4 minute read
The State of Boise State
BY KAREN DAY
THE STATE OF BOISE STATE: AN INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT MARLENE TROMP
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 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
State is not required, nor class attendance. A faculty member mentors each student virtually, reviewing and guiding them in their choice of four pathways; social entrepreneurship, education, public service, or build your own. One practical question drives the program - what experience do you want to have? The world may be paused, but BSU has no intention of slowing down student support.
“Another phenomenal crisis-outcome is the installation of $2 million in additional equipment to make our classroom more virtually flexible,” says Tromp. “For example, we have two dorms with 30 nurses that are set aside to care for and isolate COVID-positive students. Most are asymptomatic. The updated classrooms allow for these kids to virtually attend and participate in class.”
WHAT ABOUT COVID AT BSU? Fifty percent of students are attending classes. Does the campus serve as a super-spreader? The new BSU COVID-19 DASHBOARD dispels rumors with facts and statistics. The online DASHBOARD tracks the percentage increase of cases traced from BSU, in detail, weekly, as well as how many of 153 isolation beds are occupied. From October 16th-22nd, BSU reported 2 staff, 16 on-campus and 38 off-campus new cases with 16 beds in use. That’s a mere .37% increase from the previous week compared to 1.022 cases in Idaho statewide on a single day, October 22. Tromp takes pride that Boise State has garnered broad admiration for its response and containment. “Research has now proven that students observing safety protocols are not spreading illness in class.” she says. “In fact, we haven’t had a single case from class. We know this from contact tracing and testing procedures.”
TESTING IS ANOTHER AREA WHERE BSU EXCELS.
When fully staffed, the BSU CLIA-certified lab has capability to conduct 4,000 COVID tests a day to support statewide medical facilities. As well, an expansion of the BSU WE SERVE program provides community assistance for small business development, health and wellness, education and service-learning. Community COVID-specific contributions include the distribution of ventilators by the Department of Respiratory Care. Theater Arts sewing face masks. Students and the public can even Zoom-in Tuesdays and Thursdays for mindfulness sessions with mental health professionals and deep breathing exercises for anxietyrelief.
COVID is a serious-stressor for us all, but a recent CDC study found 18 to 24 year olds were particularly affected. In their evaluation, 63% reported symptoms of anxiety or depression and 25% had seriously considering suicide in the past 30 days. “It’s a huge problem that was being overlooked,” says Tromp emphatically. “ These kids were building their lives and suddenly, their launchpad disappeared. The world was broken. Universities were overwhelmed and everybody said it could be fixed later. But I said, ‘No. The kids need us now. We need to stop competing and share best practice and strategies to help them.’” In direct response to students' escalating mental health issues, BSU initiated PROJECT LAUNCHPAD. This open source platform offers a collaborative library of related findings and research from various universities. Temple University shared“#RealCollegeDuringthePandemic.” University of Idaho published research results on the psychological effects of COVID on students. And we all could benefit from reading Norm Friesen’s, “4 Weird Things That Happen When You Videoconference.”
BSU’s outstanding performance under Tromp’s crisis-leadership has attracted national recognition. On December 1st, she will host the first National Digital Summit for PROJECT LAUNCHPAD. Such initiative explains why great university presidents make big bucks- or not. Strikingly, Dr. Tromp was the first person to take voluntary furlough when campus shut down. In other words, she is working for free, but leading the university full speed ahead.
