2015 Annual Report

2015 ANNUAL REPORT

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Message from the President

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Business Students Write Book About Pocatello’s Garrett Freightlines

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ISU Students Study in New Anatomy and Physiology Labs

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RISE Complex Creates Real-World Solutions to Real-World Problems

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University Honors Program Helps Promising Students Succeed

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Simulation and Science Coexist in FINESSE and BASALT Projects

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ISU Expands in Idaho Falls

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Northwest Center for Fluency Disorders Changes Lives with One-of-a-Kind Clinic

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ISU Has Made Volunteering a Tradition

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Opera Week Provides Opportunities for Experience

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START Program Removes Barriers to Higher Education

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ISU Offers New Graduate Degree in Health Informatics

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ISU Faculty Teach Educators in Kuwait

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Message from the Vice President for Finance and Administration

Summary Statements 32

Net Position

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Revenues, Expenses and Changes in Net Position

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Cash Flows

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Financial Position, ISU Foundation

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Activities 2015, ISU Foundation

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Activities 2014, ISU Foundation

38 Notes

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Jim Fletcher vice president for finance and administration

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Arthur Vailas, Ph.D. president of Idaho State University

Message from the

President of Idaho State University When you meet people like Dan Hudock, it’s easy to see that Idaho State University’s greatest asset is its people.

For the past two summers, Dr. Hudock has led clinics for both children and adults who stutter, using an individualized, holistic approach. Clients received help not only from speech-language pathology students and faculty, but from counselors and counseling students who can help clients navigate the social anxiety that can come with stuttering.

For the dozens of clients who have gone through the program, it has been life-changing. Participant Sarah Albanney called it the “best two weeks of my life.”

Dr. Hudock is making a difference in the lives of others, but he is not alone.

As you’ll see on page 18, our students are serving others. From Twin Falls, where students and alumni worked with local businesses to provide a better Christmas for needy families, to Meridian, where students and faculty team up with local agencies to provide free health screenings to underserved populations, Bengals are creating better communities.

At Idaho State University, we accomplish much through partnerships with the community, businesses, other institutes of higher education and state and federal agencies. At the RISE Complex, ISU researchers are working with ScanTech Sciences to bring new technologies to the marketplace that could improve the quality of our produce. Faculty members in the School of Performing Arts brought Opera Idaho to the nationally-recognized Stephens Performing Arts Center so school children could experience their first opera.

Higher education is about community-building, and it’s about economic development. I am proud to say that our students, faculty and staff are doing both. In the field of health care, we offer programs in eight of the top 11 highest-demand health care careers in the nation. Our students are training using state-of-the-art equipment both in Pocatello and at our newly opened Treasure Valley Anatomy and Physiology Laboratory.This equipment is made possible through partnerships with the state and with the support of our generous donors.Together, we are shaping health care in Idaho.

We continue to work hard to make sure that driven students have access to a quality education. Our bridge programs offer support to first-generation college students or others who face barriers to their education, helping them to stay in school and to graduate. On page 24, you’ll read about Brian Dickey, who, with the support of the START program, is on his way to becoming an occupational therapy assistant.The retention rate for students in the START program is more than 70 percent, compared to about 16 percent nationally.

Idaho State University is more than an educational institution.We are proud to be helping drive the state’s economy in the fields of health care, education, energy and more.

Go Bengals!

Arthur C.Vailas, Ph.D. president, Idaho State University

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Across Disciplines ISU Students Write Book About Pocatello’s Iconic Garrett Freightlines B Y C H R I S G A B E T TA S

When 16 Idaho State University students from numerous disciplines completed a class on the history of Garrett Freightlines in December, they earned more than a grade.They added the title of co-author to their resumes.

“It was a remarkable opportunity. I think it will help me appreciate my college career more because I have something very tangible,” said 21-yearold Jordan Withers, an honors student who will graduate this spring with a bachelor’s degree in health care administration.

Withers and his classmates spent the fall semester researching the business practices, management style and

personalities that shaped Pocatello’s Garrett Freightlines—once the nation’s fifth largest freight carrier and a major Gate City employer for nearly seven decades. Instead of a final exam, the students wrote a book about the iconic company, which was purchased by another trucking firm 35 years ago and moved from Pocatello.

The class is the brainchild of Dr. Alex Bolinger, an assistant professor of management in the College of Business, who inked a book deal with Arcadia Publishing last summer—the nation’s leading publisher of popular and regional United States history. Garrett Freightlines, with its bright green and gold logo, has always held a special place

in Bolinger’s heart. His grandfather, Larry Allsberry, started as a line driver and worked his way up to company president in the late 1970s.

“Garrett Freightlines is still an important part of the Pocatello community,” Bolinger said, noting that the main highway into west Pocatello still bears the company’s name.

Clarence Garrett founded the company in 1913 as a service to pick up luggage and freight from the Union Pacific Railroad and deliver it to customers in Pocatello.The company’s story includes attempted hostile takeover bids, negotiations with Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa and the introduction of innova-

Somelina Obiechina, a student in the University Honors program and a double major in management and psychology, and Travis Pattengale, a management major, research with Dr. Alex Bolinger.

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Courtesy of the Larry Allsberry Estate

tions to the trucking industry, including the use of diesel engines, long-haul refrigeration and triple trailers.

Interdisciplinary Approach The course was a collaboration among the College of Business, College of Arts and Letters, University Honors Program, and the Special Collections archivists at Eli M. Oboler Library. The goal was to give students the opportunity to analyze an entrepreneurial success story and learn the dynamics of working in a large group, said Bolinger, whose research on organizational behavior has appeared in the Harvard Business Review.

“I wanted the class to be a vehicle for learning to work successfully in groups without squelching individual creativity,” Bolinger said.

“It was like taking a step back in time.

It was so exciting to hear the employees’ point of view. You could hear in the tone of their voices how much they cared for the company,” said Jenna Larson, 23, who completed her undergraduate business administration degree in December and is working on her Master of Business Administration degree.

“It was rewarding to work with students, to see their faces light up when they found information. It was like watching a piece of a puzzle come together,” said ISU archivist Ellen Ryan, who spent much of last summer processing the Garrett collection.

Valley or the big metropolitan centers of the country. Entrepreneurs and managers who are proactive and willing to collaborate can change an industry and thrive anywhere,” Bolinger said.

In December, students and Bolinger hosted a community reception to celebrate the manuscript’s completion and generate buzz about the book, which will consist of up to 240 photos with captions.The release date is scheduled for May in time for ISU spring commencement.

Through their research, students found Garrett’s success was driven by creativity, innovation and a fierce company loyalty—values that resonate in today’s business world.

Withers and Larson will receive undergraduate degrees that day—Withers in health care administration and Larson in marketing and management. Had it not been for Bolinger’s class, their academic paths and those of their 14 classmates may have never crossed, leaving an important business story untold.

“A key takeaway is that innovation doesn’t have to come from Silicon

“The experience has been invaluable.

Just awesome,” Larson said.

Garrett’s Legacy

Courtesy of David Faust

Students toured the shuttered Garrett’s terminal, interviewed former employees and logged up to 14 hours in the library’s Special Collections archives, home to a vast collection of Garrett’s photos, company newsletters and memorabilia spanning the 1930s through the 1970s.

The class was unique in its approach to learning—students represented the disciplines of history, creative writing, business, finance, education and health care administration. Each brought skills to the table that strengthened the team as a whole.

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On the Cutting Edge ISU Students Study in New Anatomy and Physiology Labs B Y C H R I S G A B E T TA S

Laboratory specialist Noah Harper gently examines the lung tissue of a male cadaver during an anatomy class in the new Treasure Valley Anatomy and Physiology Laboratories at Idaho State University-Meridian.

“I don’t know if he was a smoker, but these are very diseased lungs,” Harper said, pointing to the dark, fibrotic tissue. A half dozen physician assistant students then compare the tissue to that of a healthy lung.

At another station, lab manager Lorinda Smith guides students through a lesson on the human thorax, pointing to the organs, muscles, nerves and vessels inside the chest of a female cadaver—a body donated after death for medical study, training or research. ISU-Meridi-

an has acquired seven cadavers through the University of Utah donor program.

“One donation can literally affect thousands and thousands of lives by educating future health professionals who will use that knowledge to treat people in practice,” Smith said.

The Cadaver Laboratory is one of four labs inside the $6 million L.S. and Aline W. Skaggs Treasure Valley Anatomy and Physiology Laboratories, which opened in late August.

Located in the east wing of the Meridian Health Science Center, the 18,000-square-foot complex also houses a Virtual Anatomy and Physiology Laboratory equipped with 3-D technology to explore the structure

of the human body, and an Anatomy Learning Laboratory with the ability to beam health education classes to Idaho high schools via broadband connections. The Bioskills Learning Laboratory—where practitioners can train in new surgical techniques and pursue continuing education—is set to open in the spring.

One of a Kind “This facility is the only one of its kind in Idaho and will forever change the way we teach health science education,” said ISU President Arthur Vailas.

Construction began in June 2014, thanks to a $3 million appropriation from the Idaho State Legislature, an Idaho Department of Labor workforce

Laboratory specialist Noah Harper teaches anatomy class in Cadaver Laboratory.

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Physician assistant studies students can study the human body in multiple dimensions, thanks to a high resolution, visualization system called an Anatomage Table.

training grant and matching funds from numerous private donors, including The ALSAM Foundation, the charitable trust of the late Sam Skaggs and his late wife Aline.

Future plans call for construction of laboratory space for existing ISU-Meridian programs and new ones, including advanced degrees in physical and occupational therapy pending Idaho State Board of Education approval.

Through distance-learning technology, the Meridian labs can be linked to ISU classrooms in Pocatello. State lawmakers also appropriated $1 million for upgrades to a smaller cadaver lab in Pocatello, ensuring physician assistant students on both campuses have the same educational experience.

