ISU Magazine Spring 2019

IDAHO STATE U N I V E R S I T Y Volume 49 | Number 2 | Spring 2019

HONORING HISTORY INVESTING IN THE FUTURE AT DAVIS FIELD 20

Talking to Robots

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Building a Tech Future

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IDAHOSTATE

U N I V E R S I T Y

FROM THE PRESIDENT

921 South 8th Ave., Stop 8265 Pocatello, Idaho 83209-8265 (208) 282-3620 isu.edu Kevin Satterlee, J.D. President Dr. Kent M. Tingey, ’97 Vice President University Advancement Stuart Summers, ’10 Associate Vice President Marketing and Communications COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS

franemil@isu.edu IDAHO STATE UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE STAFF

Editor Contributors

Design Photography Web

Emily Frandsen Chris Gabettas Andrew Taylor Tori Parks Joey Gifford, ’03 Eric Gordon Joe Marley, ’04

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Ryan Sargent, ’09 Director of Alumni Relations (208) 282-3755 alumni@isu.edu

OUR COMMITMENT

Idaho State University is committed to excellence, and dedicated to its four core themes: Learning and Discovery, Access and Opportunity, Leadership in the Health Sciences and Community Engagement and Impact.

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Send address changes to the Office of Alumni Relations at 921 S. 8th Ave., Stop 8033, Pocatello, ID 83209-8033

Friends, I am truly humbled and honored to be celebrating my one-year anniversary as President of this great university. I am honored because I have an opportunity every day to help change the lives of students, to give them hope for a brighter future.

These students go out into our communities and make them better.

I am humbled because of events like those of this spring. I was officially inaugurated as Idaho State University’s 13th president. One of the most moving memories for me was to see so many of you, Bengal alumni and friends, answer the call during the investiture and donate more than $106,000 to support scholarships for first-generation college students. These scholarships make a difference. They change lives.

I know this because I lived it. Like many of our students, I was the first in my family to earn a bachelor’s degree. I remember when I was considering getting a job at the lumber mill in high school and my mom told me that my real job was to study hard and focus on my education so I could earn scholarships and go to college.

In those moments, my life was changed. I did not know it at the time. But I realize it now.

We have all had those moments in our lives, moments when our life has changed, and often we do not even know it yet.

For one of our future Bengals, that moment came recently at a recruiting event, where a dean asked him why he was interested in college. He looked her in the eye and told her he wanted to rise from poverty.

The young man told her that he was willing to work hard and that he wanted to change his stars. She gave him a scholarship, and I know that his life will be forever changed for the better.

At Idaho State, we all work hard to create these moments for our students and our communities — moments that change lives. It shows in the way our faculty teach, but it also shows in the way they truly care for the wellbeing of our students. It shows in the way we are working to restore historic Davis Field for our student-athletes, giving them a place to compete at the highest levels.

It shows in the way our University community has come together to replace the “I” on Red Hill, restoring an icon that reminds us all of the pride we feel as Bengals.

It shows in the groundbreaking research our faculty pursue to create a greater understanding of the world around us that can be passed on to our future generations.

While we are in a time of change at Idaho State, our enduring principles and our drive to better the lives of our students continues to be the same. I am honored to be a part of it. Thank you for all you do for our University and our students.

Roar, Bengals, Roar!

Kevin D. Satterlee, President

SPRING 2019

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IN THIS ISSUE

14 Mayor Brian Blad speaks at the press conference announcing renovations to Davis Field.

24 Katherine Reedy has spent a lifetime doing research in the Aluetian Islands.

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9 10 11 12 13 14 18 20 22 24 28 30 32 34 35 36 37

President’s Message Thiros Named Athletic Director Nelson Named VP for Finance Bengal Meal Share Program Kent Center to Benefit Future Teachers VP Tingey Announces Retirement Meridian Researcher’s Opiod Research Student Fundraises for Idaho High School Learning to Roar Internship Leads to Deeper Commitment to Community Returning the “I” to Red Hill Cover: Renovation Planned for Davis Field Major Grant Helps Idaho Children with Hearing Loss Talking to Robots Bone Scanning at the Museum of Natural History A Life’s Work in the Aleutian Islands Creating Cleaner Oceans Building a Tech Future ISU’s Old Man of Track Sports Hall of Fame Inductees Retired Weatherman is Grateful In Memoriam Alumni News

Presidential Investiture

ISU President Kevin Satterlee was inaugurated the University’s 13th president in a ceremony on April 26. As a part of the celebration, local businesses and donors gave more than $106,000 for first-generation student scholarships.

Photo by Eric Gordon

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Pauline Thiros Named Athletic Director

New VP for Finance Takes the Helm

After a four-month national competitive search, President Kevin Satterlee announced Pauline Thiros as Idaho State’s new Athletic Director.

Idaho State University President Kevin Satterlee announced that Glen Nelson has accepted the position of vice president for finance and business affairs.

“We have chosen the right leader who will take Bengal Athletics to the next level,” Satterlee said. “I have been impressed with Pauline’s ability to enact change and build a culture of excellence. The future vision of Idaho State Athletics will be one that places an utmost value on integrity, always striving for excellence, and a constant focus on creating a positive and inclusive community.”

