BY KAREN DAY
THE STATE OF BOISE STATE AN INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT MARLENE TROMP
m
MARLENE TROMP HAS A MIGRAINE. LITERALLY AND OFTEN. One might naturally attribute her pounding head to eight hours of daily ZOOM meetings at the helm of Boise State University during a global pandemic. Or perhaps, it could be due to the ever-present concern for her 18-year-old son and 93-year-old mother in the same house. In truth, life-long allergies spark her headaches. Not that managing 22,000 students, 3,500 faculty and staff and a 20-million-dollar deficit is any less stressful from her living room. But, by definition, a university president must spin educational gold from the organized chaos of academic policies, politics and thousands who need to earn a degree and learn how to do their own laundry. Creating success against the odds is their job and professional magic trick. Despite
20
www.idahomemagazine.com
the challenges, President Tromp sees these uncertain times as an era of opportunity for BSU.
“While university enrollment is down 17% nationally, our enrollment is up half a percent,” says Tromp. “Granted, freshman enrollment is down 5%, but that’s mostly Idaho kids. We knew many of our in-state students were facing financial struggles or couldn’t leave home during the pandemic- so, we developed a program called the BRONCO GAP YEAR to support continued engagement in higher education.
The new program has a stunningly low cost of $750 per semester. College-age Idahoans can formulate a plan to explore real-world interests off-campus, anywhere, with the option of applying for up to nine credits after the gap year. Enrollment in Boise