The Inaugural Class Forty-two physician assistant students working on their master’s degrees are the first to use the Meridian cadaver lab, which features 12 dissection tables equipped with high-definition cameras that project images on large screens.

The technology and state-of-the-art lighting enable students to see precisely what instructors are doing instead of trying to view from a crowded table.

The Meridian program’s medical director Dr. David McClusky, a surgeon who has taught anatomy for more than 40 years, says the new cadaver lab will produce highly skilled physician assistants able to tackle medical emergencies— particularly in rural Idaho communities where physicians are in short supply.

“The P.A.s will come out of here as well-trained as any other P.A.s in the country. That’s what we owe our patients, I think,” said McClusky, who has taught at several medical schools including Emory and Northwestern universities.

Student Dan Lefler says the hands-on experience will prepare him well for the clinical rotations that begin the second year of the physician assistant studies program when students start seeing real patients.

Classmate Janelle Glover agrees.

“Working with cadavers highlights the amount of variation in people. Organs can vary in size and appearance. It’s very different than looking at a model or a picture in a textbook where everything looks the same,” she said.

The Ultimate Gift In the Virtual Anatomy Laboratory next to the cadaver lab, Samantha Peters and her classmates stand over a 3-D computer table, manipulating a digital image of the human body on a touch screen.

They can dissect organs, isolate muscles, explore bone fractures and review case studies from a vast digital library.

“This is so valuable because you can pinpoint problems and get a spatial awareness of where things are—this is important in surgery or when talking to a patient about pain.You get a real sense of where the muscles and tissue are,” Peters said.

When the two-hour class is over for the week, students clean the stations and take great care in storing the cadavers before the next lab session.

“We hold the donor in the highest regard, always working to maintain respect for that person and the massive benefit he or she is giving to us,” Harper said.

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Innovating Technology ISU’s RISE Complex Creates ‘Real-World Solutions to Real-World Problems’ B Y A N D R E W TAY L O R

Fresher strawberries, nuclear-powered batteries and giant semiconductor crystals created from one-of-a-kind furnaces to make the building blocks for the next generation of semiconductors are all part of the mix at the Idaho State University Research and Innovation in Science and Engineering (RISE) Complex.

The RISE Complex opened in late 2011, inhabiting the former Ballard Medical Building in Pocatello.The 216,000-square-foot facility is now 90to 95-percent occupied and employs about 75 people.

“We passed busy awhile ago,” said Dr. Eric Burgett, RISE director and ISU assistant professor of nuclear engineering. “We are having to put more offices

in our break rooms because we’ve run out of places for people to sit.”

At the end of September, RISE had officially received about $19.5 million in total outside funding, according to Lynn Roberts, the RISE university business officer. That total consists of 15 federal grants totaling about $14.4 million, three outside university grants totaling $417,000, three state grants totaling about $1.25 million and five business grants totaling about $3.4 million. Several other grants were in the pipeline but not yet official.

“We are an applied R and D (research and development) facility,” Burgett said. “We have particular interest in commercializing technologies.We don’t do basic R and D as a primary funding

source. RISE is based upon commercially applicable R and D. We are generating technologies that are being put into commerce, being vended and sold.

Our technology is being used to create patents, which are being turned into commercial products.”

One major project that could potentially affect the dinner tables of many people is RISE’s work with ScanTech Sciences, a company based in Atlanta, to irradiate produce using electronic linear accelerators, machines that speed up sub-atomic particles. In a process called electron beam cold pasteurization, accelerators are used to “basically shower accelerated electrons over food,” said Dolan Falconer, chief executive officer of ScanTech Sciences.

Dolan Falconer, chief executive officer of ScanTech Sciences, at the ScanTech testing festivity at the RISE Complex.

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The RISE Complex offers research opportunities for graduate students.

This pasteurization results in three main benefits: pest control, control of pathogens such as listeria and salmonella, and extended shelf life of fruits and vegetables.This process can double, triple and sometimes quadruple the shelf life of produce such as carrots, potatoes, peaches, strawberries, tomatoes and more. For example, the shelf life for strawberries can be extended from five to 17 days.

“We are building our customer demo facility right here at RISE,” Falconer said.

“It is a substantial undertaking.We have a lot of money invested in the technology and it is USDA-approved. Most of the larger retailers and food producers in the U.S. are contacting us and asking for studies.”

“Food chain safety and food chain logistics has an impact on everybody’s bottom line, getting more fresh fruits and vegetables on our tables while minimizing food-borne pathogens,” said Burgett. “These are grand challenges.”

RISE is also working with ScanTech on another project that is related to homeland security to use accelerators to help inspect cargo containers and create baggage scanner systems at ports, airports and other points of entry. In all, ScanTech has placed more than $4 million worth of equipment in the RISE Complex.

“You shoot a cargo container with accelerators and you look for hidden objects and to material discrimination to tell us what those objects are; is that a

toilet, a nuclear warhead or a car, or did you hide a nuclear warhead in the car?”

Burgett said. “We are trying to leverage new materials and new algorithms to improve resolution and materials discrimination to better determine the types of materials coming in.”

Another homeland security project RISE is working on is creating small, long-lasting nuclear-powered batteries.

RISE is working with the Department of Defense, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and other partners including and EJ Proprietary Property Company, based in Powder River,Wyoming.

“The nuclear battery project is a big one,” Burgett said. “We are trying to make long-lived electric battery technology and we believe we have overcome a lot of the hurdles that have been preventing this from becoming a more widespread reality than it currently is.”

Researchers at RISE are working on increased power density for batteries.

Company. “These new batteries being developed won’t only be more efficient but they will save lives.”

In an entirely different realm of practical applications, researchers at RISE – this time collaborating with NuMat, Inc., a company based in Petal, Mississippi – are building one-of-a-kind furnaces that can be used to create large crystals for new larger semiconductors and new LEDs.This fall the crystal project received a $700,000 boost from a grant from the Idaho Global Entrepreneurial Mission (IGEM), awarded through the Idaho State Board of Education’s Higher Education Research Council.

“One of the applications of this is the production of highly efficient, low-cost LEDs that could be used to treat water to make it safe to drink, not just for people in Idaho, but it can be applied globally so you can help solve water problems in Africa or Asia or anywhere you have clean drinking water issues,” said Ed Petro, chief financial officer with NuMat, Inc.

“Having a lot of power in a small form that is fairly light and doesn’t need to be recharged for a year or six months would be a huge advancement for defense and civilian use,” Burgett said.

Other projects in RISE’s research portfolio include work on the next generation of advanced polymers and on cancer therapies, the latter part of RISE’s strong biotechnology research component.

“The nanotechnology batteries being researched and developed right here at ISU’s RISE facility could result in significantly more efficient and lighter weight batteries for our soldiers,” said Frank Chapman, with EJ Proprietary Property

“We are coming up with real-world solutions to real-world problems,” Burgett said. “They will have an impact on people, whether in Southeast Idaho or nationally and internationally.”

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Reaching for Higher Ground Idaho State University Honors Program Helps Promising Students Succeed

BY SAMANTHA CHAFFIN

Undergraduate student Andrew Polenske has already had an article published alongside a professor in his major field and is looking forward to more publications and opportunities to showcase his work at conferences before his time at Idaho State University is through.These feats, Polenske said, were largely made possible because of the support, structure and skills he has gained through the University Honors Program at ISU. “I’m officially able to put that I’ve had an article published as an undergraduate student on my applications for graduate schools and that’s really going to set me apart from other applicants because normally these are things you don’t get to do until you’re actually in graduate school,” Polenske said.

“You can make yourself stand out so much through the work you do in the Honors program.You could pursue these things on your own, sure, but the Honors program really pushes you and really facilitates your efforts in accomplishing and achieving these things. It’s making us mature faster on an academic level and on a personal level as well.”

Polenske, a senior majoring in physical education with an emphasis in exercise science at ISU, will graduate in May 2016. He chose to pursue an honors degree via the University Honors Pro-

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gram, which offers Idaho’s only honors degree, because of the opportunities available to him through research and internship opportunities, in addition to the support he received from program administrators who also act as mentors.

“This program is here to help us be as successful as possible and they want us to do that in any way we can, whether it’s study abroad, research, getting to know your professors on more personal levels, having those references for later in life, all of that,” Polenske said.

“I think everything combined is what makes this program as great as it is.”

Students involved in the University Honors Program can graduate with either an honors degree, or an honors distinction.These achievements are noted on graduates’ transcripts and at ISU’s commencement ceremony each year.

“As of now, we are the only honors degree-granting institution in Idaho,” said Dr. Jamie Romine-Gabardi, University Honors Program coordinator. “We have an established record of excellence that we’re working to continue.”

In addition to continuing the success of the program and its students, the University Honors Program is in its second year of a four-year plan to expand and

is looking to double enrollment numbers. In the past, the program accepted approximately 50 students each year, generally putting enrollment for all class levels at a total of 200 to 250. As of fall 2014, the program has accepted 100 students each year and program administrators expect to serve between 400 and 450 students across all class levels by fall 2017.

“We’re trying to engage students on a different level than what they would get in a traditional class or on a traditional track,” Romine-Gabardi said. “We’re really pushing for more research inquiry and for students to see their subjects as a whole and encompass their entire life so it’s not just something that stays on the page, but it’s transferrable knowledge. It’s also to implement a service-oriented aspect, so it doesn’t just stay in the classroom but it goes beyond and out into the community.”

To qualify for the University Honors Program, incoming freshmen must have a high school GPA of 3.6 or higher and a minimum composite ACT score of 25 or SAT score of 1130 in critical reading and math in addition to submitting other required application materials.The program also recently began accepting applications from transfer students as well as sophomore- and junior-level students who qualify.

University Honors Program student Andrew Polenske

Students seeking an honors distinction through the program are required to complete 18 credits of honors-classified courses, which are meant to be more challenging and engaging for honors students, in addition to a one-credit honors seminar.Those seeking an honors degree rather than an honors distinction must also complete what are termed “contract” courses within their major or minor fields, a thesis and thesis presentation, and an additional seminar to total 32 honors credits.