Nelson, most recently the Arizona State University special advisor to the executive vice president, treasurer and CFO, began at ISU Jan. 22.

“As we look forward to the years ahead, this leadership position will serve a key role in designing finance and business operations for the University to fulfill the strategic objectives and mission of the institution,” Satterlee said. “Glen has an extensive background in finance and business affairs. He has breadth and depth of experience in these areas that will undoubtedly serve ISU well. I am confident in Glen’s ability to build relationships across campus and help us build a shared vision for our collective future.”

Thiros has held a variety of positions at the University during her 23-year-career. Most recently, she was the associate vice president of development. Thiros began her career at ISU as an assistant volleyball coach and recruiting coordinator in 1995. She played volleyball at ISU and was named All Big Sky Conference Academic Athlete of the Year in 1994. She was inducted to the ISU Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.

Thiros began serving as interim athletic director in August 2018.

Nelson has extensive experience in higher education. He began at the 98,000-student Arizona State University in 2014 as associate dean to the College of Nursing and Health Innovation, a position he held until 2018, and as associate dean of the College of Health Solutions, which he held until 2016.

Other positions he has held include:

“I am excited to have this opportunity to serve the University and community I love,” Thiros said. “Together, with our dedicated athletics staff, we will build on Idaho State’s legacy and create an athletics program we can all be very proud of. ISU will be a force in the Big Sky Conference, and our student-athletes will achieve academic and athletic success.

We are going to embrace and reward this community’s long support.”

• Senior vice president for finance and administration, Arizona Board of Regents of the Arizona University System, Phoenix, Arizona, 2010-13 • Associate vice president for financial administration, University of Wisconsin System, Madison, Wisconsin, 2008-10 • Assistant vice chancellor, chief budget officer, Oregon University System, Corvallis, Oregon, 2005-2008 • Controller and director of fiscal services, Colorado School Mines, Golden, Colorado, 2002-2005.

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Master of Education in Secondary Education BUSINESS Master of Business Administration

For more information visit isu.edu/eisu Graduate School • (208) 282-2150 • gradschool@isu.edu • isu.edu/graduate

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Graduate School

Bengal Meal Share — Serving the Community When Vanessa Hanson looks at the students she works with, she sees herself.

During her undergraduate days, she felt completely alone — sleeping in her car on cold nights and often going to class hungry.

“It can be very isolating,” she said.

“Isolation can be a big deal when you are trying to stay in school.”

Today, as student support and outreach specialist, she knows there are many more like her — students who are working multiple jobs, who are choosing between books and food, and who often feel lost and alone.

In the Student Life office, Hanson and director Kris Clarkson keep extra food in their refrigerator for students who need it.

The use of Benny’s Pantry, an on-campus food pantry that serves members of the ISU community, has more than doubled. Clients have received more than 11,000 pounds of food this academic year.

“It’s pretty clear that growing numbers of our students are experiencing food insecurity,” Clarkson said. “It’s pretty difficult to learn when you’re hungry.”

Clarkson and Hanson want to do more than just feed students, however. They want to cultivate communities. Recently, Chartwells, campus caterer, and Idaho State University launched the meal share

program, a joint effort that allows students to donate unused meal plan meals to students in need. The program launched in December, and so far more than 200 meals have been donated, including a kickoff donation from ISU Credit Union.

For students in need, meals are loaded onto their Bengal Card, so the transaction is discrete, and funds can be used at Turner Dining Commons.

The program not only feeds students, but helps give them a chance to be of service to their peers, Hanson said. Giving feels good, Hanson says, and when students who understand the feeling of being in need have an opportunity to give back, it can be affirming and life-changing.

“The dollar amount isn’t important,”

she said. “It’s the giving. It helps them feel good about themselves.”

And food offers another way to connect, Hanson and Clarkson say. They hope that as the program grows, they will be able to help students make connections.

They want to host meals with groups who have similar life situations, like single parents, non-traditional students, or students who have aged out of the foster care system. Through meals provided by meal share, they envision a program where they can create communities of students who can be a support to each other as they navigate their college experience.

“This is going to give us some great opportunities,” Clarkson said. “I think it’s got great potential.”

TER N CE S E VIC R SE T EN D U ST

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SPRING 2019

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Kent Center to Benefit Future Teachers It was the moment when she saw one small gift for each family member under the Christmas tree that Marilyn Byrne realized just how much her education meant to everyone in her family.

She had come home from a semester at Idaho State University, struggling. She saw the meager holiday, and realized that her parents were sacrificing greatly for her future. They had never gone to college themselves, but realized the importance of higher education.

“I realized the entire family was contributing. That sent me back with a new purpose,” she said. “They were truly selfless, and gave me unconditional support, and I was able to graduate without debt.”

