ISU Bengal

Issue date: 4/25/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Bengal File Photo

President Arthur C. Vailas is fast approaching his one-year mark at the helm of ISU. Following a year filled with change and controversy, both good and bad, Vailas had much to reflect on, and cited a few events as the most memorable during this fast paced year.

Vailas first talked about the State Board of Education meeting that was held last week. "The State Board of Education was impressed with how the students leaders at ISU illustrated their involvement in the budget process," said Vailas. "They were impressed at the amount of involvement from faculty, staff and students in looking at the numbers, and they were impressed with our request."

Vailas said that he was pleased with the request, even though it was half of a percent short of what was requested. ISU now has the cheapest tuition out of the three universities in Idaho. The University of Idaho asked for a 5.95 percent increase and got 5 percent; Boise State University asked for 8.1 percent and got 6.16 percent; and Idaho State University asked for 5.5 percent and got 5 percent. Next year's tuition at ISU will be $4,400 per year.

ISU also received approval to offer a Ph.D. in Counseling, and gained a permanent home in Meridian, Idaho.

"The vote of the Board was unanimous, and we got a private donor who gave the university $5 million as a gift for the facility," said Vailas. "The donor (the Skaggs family) was very impressed with the pharmacy program expansion and the Treasure Valley facility. They also donated $250,000 for minority student scholarships."

"This had been a great year for ISU," Vailas continued. "We have raised more money for scholarships than ever before, and we have put more money and more focus into marketing."

ISU has expanded the ability for Eastern Idaho high school students to take classes for college credit as well. Vailas hopes that as this program grows, and more advertising is done to target high school students, more students will choose ISU for higher education.

"This has been a year where we did very good in the political arena in Idaho," commented Vailas. "We got money for things that they said there was no money for…and we were able to secure priority for compensation for our faculty and staff. This year we received a 5 percent increase, and we don't have to take benefits out of that 5 percent, which makes it one of the largest increases ever."

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