University Honors Program students also have priority class registration, a significant number of scholarships available to them and a recently implemented endowment to fund students’ thesis research. Freshmen in the program also enter with a sense of community among other honors students, as the students are generally housed in the same area in on-campus housing, take courses together throughout their time at ISU and are involved in University

Honors Program service projects, fundraisers, recognition events and meetings.

“Additionally, honors students have their own mentors within the program when they enter their first year and the ratio is something like nine to one,” said Pam Edwards, an adviser in the University Honors Program. “So they get extremely individualized attention and really build relationships with not only those mentors, but all of the honors faculty and staff. It’s a great sense of community not only student-to-student, but amongst students and faculty as well.”

“You really learn what your passions are through the honors program,” said senior honors student Sydney Axtell.

“That’s something else that develops throughout your time in the honors program. I’ve learned what my passion is and what I want to do within my program. For me, I’m all about the en-

vironment and that’s what I want to do, but I didn’t know that until two years ago and it’s my professors who helped me get there.”

The program also proves to be a uniquely rewarding experience for faculty within the University.

“These students are amazing, they really are,” said Dr. Sherri Dienstfrey-Swanson, University Honors Program director and professor of theatre and dance. “When you get to teach these kids, it opens up a whole new world for the faculty.These students keep you on your toes, they make you want to learn and keep learning as a faculty member.

Truly, they’re amazing to the point that our teachers fight for the opportunity to teach these kids because of that.”

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Quest for Life Simulation and Science Coexist in FINESSE and BASALT Projects for Mars Research

BY SAMANTHA CHAFFIN

Researchers at Idaho State University have teamed up with NASA and other entities to conduct research that will aid Mars exploration in the future.

“NASA’s goal right now, of course subject to funding and other factors, is to have a manned mission to Mars in the 2030s,” said Dr. Shannon Kobs Nawotniak, ISU geosciences researcher and assistant professor. “What we’re doing now is both the science that’s going to guide where we actually conduct that exploration and how to have people work in that situation.

We’re also figuring out how to manage the communication between astronauts out in the field, astronauts in the habitat and scientists on earth so that we can

maximize the science return when we get to Mars.”

Analog Science Associated with Lava Terrains,” project was born.

The FINESSE, or “Field Investigations to Enable Solar System Science and Exploration,” mission project was the initial project Kobs Nawotniak began working on alongside co-lead and geosciences researcher Dr. Scott Hughes, an ISU professor emeritus. The project uses Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in Idaho as a laboratory to study volcanic processes and landscapes on the moon, other planets and potentially asteroids to enable solar science and exploration.

“We had this opportunity to really get the science with FINESSE, but we thought it was important to also do the exploration side,” Kobs Nawotniak said.

“That is, to figure out what it’s actually going to be like if we’re astronauts on Mars.We’re answering questions about how we’re going to handle the communication, things like that for, hopefully, an eventual real-world application.”

As a result of work on the FINESSE project, the BASALT, or “Biologic

BASALT focuses on how microbial or minute life forms such as bacteria or viruses evolve on lava flows, with researchers from ISU including Kobs Nawotniak, Hughes, and undergraduate

Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho is one of the primary research locations for the BASALT project.

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The research being done via the FINESSE and BASALT projects could be used on future Mars missions.

and graduate students studying how biological organisms take hold on substrates in volcanic terrains.The project aims to understand how life could have originated on other planets, such as Mars.

“It’s actually a very novel thing to do real science under these simulated conditions,” Kobs Nawotniak said. “To my knowledge, this is the first time that NASA is doing a project that is full science, full simulation.We’re really excited about that.”

Research on the BASALT project is taking place in Idaho at Craters of the Moon as well as on site in Hawaii.

According to Kobs Nawotniak, there have been simulated activities in the past, but those normally come “at the expense of science.”

“Often, you’re doing scientific activities or simulations but you never have the intent to actually conduct real, publishable science,” Kobs Nawotniak said.

“That is why we think our work, in part, is so novel. We’re really working toward the same targets that we want to go for on Mars.We’re working for the same degree of accuracy, information, all of it and we’re keeping it within the simulation.”

She added, “We want to know exactly what we’re doing on Earth so we can make things work out to have the best possible outcome on Mars.”

Part of the projects involve working out plans for science and communications from Earth to Mars for a future mission, far in advance of being able to apply the methods involved.

“That advance planning is very consistent with NASA’s plan of everything needing to be practiced, studied and evaluated well beforehand so we don’t have mistakes,” Kobs Nawotniak said.

“Every minute we spend up there, that costs.We don’t want that and we don’t want any risk to people, any risk to equipment and so on.”

In June 2016, Kobs Nawotniak and a team of approximately 50 participants and researchers will start “in-simulation research” in Idaho. During this phase of the project, Mobile-Mission Control will travel to the Snake River Plain of Idaho from the Kennedy Space Center and the entire team will be in action conducting field simulations for a twoweek period.

The team will follow NASA flight rules during all simulations and will implement a five minute-communication delay in each direction between scientists

and the astronauts participating in the simulation.That delay means, should an astronaut need to communicate a question or concern to scientists, it would take 10 minutes for an answer to be received, which is significantly shorter than the Martian delay that would be seen in a real situation.

Both FINESSE and BASALT are slated to continue for approximately three more years and, combined, will bring in more than $900,000 in grant funds.

According to Kobs Nawotniak, this research will ultimately aid in the search for life on other planets, specifically Mars, by determining where life would most likely be found and what about the rock is controlling where life would tend to be, thus focusing efforts when the opportunity to explore arises. She said that search for life doesn’t include little green men, but rather microbes or evidence of past microbes, which is why research on this scale is so important.

“Every question you answer raises three more,” Kobs Nawotniak said.

“And those are three more questions we’re going to have to answer before we can actually worry about sending someone to Mars, so let’s track those down and let’s put ISU at the forefront of this analog research.”

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Growing Education Idaho State University Expands in Idaho Falls

BY SAMANTHA CHAFFIN

Idaho State University is remodeling and renovating a nearly 10,000-squarefoot building on its Idaho Falls campus to make room for more faculty and course offerings.

The repurposed space, the Tingey Administration Building, was formerly leased to the Idaho National Laboratory which housed a tech library for many years before the remodel.

Construction began in late October and should be completed in time for fall 2016 classes.

When completed, the renovated complex will house 20 faculty offices, up to four lecture-style classrooms and student/faculty conference rooms, which will allow expanded course and degree offerings to ISU-Idaho Falls students.

Construction should be complete by fall semester 2016.

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“It’s a much-needed facility.When the tech library pulled out of the building, it was an easy decision to move forward with the idea to repurpose it,” said Dr. Lyle Castle, ISU’s vice provost of academic affairs and dean of academic programs at ISU-Idaho Falls.

Castle believes the additional space will make it easier to recruit and retain fulltime Idaho Falls resident faculty, which in turn will make it easier to expand programs in Idaho Falls.

“We’re expanding ISU’s footprint in Idaho Falls, but that expansion really demonstrates ISU’s commitment to improving facilities and access to higher education, not only in Idaho Falls,” Castle said.

The repurposing of the Tingey Administration Building space is the first piece of the puzzle. Over time, the University plans to add 20 resident faculty to its Idaho Falls campus to create an interdisciplinary environment that will complement the Idaho National Laboratory and allow the campus to become more of an upper division and graduate institution, offering additional degrees that can be completed entirely on site.

“In addition to professors who teach the sciences—physics, engineering, chemistry—that complement the INL mission, we are planning to incorporate interdisciplinary, liberal arts faculty as well. For example, we would have an English faculty member who special-

The repurposed complex will include faculty offices, lecturestyle classrooms and student/ faculty conference rooms.

izes in communicating science to the general public, a political scientist who specializes in energy policy and so on,” Castle said. “There will be a central theme to this group of educators, and with their collaboration will come a broadening and deepening of teaching and research opportunities that will enhance the learning experience for students and faculty alike.”

Currently, approximately 10 undergraduate degrees, six graduate degrees and two doctoral degrees can be completed in Idaho Falls.

“The list of specific programs we hope to offer here is still in the planning stage,” Castle said. “But the hope is to expand to approximately 25 bachelor’s degree programs and 15 to 20 advanced degree programs offered entirely on the Idaho Falls campus.”

The University is also planning to adjust course offerings and the frequency they are offered to make completing undergraduate degrees in four years more doable for students.

“The other thing students are really going to gain from this expansion is access to their professors,” said Castle.

“Right now, students get access to their professors in class, but because those professors aren’t usually resident faculty, students have very limited access to them as well as limited access for undergraduate research and research opportunities.These are the things that will change and improve immensely.”

Additionally, the lecture-style classrooms in the complex will address another need on the Idaho Falls campus.

According to Doug Simpson, facilities services project manager and campus architect, “There aren’t many flat, lecture-style classrooms. Most are tiered, which is great if you have a large class that is purely lecture, but if you have an English or communications class that needs to break into small groups, tiered rooms don’t work well.The flat classrooms in the Tingey Administration Building remodel will address some of that problem.”

The facility is being funded through the Public Building Fund Advisory Council, with a total budget of $838,894.

The winning bid on the project was $631,920 from Barry Hayes Construction in Idaho Falls.

“We came in under budget, but if things come up that we haven’t foreseen, we’ll need to utilize some of that money. If those things don’t come up by the time we get near the end of the project, we’ve already identified some upgrades we’d like to incorporate to finish out the building,” Simpson said.

University administrators are currently working on a timeline and funding sources for the expansion plans for faculty and course offerings in Idaho Falls.

“I think it’s going to be a place where faculty members—and students—really want to be,” said Castle.

