Heart. He relocated to {.t';.\Z:f -'fllll~. j!h:tht1~'"', J;iJlY0;6.',~1, ~ f!J!.!. flJJ];) Hai ley at age 38. Wells Boise in the late '6os to joined the Marine Corps in teach business at Boise 1987, and served honorably State. He was active in with the Second many civic and community Surveillance groups, including the Boy BOI~E + ~TATE Reconnaissance and Scouts. UN IVERSITY Intelligence Group in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf JAMES EUGENE WOOTEN, War. He was active in the BA, sociology, '88, died Aug CA k t t k Cf l~ Tf k Idaho National Guard in 7 in Boise after a lengthy Hailey. He studied diesel illness. He was 39· Wooten mechanics while in North grew up in Twin Falls. Etttail: career®boisestate.edu Carolina. After returning to He enjoyed skiing, golf, Idaho in 1991, he worked fishing and camping. At Web site: career.boisestate.edu as a mechanic in the loco the time of his death motive overhaul division of Wooten was employed at relephotte: (!01) 4!6 .. 1747 Morrison-Knudsen. He had Home Depot. or visit us it1 the Alu1ttt1i Cetrter at 117S Ut1iversity Prive Volunteers needed to form chapters Boise State alumni live in all so states and every Idaho county. To create further opportuni ties for networking and involvement, the Alumni Association would like to start alumni chapters in cities and metropolitan areas where many alumni now reside. "Chapters are an exciting way for alumni to make new friends and stay involved with Boise State no matter where they may now live," says Lee Denker, Alumni Association executive direc tor. "There is a connection to Boise State that is shared by all of our alumni regardless of their current location ." Active alumni are needed to form chapters in cities in Idaho and elsewhere. Call Denker at (2o8) 426-1698 regarding chapter development. HOW TO REACH US Honor a friend or colleague BOISE- ---- STATE-- Contact your Alumni Office by: The Alumni Association seeks nominations for ALUMNI Phone: (208) 426-1698 the 2003 Distinguished Alumni Award. Each yea r ASSOCIATION up to four alumni are selected to receive this Fax: (208) 426-1005 award that recognizes a record of career or per E-mail: [email protected] sonal accomplishments. Nomination forms are Home page: alumni.boisestate.edu available online at alumni.boisestate.edu or by calling 208-426-1698. The deadline is Jan. 15, Mail: Boise State University Alumni Association, 2003. Awards will be presented at the annual 1910 University Drive, Boise, ID 83725-1035 Distinguished Alumni & Top Ten Scholars Banquet on April 23, 2003. 44 FOCUS FAL L 2 002 B O I~E ~ TATE ALUMNI President's Message ASS OCIATION By Robin Denison,.Presid~n~ Boise State Alumni Assoc1at1on Each month more and more alumni Lifetime Members - In August Dr. Ruch announced his retirement choose to carry Boise State with them for life. Listed below in order of plans after 10 years as Boise State University's Consequently, the State graduation date are alumni and friends who purchased lifetime president. Board of Education is in the memberships in the Alumni Association during June-August 2002. Join them process of soliciting and screen and many others in becoming a lifetime member. For details, visit ing applicants to lead Boise State University in the 21st. century. I alum ni.boisestate.edu or call (2o8) 426-1284. am proud that the Alumni Association's immediate past Robert Mousaw, Idaho Falls, '74 Britt Vanshur, Boise, '96 president Mark Dunham has Gary Dyer, Boise, '78 Tammy Allgood, Twin Falls, '99 been selected for membership on Patrick Sullivan, Boise, '79 Annette Gloria Magee, Boise, '99 the screening committee that will Bob Maloney, Twin Falls, '83 Ron Alexander, Boise, 'o2 make recommendations for Dr. Shelly A. Bedke, Boise, '88 Deanne Alexander, Boise Ruch's replacement to the board. Vince Derig, Boise, '88 Kelli Deblasio, Boise Many of you know Mark and Carrie Tucker, Boise, '89, '74 Karen Dyer, Boise know that he is an unwavering and courageous Kathryn LaTour, Auburn, Ala . Rebecca Fredericks, Boise, '91 advocate for Boise State, its alumni and its stu Dan Peterson, Yakima, Wash. Nicole Densmore, Woodstock, Ga., '92 dents. I am confident of Mark's representation on '93 Larry Polowski, Boise Becke Lynne Barnes, Meridian, the screening committee, and thank him for his justin Boyer, Covington, Wash., '94 Shauna Wilson, Boise continued willingness to serve. Lisa Derig, Boise, '95 As the university and the State Board of Education begin the process of finding and Homecoming honors hiring a president who will protect and advance Boise State's interests, the uni Golden Graduates versity still faces many challenges. Those challenges include receiving A new tradition began at Homecoming adequate funding for academic and on Oct. 5 when 10 Golden Graduates of the other programs, fostering an environ class of 1952 were honored at a halftime cer ment in the business, media and leg emony. In addition to routing the Hawaii islative arenas in which Boise State's contributions to the community and Warriors 58-31, the state are recognized; and redressing Homecoming was cel perennial equity issues for the state's ebrated with numer largest higher educational institution. Many ous festivities includ thanks to Dr. Ruch for his commitment to Boise ing a reception and State and his efforts to achieve those goals during concert by the Beach his tenure. Boys, a downtown I, like you, wish the State Board of Education well in selecting a thoughtful and effective leader street festival and the for Boise State. However, we all share a responsibil "Boise State Pride ity to advocate for the university and its interest on Worldwide" parade. Top, the Homecoming parade celebrated "Boise State whatever level is available to us and there is much President Charles and Pride Worldwide." Above, original Beach Boys Mike that you can do to help as a Boise State alum. Love, left, and Bruce Johnston, right, backstage with Sally Ruch served as I urge you to contact your state legislators and Alumni Association executive director Lee Denker and speak with them specifically about equalizing fund grand marshals. his wife, Julie. Below, the "Golden Graduates" of 1952. ing for Boise State University. I also urge you to contact the Governor's Office and express the importance of Boise State being represented equally and effectively on the State Board of Education and in other areas of impor tance to the university. You can find the name and contact number for your area-specific legislator at wwwz.state.id.usflegislat/. The Governor's Office can be contacted by telephone at: (2o8) 344-2100 or in writing at: Office of the Governor, 700 W. Jefferson, 2nd Floor, P.O.Box 83720, Boise, ID 83720-0034. FOCUS FAll 2002 45 Boise State University Alu mni Office NON PROFIT ORG. Acct. 921-L 1-01001 U.S. POSTAGE 1910 University Drive PA l D Boise, ID 83725-1035 PERMIT NO. 170 BOISE, ID Change Service Requested ... A FIVE STAR THE SPRINGS • THE FALLS***** • THE POINTE Holland Realty On-site Information Center, "The Lodge" R IvERS"" 261 W. Island Woods Dr., ~gle, Idllho • 208.939.3510 Mon.-Fri. 9:00am-5:30pm • Sat.-Sun. J2:00pm-5:30pm "A FAMILY OF DISTINCTIVE Located on Eagle; Rd. across from Island Woods. COMMUNITES" Turn west on W. Wand Woods Or. to "The Lodge".