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Overcoming Obstacles Northwest Center for Fluency Disorders Changes Lives With One-of-a-kind Clinic

BY SAMANTHA CHAFFIN

Idaho State University’s Northwest Center for Fluency Disorders hosted its one-of-a-kind stuttering clinic for the second time over the summer of 2015 and is demonstrating how a holistic approach to speech therapy can change the lives of clinic participants.

“The clinic was the best two weeks of my life,” said ISU student and 2014 clinic participant Sarah Albannay. “I met people who stuttered like me so I realized that I’m not the only person who stutters and we met a great staff who helped with so many things.”

Albannay, a sophomore English major at ISU who is originally from Kuwait, said

Speech-language pathology student McKenzie Jemmett works with a client during the summer 2014 clinic.

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she continues to use the techniques she learned from the clinic in her everyday life.

“When I went to the clinic, stuttering was affecting me in everything, from classes to my daily life,” Albannay said.

“After the clinic, I’ve learned how to control my stuttering and how to talk to people about my stuttering and that made my life so much easier.”

“With stuttering, we tend to typically characterize it as how someone sounds, the repetitions they produce, the prolongations, the blocks, but having a chronic communication disorder is much more than the overt speech,” said

Dr. Daniel Hudock, assistant professor of speech-language pathology at Idaho State University. “It impacts who we are, how we think of ourselves, how we interact with our environments and it can be quite consuming to the individual if not appropriately treated.”

The Northwest Center for Fluency Disorders’ annual two-week stuttering clinic is the first of its kind in the world that offers a true interprofessional treatment for individuals who stutter by combining speech-language pathology and counseling, Hudock said.

“What our research is showing is that, unlike other intensive clinics or other

Sarah Albannay was one of nine clients who participated in the summer 2014 clinic.

treatment programs that report high rates of relapse for clients who attended those, our clients who have graduated from our clinic actually show continued progress a year after therapy which hasn’t been shown before,” Hudock said. “It intuitively makes sense that if we provide counseling to increase confidence, increase self-advocacy and decrease impact from stuttering, it’s going to have a longer-lasting effect on clients with communication disorders.”

The clinic is staffed by students from ISU’s graduate programs in speech-language pathology and counseling and is supervised by professors of the programs.These students are getting a unique educational experience that many carry forward in their professional careers after graduation.

“The clinic offers students, especially the counseling students, a very unique opportunity,” said McKenzie Jemmett, a graduate of ISU’s speech-language pathology program who helped with the clinic. “Speech-language pathology programs across the country are going to vary, but everyone teaches a fluency class or has a fluency training of some sort, but not a lot of students have the opportunity to participate in a clinic like this and the fact that this clinic is here at Idaho State University and our students have this experience is really amazing.”

Jemmett said the insight and knowledge gained through her experience at the clinic have carried forward into her professional career by allowing her to use tools she learned through the clinic to open up the lines of communication between her and her clients.

“I think for me, and all of us in my cohort, really, we really understand a lot more about how much the emotional side of things affects the entire person and speech,” Jemmett said.

The clinic was first offered in 2014 and served a total of nine clients, followed by the 2015 clinic which served six clients.

Madisyn Frazier, a nursing student at ISU, participated as a client in the 2015 clinic. Because her stutter was not deemed severe enough growing up, she did not qualify for in-school or private speech therapy through her insurance.

The speech clinic at ISU was her first opportunity to address her stutter and the underlying anxiety that came with it.

“I realized very quickly at the clinic just how much it was affecting me,” Frazier said. “I was calling family members back home and friends and they were all just shocked at how fluent I was.Talking on the phone has always been one of the worst things for me and to hear myself be fluent in those situations improved

my confidence so much and that continues today talking to professors, and on the phone, because I know that I can do it and if I find myself stuttering I know how to get out of it now.”

Prior to the clinic, one of Frazier’s greatest struggles was introducing herself or saying her own name in regular conversation.

“I had what I refer to as my ‘Starbucks name,’ which was Addy because I get stuck on the ‘M’ sound,” explained Frazier. “Instead of saying Madisyn I would just introduce myself as Addy, even though no one called me that, because it was all I could do to function in society.There were times when I would need to say my full name, but I would tend to mess it up so much that the person would have to wait until I could write it down or until I would say it later on and that was one of the hardest things, that I couldn’t say my own name.”

She added, “The clinic was definitely life-changing for me and I hope they can continue it and continue helping people.”

The Northwest Center for Fluency Disorders plans to continue to offer the clinic once per year.

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The Best Volunteer, a Bengal Volunteer Idaho State University has Made Volunteering within the Community a Tradition B Y K AY L A N E L S O N

Students at Idaho State University give back to the community as often as possible. Over the years it has become a tradition.

try and to give back to the community.

New members were just installed last spring and reelections will continue every spring.

“ISU is a university that truly wants to develop and have students graduate with a service mindset,” said Brooke Barber, LEAD Center Director.

“Our goal is through service opportunities, ISU students will develop their own sense of purpose,” Barber said.

“Whether it is at Benny’s Pantry, or whether it is going into the Pocatello community and giving back to the local non-profit agencies, ISU students are doing great things,” Barber said.

ISU’s LEAD center has a threefold system that enables it to oversee new student programs such as family weekend, leadership and service. Omicron Delta Kappa is a new national leadership honor society that allows students to network with leaders around the coun-

Student volunteers stock Benny’s Pantry.

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In order to help give back to the community, Barber and the ISU LEAD Center recently created a new organization

called Service Corps.The group has begun to form strategic partnerships with local non-profit agencies such as Idaho Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity and the American Red Cross. Sometimes the group will sign up for a project with an agency, but the group is readily available if an agency has an urgent or immediate need for volunteers.

“Their [Service Corps] mission statement is to strengthen Southeast Idaho and the ISU community through acts of service and volunteerism,” Barber said.

“It’s a way to get students at ISU more involved with the communities

A Christmas Angel Tree gives students the chance to purchase Christmas presents for needy families.

in southeastern Idaho and it gives the students a sense of home while they are away from home,” said Abbey Olsen, Service Corps president. “We are definitely looking to make an impact in the community.”

Recently, Service Corps participated in Pocatello City Cleanup.They also put together a bone marrow drive through Supporting America’s Marrow to match bone marrow donors with those in need. In December, they completed an Angel Tree Project, which provided children of ISU students with extra joy during the holiday season.

“It’s a great opportunity. Not only does it look good on a resume, you are serving others and when you serve others you get more of a sense of self,” Olsen said.

Another volunteer effort on the ISU campus is Benny’s Pantry, an on-campus food pantry that focuses on serving ISU students, faculty and staff with the mission to alleviate food insecurity in the ISU community. Barber and the manager of Benny’s Pantry are the only paid employees.The rest of the pantry is run by volunteers.

“We have a significant volunteer base at Benny’s Pantry. Each of them has chosen to help the pantry because of their own desire to give back and to make a difference,” Barber said.

“I love that it [Benny’s Pantry] was primarily a student endeavor; it was operated by students for the ISU

community,” said Jenny Brooks, former Benny’s Pantry manager and public health graduate student at Johns Hopkins. “I think this made it more comfortable for people who were utilizing the free resources at the pantry and it also provided a great service-learning opportunity on campus.”

There are also other groups on the ISU campus who provide service projects for the community. Associated Students of ISU provides incentive points to clubs and organizations for giving back to the community. Service Saturday is a monthly volunteer project put on by the Student Activities Board which allows students to come volunteer their time to various organizations in the community.

“We have faculty at ISU who are incorporating service into their curriculum and into the syllabus, they are teaching service learning,” Barber said. “They are teaching concepts on service and civic engagement in the classroom and sending their students out to practice it in person and gain that experience.

Our hope is that students will graduate from ISU and never cease giving back to their communities, that they would give back in their careers and in their future professions with heart and with leadership no matter where they live or what their profession, occupation or vocation is.”

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Opera Week Providing Opportunities for Area Residents, Students and Families to Experience Opera

BY SAMANTHA CHAFFIN

Sitting in a crowded auditorium filled with classmates, elementary school student Jessie VanSilck was still smiling after her stage debut.

It was just the reaction that ISU vocal studies professor Diana Livingston Friedley was hoping for during Opera Week.

VanSilck was one of several area schoolchildren who came to Idaho State University’s Stephens Performing Arts Center this fall to watch their first opera, “The Mini-Magic Flute.” Some even had the chance to participate.

Students, local school children, families and opera fans from throughout southeastern Idaho and surrounding areas had the opportunity to experience Opera Idaho’s production of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” and the Idaho/Montana District Metropolitan or “Met” Opera Auditions during the first week of November.

“I was really excited when they asked me to be in it and it was so much fun” said VanSilck, who acted as the dragon and the element fire on stage. “I was excited just to go watch because I haven’t really done this before, but I was so surprised when I got to be part of it and I hope I can do it again next year.”

In addition to “The Magic Flute,” Opera Week included two “mini- Magic Flute” outreach performances.

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“This satisfied another branch of the community,” said Livingston Friedley.

“It has hopefully enlightened people that they don’t need to be afraid of the word ‘opera.’ ”

According to Livingston Friedley, the difference between an opera and a musical is that in an opera, everything is sung. In a musical, there is some spoken dialogue. “‘The Magic Flute’ is what they call a ‘singspiel,’ ” Livingston Friedley said, “which means sung-spoken-work. It’s the German answer to our American musical.”

The performance was held in the Jensen Grand Concert Hall of the Stephens Performing Arts Center at ISU. It was made possible by a $27,400 grant from the Bistline Foundation and was hosted by ISU’s College of Arts and Letters and School of Performing Arts.

“The Three Ladies” in the “Magic Flute”

ISU hosts the Met Auditions annually and, with the help of the ISU Foundation and the College of Arts and Letters, recently secured an endowment to help continue hosting the auditions in the future, in addition to funding award and scholarship money for participants.

“We have this magnificent facility in the Stephens Performing Arts Center, and it just makes sense that we would host the Met Auditions,” Livingston Friedley said. “What the award money does for participants is it hopefully helps them get to the next level.Traveling all over the place is expensive and having coachings and lessons in between auditions costs money as well.”

She added, “In a nutshell, I know a lot of people in different small towns who wouldn’t even fantasize about hosting these auditions and doing the things we’re able to do here.We’re able to do it because of the support and the facilities we have, and those facilities are used and appreciated.”

The Met Auditions are broken down into 42 districts, 14 regions, and finals on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Participants in the Idaho/ Montana District auditions who are selected to move on to the regional level compete in Seattle, one of the 14 regional sites. One finalist is then selected from each region to audition at the finals in New York City. After a pre-screening, approximately 10 finalists move on to the grand finals and with the Metropolitan Orchestra.

“It’s a really prestigious opportunity for these singers because, even if you don’t make it to the grand finals, you’re still going to be picked up by some opera companies,” Livingston Friedley said.

“It’s a really big deal to win this competition or even make it to the finals in New York because all kinds of producers and artistic directors are listening to you.”

In addition to “The Magic Flute,” Opera Idaho also produced two community-outreach performances of “The Mini-Magic Flute,” a 50-minute condensed version of the show, for area elementary school children on Nov. 4 and 5 at the Blackfoot Performing Arts Center and Frazier Hall on the ISU campus, respectively.

Papageno, “The Magic Flute”

At the same time, the lead performers from “The Magic Flute” completed residencies at each of the three area high schools, Pocatello, Highland and Century high schools, allowing area choir groups to interact with professional singers, sing for them, and learn about careers in music.

Finally, rounding out an event-packed week of opera, Met Audition-judge and internationally-renowned mezzo-soprano Cynthia Munzer conducted a free master class Nov. 8 that was open to the public.The master class is an opportunity Livingston Friedley referred to as “one of the greatest benefits” for the Department of Music and its students.

“Our students will have the opportunity every fall to work with world-class artists,” Livingston Friedley said. “To date, we’ve had master classes with Timothy Noble,Thomas Muraco and Heidi Grant Murphy.”

She added, “I’ve had tons of colleagues throughout the United States say that how we planned hosting the auditions and supplying these ancillary activities for the community was the way to orchestrate this event and that ISU has just really done it well.”

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Getting STARTed Removing Barriers to Higher Education B Y E M I LY F R A N D S E N

Five years ago, ISU sophomore Brian Dickey never would have considered himself the type of guy who would be in college, managing a 3.5 grade-point average and mentoring other students.

After retiring from a career as a cementer with Halliburton, Dickey took a job at a home improvement store as a driver.There, he suffered a major injury.

It took years to recover.

“I sat around for two years and didn’t move from my chair,” he said.

It was during that time that Dickey’s father passed away. In his grief, Dickey decided to fulfill his father’s dreams.

“Part of his last wish was that I go to school,” Dickey said.

So, in his 40s, Dickey returned to school, taking classes in the Adult Basic Education Program at the College of Technology to brush up on his math skills. It was there he found the START program. Finding that program, he said, has made all the difference in the world.

The START program, funded by a grant from the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson

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Foundation Continuous Enrollment Initiative and Idaho State University, is designed to help students like Dickey, who are motivated to continue their education, but are likely to have difficulty managing or navigating the transition to college life.The program began in May 2011 with a cohort of 13 students.Today, more than 400 students have gone through the program. Many START participants are GED graduates, but Director Amy Christensen says the program is for any student who has faced a barrier to their education.

Along with individualized services, students can earn up to $1,000 in scholarship money.

In addition to students like Dickey, the START program offers outreach to area alternative high schools, and helps students participate in programs such as Bengal Bridge, a summer program where students take preparatory classes and learn about the transition to college.

The program boasts a 71 percent retention rate – nationally only about 16 percent of GED students who attempt college will make it through the first

year. More than one-third of those who haven’t yet finished their education are seeking academic degrees. More than half are considered on-time to graduate.

The key, Christensen said, is removing those barriers that can keep otherwise motivated students from learning.The START program offers basic English and math classes, but it also offers college success courses, career planning and more. Students are also required to meet with a counselor.Talking about career goals gives focus to the academic journey, Christensen said.

“We really focus on a good student identity and a career identity,” she said.

“That goes a long way toward alleviating anxiety.”

If needed, the program can also provide emergency health care or child care funding, and can offer school supplies to those who need it.

“It’s taking care of those barriers.

Sometimes you just need that one thing, and you can be ready to learn,” Christensen said. “People want to learn.

If you can get your head clear, then the academics flow.”

Brian Dickey is entering the occupational therapy assistant program in the fall.

Dickey said it was the openness of the program that helped him the most.

Before the program, Dickey said he typically didn’t interact much with other students. In START, he learned that help is always available.Through the program, he’s gained help not only from counselors and instructors, but from the students he has met as well.

are accepted on their first try. Before applying, students must take a math and writing assessment and participate in an interview.

“I realized you can’t make it through this without asking for help,” he said.

“Their doors are always open. I always find myself gravitating there.”

Students who aren’t accepted into the program are deferred to other services to help them prepare so they can start college when they are ready.

Christensen said the program can help anyone with a desire to learn.

Only about two-thirds of applicants

“There’s never a ‘no’ with START. Everybody’s journey is different,” she said.

“Deferred means exactly that.They are not forgotten.”

“It’s super stressful, and we mean it to be,” she said. “We want them to be motivated.We can really help with anything but motivation.”

Dickey is taking general classes and preparing to enter the Occupational Therapy Assistant program in fall 2016.

He is now a mentor for students just starting in higher education, a task he never pictured himself doing, but now enjoys.

“I tell them it’s going to be hard, but don’t quit,” he said. “This is an awesome program. It’s helped me so much.”

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Leading Idaho ISU Offers New Graduate Degree in Health Informatics B Y C H R I S G A B E T TA S

Students and working professionals pursuing degrees in health informatics—one of the fastest growing job sectors of the health care industry— can now choose a master’s option at Idaho State University.

In fall 2016, the College of Business will offer the Master of Science degree in health informatics, the science of storing, retrieving and analyzing data in a meaningful way.

The beauty of informatics

Why a master’s degree?

The demand for health informatics professionals is driven by the federally mandated conversion to electronic medical records to improve health care quality, safety and efficiency. Since Jan. 1, 2014, the feds have required public and private health care providers to use electronic records to maintain their existing Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement levels.

ISU’s College of Business currently offers a bachelor’s degree in health informatics, but the master’s degree will prepare graduates to fill the top informatics jobs in hospitals, medical practices, insurance companies and government health agencies. Many of those organizations are already requiring the advanced degree, Ottaway said.

The Idaho State Board of Education approved the degree in August and it’s the only health informatics master’s program in the state, according to Thomas Ottaway, Ph.D., the dean of ISU’s College of Business.

“Computer technology has made it easy to capture huge amounts of data, but then the question becomes what do you do with that data?” Ottaway said.

So important is the field of health informatics that Chicago’s mayor declared an Informatics Week several years ago, highlighting the role of informatics in improving the “quality, safety and cost-effectiveness of health care” in the Windy City.

Let’s say you’re a doctor with a sick patient and you know of a half dozen medications to treat the illness, but don’t know which one is best.

The U.S. Department of Labor projects employment of computer and information system managers to grow 15 percent through 2022—many landing informatics positions in the health care industry and holding titles like chief medical information officer, clinical data analyst and information technology consultant, according to the American Medical Informatics Association.

And that’s the beauty of informatics.

By crunching the electronic medical records of patients treated for that very same illness, informatics experts can isolate the medications used, how they worked and forward the results to the attending physician. It’s this type of information, say industry experts, that can help eliminate ineffective treatments and procedures that drive up the cost of health care.

The inaugural class will have up to 25 students, who will complete 36 credit hours of coursework delivered face-toface and via distance learning.

The College of Business has hired five new faculty members in its informatics and computer science department, including Dr. Karoly Bozan, an assistant professor of health informatics, who will teach in the master’s program.

He says students will develop an understanding of the specialized and complex needs of the health care industry.They’ll learn to create, integrate, manage and leverage health-related software systems and data while ensuring patient confidentiality.

Salaries for graduates can range from $60,000 a year to well over six figures depending on experience, geographical location and level of education. But the profession is about more than crunching numbers and collecting a good paycheck.

“It’s about providing information that can improve the quality of patient care and save lives,” Bozan said.

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Leading the World Teachers Travel to Kuwait to Help Solve Struggles Similar to Those Here B Y E M I LY F R A N D S E N

Walking in the streets outside of the American United School of Kuwait, Idaho State University College of Education members might have felt like they were light years from home. Inside the school, however, it wasn’t hard to see that the struggles faced by educators are the same everywhere.

Just as they do in the United States, school administrators were working to find ways to recruit and retain quality teachers.Teachers were asking for ways to bring research-based teaching practices in the classroom, and ways to find time to teach problem solving, the same issues that teachers in Idaho often face, said Cory Bennett, director of the Albion Center for Educational Effectiveness.

“We were almost halfway around the world,” Bennett said, “and I’m having the same conversations with the teachers there as I do with teachers in Southeast Idaho.”

Bennett and three other faculty members in the Idaho State University College of Education spent two weeks in Kuwait in August as part of a five-year partnership with the American United School of Kuwait, a private school for students from preschool to high school.

Although the students in the school are Kuwait natives, it is designed to be an American-style education, with teaching in English. Bennett and his colleagues are working with school officials on issues such as curriculum, teacher recruitment and retention, and teaching for different learning styles.

Bennett will be working with officials on larger administrative issues, along with helping teachers with math curriculum. Faculty member Beverly Ray, an expert in educational technology, is helping teachers find appropriate uses for technology, an important tool because every child there is equipped with a laptop. Faculty member Joel Bocanegra, a school psychology expert, is offering training on teaching for diverse learning styles, and teaching methods for gauging success in the classroom.

Former faculty member Wendy Ruchti is teaching educators how to meet the Next Generation Science standards.

The American United School of Kuwait was founded as a partner school for the American University of Kuwait.

Classes are taught in English, and mostly

by American teachers, using American teaching methods.There are a few differences however—while math and language are considered very important, Bennett said, there is also a great emphasis on art, music and physical education.There are two swimming pools in the school, along with three art teachers and four music teachers. Class sizes are also smaller, with two teachers for every 15 to 20 students.

“They really take a more balanced approach to education,” Bennett said.

The College of Education team is planning three additional trips to Kuwait in 2016, with four webinars to provide interim support to the schools in the meantime. Because the school is only in its third year, Bennett said he has

enjoyed the opportunity to help shape a school’s program from its beginning.

“The learning curve and growth is just tremendous,” he said. “There’s no institutional history. I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve had the chance to mold something from its beginning. It’s been exciting.”

Along with the opportunities to share the latest educational research with teachers in Kuwait, opportunities are also emerging for ISU College of Education students. Bennett says the school is looking at offering student internships as a method of recruiting teachers, along with opportunities for ISU faculty to assist the American University of Kuwait in building graduate education programs.

“It’s coming together in a much more cohesive way than I could have thought,” he said.

The information and collaboration with educators in Kuwait is also useful as Bennett and his colleagues at the ISU Albion Center for Educational Effectiveness offer workshops and training for educators in Idaho. Each collaboration brings new ideas to the forefront, Bennett said.

“Idaho is definitely our focus with the Albion Center,” he said, “but to say we can support educators on an international basis is incredible.We’re supporting educators from around the world.”

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Message from the

Vice President for Finance and Administration I am pleased to report that the outstanding financial results of Idaho State University in fiscal year 2015 surpassed performance of previous years, setting a new level of accomplishment.The institution continues to achieve pivotal advancements toward financial and academic strategies, pursing initiatives that maximize educational excellence and focus on providing quality opportunities for students. The University has made concentrated efforts to align expenditures with its strategies and, as a result, has attained excellent operating results.

ISU continues to cultivate a culture of fiscal responsibility and effective financial management, which is essential for improving student opportunities and increasing access to a high-quality education.

Our year-end financial results reflect a $24.4 million improvement in the University’s net position. This is a superb performance, given our extraordinary initiative reinvestment last year, in which we distributed some $6.3 million to benefit faculty, staff and students.

Total assets increased by $19.4 million to $342.7 million, driven largely by a significant increase of $21.2 million in current assets. Our key financial ratios

which evaluate the institution’s overall financial health continue to improve and surpass industry benchmarks, demonstrating the University’s ability to operate within available resources, manage its debt strategically, and position itself to invest in mission-critical initiatives.

The University has been progressively decreasing the rate of tuition and fee increases and intends to continue to do so. Fiscal year 2015 had the lowest tuition and fee increase for ISU in 26 years. Additionally, the University proposed and received approval for a 3.3 percent tuition and fee increase for fiscal year 2016, which was the lowest increase in 27 years. ISU is and remains extremely competitive in tuition and fees, even after the increase, which is essential in enabling the University to balance its budget and continue to provide quality educational opportunities to students.

In continued recognition of the dedicated work and contributions our University team members have made toward achieving these excellent financial results, the institution was again able to provide an average four percent

merit-based compensation increase for faculty and staff. The University has also made special efforts to address areas of pay inequity for faculty and staff in comparison to their internal peers and to external market conditions by adding additional equity adjustments to merit increases. This has been a key effort in retaining top performing faculty and staff. ISU has also increased the minimum entry level and hourly pay rates for hourly employees.These efforts will help to enhance the institution’s ability to recruit and retain high performing faculty and staff while improving opportunities for employees in lower pay grades to earn a livable wage.

This year has been one of great successes and we are excited to once again highlight the people and opportunities at Idaho State University. We all continue to work diligently toward maintaining and achieving strong performance in the coming year and further advancing the vision and mission of Idaho State University!

James A. Fletcher vice president for finance and administration

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Summary Statement of Net Position 100%

90%

80% 45%

70%

60% 2% 50%

40%

30% 53%

20%

ASSETS CURRENT ASSETS: Cash, cash equivalents, and cash with Treasurer Investments Student loans receivable Accounts receivable and unbilled charges, net Due from state agencies Other current assets TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS

$110,790,792 20,237,619 325,398 26,845,864 4,022,347 1,789,907 164,011,927

$104,100,984 20,058,469 301,896 13,695,988 3,055,426 1,538,822 142,751,585

NONCURRENT ASSETS: Student loans receivable, net Assets held in trust Prepaid bond insurance costs Property, plant, and equipment, net Other long-term assets TOTAL NONCURRENT ASSETS

1,062,945 294,626 85,417 177,286,430 8,000 178,737,418

1,207,550 287,420 92,684 179,018,262 24,000 180,629,916

TOTAL ASSETS

342,749,345

323,381,501

DEFERRED OUTFLOWS OF RESOURCES

3,964,810

566,757

LIABILITIES CURRENT LIABILITIES: Accounts payable and accrued liabilities Due to state agencies Accrued salaries and benefits payable Compensated absences payable Deposits and funds held in custody for others Unearned revenues Current portion of long-term obligations TOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES

4,756,193 103,707 11,408,978 5,217,489 1,303,507 6,626,293 5,666,307 35,082,474

4,257,844 371,902 10,807,184 4,911,522 1,130,973 6,366,127 5,538,204 33,383,756

NONCURRENT LIABILITIES: Other post-employment benefits payable Pension Liability Notes and bonds payable TOTAL NONCURRENT LIABILITIES

8,265,000 6,774,117 46,134,923 61,174,040

7,423,000 51,627,041 59,050,041

TOTAL LIABILITIES

96,256,514

92,433,797

9,350,207

29,795

NET POSITION: Invested in capital assets Restricted, expendable Unrestricted

126,573,391 4,961,978 109,572,065

123,062,611 5,267,523 103,154,532

TOTAL NET POSITION

$241,107,434

$231,484,666

DEFERRED INFLOW OF RESOURCES 10%

Invested in capital assets Restricted, expendable Unrestricted

2015 2014

The information in the Summary Statement of Net Position is derived from Idaho State University’s June 30, 2015, audited financial statements.The audited financial statements and related notes can be viewed online at isu.edu/finserv/account/ISUSingleAudit2015&SEFA.pdf

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OPERATING REVENUES Student tuition and fees, net Federal grants and contracts State and local grants and contracts Private grants and contracts Sales and services of educational activities Sales and services of auxiliary enterprises Other TOTAL OPERATING REVENUES

2015 $88,206,974 9,290,225 11,733,975 7,012,923 7,311,610 14,015,044 3,678,615 141,249,366

2014 $80,067,373 8,267,766 10,964,430 7,409,810 6,757,178 13,507,916 3,560,921 130,535,394

149,425,555 26,747,825 14,823,343 7,350,446 12,514,538 12,622,576 5,083,395 228,567,678

143,971,434 24,862,319 11,891,858 7,466,242 14,302,237 12,781,070 4,684,948 219,960,108

OPERATING LOSS

(87,318,312)

(89,424,714) 65,261,000 17,157,526 21,120,080 5,994,344 107,819 (7,267) (2,068,697) 107,564,805

INCOME BEFORE OTHER REVENUES AND EXPENSES

24,490,235

18,140,091

OTHER REVENUES AND EXPENSES

(85,380)

95,764

24,404,855 231,484,666

18,235,855 213,248,811

(14,782,087)

-

216,702,579

213,248,811

$241,107,434

$231,484,666

NET POSITION, END OF YEAR

4% 12% 8%

90% 5%

7%

18%

11%

70%

60%

35%

68,005,400 20,815,432 18,879,046 5,843,281 195,658 (7,267) (1,923,003) 111,808,547

INCREASE IN NET POSITION NET POSITION, BEGINNING OF YEAR CUMULATIVE EFFECT OF IMPLEMENTING GASB 68 (NOTE 2) NET POSITION, BEGINNING OF YEAR (AS RESTATED)

100%

80%

OPERATING EXPENSES Personnel costs Services Supplies Insurance, utilities and rent Scholarships and fellowships Depreciation Miscellaneous TOTAL OPERATING EXPENSES

NONOPERATING REVENUES (EXPENSES) State appropriations - general education Other state appropriations Title IV grants Gifts Net investment income Amortization of bond insurance costs Interest on capital asset related debt net of capitalized NET NONOPERATING REVENUES

Ex pe nse s Re ven ue

Summary Statement of Revenues, Expenses and Changes in Net Position

50%

40%

65%

30%

20%

35%

10%

Other Scholarships and fellowships Services and supplies Personnel costs

The information in the Summary Statement of Revenues, Expenses and Changes in Net Position is derived from Idaho State University’s June 30, 2015, audited financial statements.

The audited financial statements and related notes can be viewed online at isu.edu/finserv/account/ISUSingleAudit2015&SEFA.pdf

Other Auxiliary and educational activities Title IV grants Grants and contracts State appropriations and DPW Tuition and fees

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Ca sh pro vid ed Ca sh use d

Summary Statement of Cash Flows $250M

$225M

$200M

$175M

$150M

$125M

$100M

$75M

$50M

$25M

CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES Student fees Grants and contracts Sales and services of educational activities Sales and services from auxiliary enterprises Other operating revenue Collection of loans to students Payments to and on behalf of employees Payments to suppliers Payments for scholarships and fellowships Loans issued to students NET CASH USED BY OPERATING ACTIVITIES

2015 $76,401,610 27,882,961 6,562,763 14,144,594 3,667,055 547,711 (146,151,983) (52,971,921) (4,468,182) (434,450) (74,819,842)

CASH FLOWS FROM NONCAPITAL FINANCING ACTIVITIES State appropriations 83,957,238 Gifts 5,198,387 Title IV grants 19,012,657 Agency account net of receipts and payments (10,995,672) Direct lending net of receipts and payments (588,567) NET CASH PROVIDED BY NONCAPITAL FINANCING ACTIVITIES 96,584,043

2014 $69,376,114 28,326,490 6,484,515 13,450,332 3,483,125 391,851 (139,064,154) (44,139,597) (7,045,016) (327,196) (69,063,536) 80,988,258 5,218,221 20,923,272 (1,860,461) (552,058) 104,717,232

CASH FLOWS FROM CAPITAL AND RELATED FINANCING ACTIVITIES Capital Purchases (7,862,390) (6,391,145) Proceeds from sale of assets - 134,715 Proceeds from advance funding of debt - Cost of issuance for advance refunding bonds - Principal paid on capital debt (4,958,257) (4,965,639) Interest paid on capital debt (2,270,755) (2,423,142) NET CASH USED BY CAPITAL AND RELATED FINANCING ACTIVITIES (15,091,402) (13,645,211) CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES Purchase of investments Proceeds from sales and maturities of investments Investment income NET CASH USED BY INVESTING ACTIVITIES

(15,611,276) 15,611,276 17,009 17,009

(21,630,792) 6,630,792 55,254 (14,944,746)

NET INCREASE IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS 6,689,808

7,063,739

CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS — Beginning of year

104,100,984

97,037,245

CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS — End of year

$110,790,792

$104,100,984

Net cash used by capital Noncapital financing used Operating payments State appropriations Gifts and Title IX grants Other operating revenue Student fee revenue

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The information in the Summary Statement of Cash Flows is derived from Idaho State University’s June 30, 2015, audited financial statements.The audited financial statements and related notes can be viewed online at isu.edu/finserv/account/ISUSingleAudit2015&SEFA.pdf

Summary Statement of Financial Position IDAHO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION

ASSETS Cash and cash equivalents Cash held pursuant to bond requirements Promises to give, net Life insurance cash surrender value Inventory Pharmacy receivables, net Miscellaneous receivables Capitalized bond issuance costs, net Property, Plant and Equipment Goodwill Donated land held for sale Investments TOTAL ASSETS

2015 $2,167,955 447,429 4,253,218 100,979 361,181 218,853 1,684 88,036 247,236 199,241 1,945,856 53,918,942 63,950,610

$1,378,935 501,940 4,929,525 74,714 176,634 75,252 22,262 106,744 143,728 199,241 2,149,902 51,180,307 60,939,184

391,565 423,941 917,521 652,640 5,957,779 8,343,446

129,597 376,383 792,775 29,283 6,008,322 7,336,360

(4,086,482) 20,726,350 38,967,296 55,607,164

(3,081,801) 21,333,988 35,350,637 53,602,824

$63,950,610

$60,939,184

LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS LIABILITIES Accounts payable Scholarships and other payables to Idaho State University Obligations to beneficiaries under split-interest agreements Funds held in custody for others Long-term debt TOTAL LIABILITIES NET ASSETS Unrestricted Temporarily restricted Permanently restricted TOTAL NET ASSETS TOTAL LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS

2014

The information in the Summary Statement of Revenues, Expenses and Changes in Net Position is derived from Idaho State University’s June 30, 2015, audited financial statements.

The audited financial statements and related notes can be viewed online at isu.edu/finserv/account/ISUSingleAudit2015&SEFA.pdf

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Summary Statement of Financial Position IDAHO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION

Year Ended June 30, 2015

Unrestricted Temporarily Permanently Restricted Restricted REVENUES Contributions and gifts Contributed services Interest and dividends Net realized/unrealized gain on investments Fees, charges, and miscellaneous Pharmacy charges (net of cost of goods sold of $1,395,718) Net change in value of split-interest agreements and life insurance Donor designated transfers Net assets released from program restrictions TOTAL REVENUES

$1,263,570 714,109 133,487 21,548 881,750

$2,423,074 - 330,823 208,213 29,449

$3,626,016 - - - -

$7,312,660 714,109 464,310 229,761 911,199

512,929

-

-

512,929

- 48,883 3,373,872 6,950,148

(114,130) (111,195) (3,373,872) (607,638)

(71,669) 62,312 - 3,616,659

(185,799) 9,959,169

1,456,139 1,397,610 196,049 2,108,971

- - - -

- - - -

1,456,139 1,397,610 196,049 2,108,971

464,844 1,744,644 586,572 7,954,829

- - - -

- - - -

464,844 1,744,644 586,572 7,954,829

CHANGE IN NET ASSETS

(1,004,681)

(607,638)

3,616,659

2,004,340

NET ASSETS, beginning of year

(3,081,801)

21,333,988

35,350,637

53,602,824

NET ASSETS, end of year

$(4,086,482)

$20,726,350

$38,967,296

$55,607,164

EXPENSES Program support to Idaho State University Donations/transfers Scholarships Athletic Department support Support services Management and general Fundraising Pharmacy expenses TOTAL EXPENSES

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Total

Summary Statement of Financial Position Year Ended June 30, 2014

IDAHO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION

Unrestricted Temporarily Permanently Restricted Restricted REVENUES Contributions and gifts Contributed services Interest and dividends Net realized/unrealized gain on investments Fees, charges, and miscellaneous Pharmacy charges (net of cost of goods sold of $278,954) Net change in value of split-interest agreements and life insurance Donor designated transfers Net assets released from program restrictions TOTAL REVENUES

Total

$1,493,455 722,470 152,207 601,474 834,409

$3,382,929 - 349,038 5,693,227 15,690

$2,692,384 - - - -

$7,568,768 722,470 501,245 6,294,701 850,099

92,929

-

-

92,929

- (147,515) 4,995,836 8,745,265

130,264 46,283 (4,995,836) 4,621,595

(42,151) 101,232 - 2,751,465

88,113 16,118,325

EXPENSES Program support to Idaho State University Donations/transfers Scholarships Athletic Department support Support services Management and general Fundraising Pharmacy expenses TOTAL EXPENSES

1,137,079 1,388,217 1,039,725 1,658,316

- - - -

- - - -

1,137,079 1,388,217 1,039,725 1,658,316

426,940 1,663,687 160,313 7,474,277

- - - -

- - - -

426,940 1,663,687 160,313 7,474,277

CHANGE IN NET ASSETS

1,270,988

4,621,595

2,751,465

8,644,048

NET ASSETS, beginning of year

(4,352,789)

16,712,393

32,599,172

44,958,776

NET ASSETS, end of year

$(3,081,801)

$21,333,988

$35,350,637

$53,602,824

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NOTES TO THE SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS USE OF THE SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

SUMMARY STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

The summary financial statements consist of the following three statements: Summary Statement of Net Position, Summary Statement of Revenues, Expenses and Changes in Net Position, and Summary Statement of Cash Flows. The summary financial statements were derived from the University’s audited financial statements for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2015 and 2014. The summary financial statements aggregate certain line items contained within some audited financial classifications to provide a more summarized presentation and do not include various notes required by generally accepted accounting principles.

The University’s and its component unit’s financial statements and related notes, which are presented in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles, may be viewed at isu.edu/finserv/account/ ISUSingleAudit2015&SEFA.pdf.

Provides information about the University’s inflows and outflows of cash for the year. This statement aids in assessing the University’s ability to meet obligations and commitments as they become due, its ability to generate future cash flows, and its needs for external financing.

ORGANIZATION Idaho State University (the University) is part of the public system of higher education in the State of Idaho (the State). The system is considered part of the State of Idaho financial reporting entity. The State Board of Education (SBOE), appointed by the Governor and affirmed by the legislature, directs the system. The University is headquartered in Pocatello, Idaho with satellite campuses in Idaho Falls,Twin Falls, and Meridian, Idaho.

SUMMARY STATEMENT OF NET POSITION Reflects the financial position of the University at the end of the fiscal year. The difference between assets plus deferred outflows and liabilities plus deferred inflows represent net position. Changes in net position occur over time and are one indicator of the financial condition of the University.

SUMMARY STATEMENT OF REVENUES, EXPENSES AND CHANGES IN NET POSITION Presents the revenues earned and expenses incurred during the year on an accrual basis, categorized as operating and nonoperating.

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SUMMARY OF ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND PRACTICES The summary of accounting policies and practices were derived from the University’s audited financial statements for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2015, and 2014.

Significant summary accounting policies and practices are described below to enhance the usefulness of the summary financial statements to the reader.

– BASIS OF ACCOUNTING For financial reporting purposes, the University is considered a special-purpose government engaged only in business-type activities. Accordingly, the University’s financial statements have been presented using the economic resources measurement focus and the accrual basis of accounting. Under the accrual basis, revenues are recognized when earned, and expenses are recorded when an obligation has been incurred.

– CASH EQUIVALENTS The University considers all liquid investments with a remaining maturity of three months or less at the date of acquisition and all non-negotiable certificates of deposit to be cash equivalents.

– CASH WITH TREASURER Amounts that are required to be remitted to the State of Idaho as a result of the student fee collection process and, once remitted, these balances are under the control of the State Treasurer. Interest accruing on the balance is maintained in a separate fund and must be appropriated by the legislature before any expenditure can occur.

– INVESTMENTS The University accounts for its investment at fair value in accordance with GASB Statement No. 31, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Certain Investments and for External Investment Pools. Investment Income is recorded on the accrual basis.

Changes in unrealized gains and losses

on the carrying value of investments are reported as a component of net investment income in the Statement of Revenues, Expenses and Changes in Net Position.

– STUDENT LOANS RECEIVABLE Loans receivable from students bear interest at rates ranging from 3.00% to 7.00% and are generally payable to the University in installments over a 5 to 10 year period, commencing 6 or 9 months after the date of separation from the University.

– ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE Accounts receivable consist of fees charged to students as well as auxiliary enterprise services provided to students, faculty and staff, the majority of each residing in the State of Idaho. Accounts receivable also include amounts due from the federal government, state and local governments, or private sources, in connection with reimbursement of allowable expenditures made pursuant to the University’s grants and contracts. Accounts receivable are recorded net of estimated uncollectible amounts.

– INVENTORIES Inventories, consisting primarily of items held by University Stores, are valued at the lower of first-in, first-out (“FIFO”) cost or market.

– PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT Capital assets are stated at cost when purchased or constructed, or if acquired by gift, at the estimated fair value at date of the gift. The University’s capitalization policy includes all items with a unit cost of $5,000 or more, and an estimated useful life of greater than one year. Renovations to buildings and land improvements that significantly increase the value or extend the useful life of the structure are capitalized. Routine repairs and maintenance are charged to operating expense in the period in which the expense was incurred.

Depreciation is computed using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the respective assets.

The University houses collections at the Idaho Museum of Natural History that it does not capitalize. The University charges these collections to operations at the time of purchase, in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

– DEFERRED INFLOWS AND OUTFLOWS OF RESOURCES Deferred outflows of resources are a consumption of net assets by the University that are applicable to future reporting periods. Similar to assets, they have a positive effect on net position. Deferred inflows of resources are an acquisition of net position that apply to future reporting periods. Similar to liabilities, deferred outflows reduce net position.

– UNEARNED REVENUES Include amounts received for tuition and fees and certain auxiliary activities prior to the end of the fiscal year, but related to the subsequent accounting period. Unearned revenues also include amounts received from grant and contract sponsors that have not yet been earned.

– COMPENSATED ABSENCES Employee vacation pay that is earned but unused is accrued at year-end for financial statement purposes.

– NONCURRENT LIABILITIES Include the principal portions of revenue bonds payable, notes payable with contractual maturities greater than one year, and other post-employment benefits payable.

– NET POSITION The University’s net position is categorized as follows:

INVESTED IN CAPITAL ASSETS This represents the University’s total investment in capital assets, net of outstanding debt obligations related to those capital assets. To the extent debt has been incurred but not yet expended for capital assets, such amounts are not included as a component of invested in capital assets, net of related debt.

RESTRICTED, EXPENDABLE This includes resources which the University is legally or contractually obligated to use in accordance with restrictions imposed by external third parties.

UNRESTRICTED This represents resources derived from student fees, state appropriations, and sales and services of educational departments and auxiliary enterprises. These resources are used for transactions related to the educational and general operations of the University, and may be used at the discretion of the institution to meet current expenses for any lawful purpose and in accordance with SBOE policy.

– INCOME AND UNRELATED BUSINESS INCOME TAXES The University, as a political subdivision of the State of Idaho, is excluded from Federal income taxes under Section 115(1) of the Internal Revenue Code, as amended. The University is liable for tax on its unrelated business income. Defined by the Internal Revenue Code, unrelated business income is income from a trade or business, regularly carried on, that is not substantially related to the performance by the organization of its exempt purpose or function. The University did not incur unrelated business income tax expense in the fiscal years ended June 30, 2015, or 2014.

– SCHOLARSHIP DISCOUNTS AND ALLOWANCES Student fee revenues are reported net of scholarship discounts and allowances in the summary statement of revenues, expenses, and changes in net position. Scholarship discounts and allowances are the difference between the stated charge for goods and services provided by the University, and the amount paid by students or other third parties making payments on the students’ behalf.

– USE OF ACCOUNTING ESTIMATES The preparation of financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosures of contingent liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and revenues and expenses during the year. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

– RESTATEMENT OF NET POSITION The University implemented the provisions of GASB Statement No. 68, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Pensions – an amendment of GASB Statement No. 27, in 2015.The restatement is effective for financial statement periods beginning after June 15, 2014, with the effects of accounting changes to be applied retroactively by restating the financial statements.The Statement requires the University to record its proportionate share of the defined benefit pension obligations for active, inactive and retired employees receiving retirement benefits under the Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho (“PERSI”).

The University adopted this new pronouncement in the current year. It is not practical for PERSI to determine the amounts of all deferred inflows of resources and deferred outflows of resources related to pensions as of the beginning of the plan year. As a result, the prior year has not been restated for deferred inflows of resources, deferred outflows of resources, net pension liability and pension expense. Since the restatement of the prior year presented is not practical, the cumulative effect of applying this Statement is reported as a restatement of beginning net position as of June 30, 2014.

Net Position Restated – The cumulative effect of implementing GASB 68 decreases the net position end of year for June 30, 2014, by $14,782,087 from $231,484,666 to $216,702,579.

– CONTINGENCIES AND LEGAL MATTERS The University is a defendant in litigation arising from the normal course of operations. Based on present knowledge, the University’s administration believes any ultimate liability in these matters will not materially affect the financial position of the University.

COMPONENT UNIT DISCLOSURE The Foundation is discretely presented within the financial statements as a component unit.

The Foundation has adopted a policy of preparing its financial statements based upon generally accepted accounting principles in accordance with standards issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

39

Notes continued Foundation Operations

Promises to Give

Endowments

The Foundation was established in March 1967 to provide support for the private fundraising efforts of the University and to manage privately donated funds. The Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation incorporated in accordance with the laws of the State of Idaho and managed by a volunteer Board of Directors. Under the Idaho State Board of Education’s administrative rules, the Foundation must be independent of, and cannot be controlled by, the University.

Unconditional promises to give are recognized as an asset and contribution revenue in the period the promise is received.

Promises to give received after one year are discounted at rates commensurate with risks involved. Amortization of the discount is recorded as additional contribution revenue in accordance with donor-imposed restrictions, if any.

The Foundation’s endowment consists of approximately 500 individual funds established for a variety of purposes. As required by generally accepted accounting principles, net assets associated with endowment funds are classified and reported based upon the existence or absence of donor-imposed restrictions.

The Foundation has an affiliation with a corporation called Bengal Pharmacy, LLC (the Pharmacy) that was formed to serve students, staff and faculty being seen by the student health center and residency program, in addition to 340b patients of Health West in Southeast Idaho. During 2015, the Pharmacy established an existing pharmacy and established a tele-pharmacy in Challis, Idaho.

Principles of Consolidation The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Foundation and the Pharmacy because the Foundation has both control and economic interest in the Pharmacy. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

Basis of Accounting The Foundation financial statements included in this report have been prepared on the accrual basis of accounting in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, whereby revenue is recorded when earned and expenses are recorded when materials or services are received. Net assets and revenues, expenses, gains, and losses are classified based on the existence or absence of donor-imposed restrictions.

Investments Investments in equity and debt securities that have readily determinable fair values are recorded at quoted market prices. Investment securities without quoted market prices are valued at estimated fair value using appropriate valuation methods that consider the underlying assets and financial reports.

40

Obligations under Split Interest Agreements The Foundation administers such life income agreements as charitable remainder trusts where an income beneficiary is the lifetime recipient of income and the Foundation is the remainder beneficiary. Upon receipt of the gift, a liability is established for the estimated net present value of the lifetime recipient’s interest using applicable mortality tables and a discount rate commensurate with the risks involved. A contribution is recognized for the estimated remainder interest.

Fair Value Measurements The Foundation has determined the fair value of certain assets and liabilities in accordance with the provisions of ASC 82010, Fair Value Measurements, which provides a framework for measuring fair value under generally accepted accounting principles.

Capitalized Bond Issuance Costs Capitalized bond issuance costs consist of legal costs, underwriting fees, printing and other costs incurred to obtain, secure and rate the multi-mode variable rate revenue bonds issued for the construction of the L.E. and Thelma Stephens Performing Arts Center on May 30, 2001. The issuance costs for the bonds have an original cost of $570,000 at May 30, 2001, and are amortized over the term of the bonds, using the effective interest rate method. Accumulated amortization of these bond costs at the end of June 30, 2015 and 2014 were $481,965 and $463,256, respectively.

Fair Value of Assets and Liabilities The fair value option was chosen to measure pledges and annuities in order to mitigate volatility in reported changes in net assets.

The fair value for mutual fund investments is determined based on quoted market prices. For fixed income investments, fair value is determined based on the value of the underlying investments. For co-mingled and pooled marketable investment funds, fair value is obtained by using the net asset value of the underlying investments. At this level, the underlying assets have a direct market reference price that is traceable.

For hedge funds, fair value is determined with independent, third party valuations occurring monthly to every six months, depending upon the investment type.

Property held for sale and investments are valued based on property sold that had a similar use, size, and location as the property held by the Foundation. The value of pledges receivable is determined at the present value of expected future cash flows and is fair valued at the time of the gift. In subsequent years, the value is amortized over the life of the pledge.

Multi-Mode Variable Rate Revenue Bonds A Multi-Mode Variable Rate Revenue Bond was issued on May 30, 2001 in the amount of $22,170,000. The Bonds fully mature on May 1, 2021 and are secured by donations, pledges and other funds held under the Bond Indenture. Debt balance at June 30, 2015 and 2014 was $5,600,000 and $5,700,000, respectively. Interest payments are made monthly with a mandatory bond redemption of $100,000 due annually on May 1st. Total interest expense and fees during 2015 and 2014 were $98,505 and $88,292, respectively.

C.L. “Butch� Otter governor, State of Idaho

Idaho State Board of Education

Idaho State University Administration

Don Soltman president

Dr. Arthur C.Vailas university president

Emma Atchley vice president

Dr. Laura Woodworth-Ney provost and vice president for academic affairs

Dr. Bill Goesling secretary

James A. Fletcher vice president for finance and administration

Debbie Critchfield member

Dr. Cornellis Van der Schyf vice president for research

Linda Clark member

Dr. Patricia Terrell vice president for student affairs

Dr. David Hill member

Dr. Kent Tingey vice president for university advancement

Richard Westerberg member

Jeff Tingey director of athletics

Sherri Ybarra superintendent of public instruction

Finance and Administration Brant Wright university controller

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Pocatello | Idaho Falls

Meridian | Twin Falls

#IdahoState

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