Byrne, who graduated in 1967, has since dedicated her life to education, first spending decades as a middle school and high school teacher, assistant principal and principal, and later professor and then Dean of Graduate Studies in Educational Leadership at Doane University in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Without the support of her parents, she says, college would have been a lot more difficult. To honor them, Marilyn and her husband Bill created the Joe and Pauline Kent Scholarship endowment in 2004.

This year, the Byrnes decided to honor the Kents once again, this time creating the Kent Center, a place in the College of Education where students can receive advising help, study for the PRAXIS, a teaching certification exam, or work collaboratively with other students. In the center, students can use state-of-the-art technology to study and work with students at ISU’s other locations across the state.

Pauline and Joe Kent The center is modeled after the Byrne Student Success Center at Texas A & M University, which was created through a gift from Dorothy and Artie McFerrin in honor of Byrne’s dedication to education.

Byrne hopes the center will help first-generation college students like herself find the resources they need to thrive. She envisions a place where people can go to have study opportunities and find resources.

“With high expectations, there has to come high support,” she said. “I see this as one of those supports.”

Tingey, VP for Advancement, Announces Retirement Plans for End of Year After nearly three decades of service at Idaho State University, Vice President for University Advancement Kent Tingey announced his retirement in March. His last day at ISU will be December 31.

“I want to thank Kent for his 30 years of service to Idaho State University. His work has been an integral and important part of ISU’s history,” President Kevin Satterlee said. “I am so appreciative of individuals who dedicate their lives to building our University. I wish him well in his retirement, appreciate his willingness to stay on as we search for his successor, and I look forward to tackling a number of initiatives with him in this important transition year.”

Tingey made his announcement early in the year to provide ample time to search for a new vice president. The goal is to have the position filled in October.

Tingey first began his career at ISU in 1989 as Director of University Relations. He assumed the vice president position in 1999. Under his direction, ISU raised $152.5 million in its first-ever capital campaign. The result of the campaign was the construction of ISU’s Stephens Performing Arts Center.

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“It has been an honor and privilege to serve at ISU and work closely with so many faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends of the institution,” Tingey said. “Those who care so deeply for our University have made a remarkable difference for good in building ISU. Because of their extraordinary efforts, I am confident our University is poised for continued success.”

As Vice President for Advancement, Tingey has been responsible for overseeing ISU’s public and government relations, marketing and communications, development, the ISU Foundation, alumni relations and Holt Arena and the Stephens Performing Arts Center.

Tingey has served as a vice president under three different presidents at Idaho State.

Prior to coming to ISU, Tingey served as executive assistant to U.S. Congressman Wayne Owens in Washington, D.C.

Researchers Find Chronic Drug Users in Idaho Prescribed a Dangerous Mix that Could Lead to Overdose

Fourteen years ago, Sarah Hill got hooked on opioids — hydrocode, Norco, Vicodin — anything that would numb the physical pain and postpartum depression she suffered after the birth of her daughter.

“Basically I was super mom when I was on them, but my kids suffered through my addiction,” said the Boise mother of five. “It got to the point where it took all of my energy, all of my money and all of my time.”

Attempts at sobriety were unsuccessful. Hill started scoring the pain killers—once prescribed by her doctor—on the streets of Boise, then she started using meth. She lost her kids, her health and got into trouble with the law.

“My liver was shutting down. I thought I would die. I am a Christian and I reached out to God for help,” she said. That was back in 2014 and Hill has been sober since, thanks to Chrysalis, a faith-based recovering program for women coming out of incarceration and addiction, and personal vigilance.

Hill is one of the lucky ones. In January 2019, the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported that more than 130 people die every day in the United States after overdosing on opioids.

Opioid addiction and the risk of overdose can happen to anyone, says Cathy Oliphant, a professor in Idaho State University’s Department of Pharmacy Practice in Meridian.

Oliphant and James Berain, a doctoral pharmacy candidate at the time, found that in 2017, a quarter of chronic opioid users in Idaho were at risk for an overdose due to a risky combination of pain killers and central nervous system depressants prescribed by doctors. Those depressants include a frequently prescribed medication called benzodiazepine or BZD, used to treat anxiety, sleep disorders and alcohol withdrawal.

A chronic opioid user is defined as someone who has used an opioid for more than 90 days, say the researchers. In 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidelines, highlighting the risks of prescribing opioids and central nervous system depressants together. The danger of the cocktail is respiratory depression—where a person’s breathing lowers to such a level that coma or death can result. The CDC estimates more than a third

of overdoses nationally involve a co-ingestion of an opioid and a BZD. Berain, who completed his Doctor of Pharmacy degree this spring, led the research as a class project; Oliphant, who has been involved in opioid research since 2009, served as his faculty adviser. They spent close to two years, reviewing prescriptions for controlled substances written by Idaho doctors and reported to the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. Prescribers are required to report their dispensing records to the PDMP. They can also access the PDMP before writing prescription, but are not required to do so.

After examining prescriptions written for thousands of patients in 2017, the two found that 56 percent of the risky combinations were written by single providers, meaning the same doctor who wrote a prescription for the opioid wrote the prescription for the depressant.

OPIOID RESEARCH

“It’s hard to postulate why. We weren’t able to determine if the prescriber did a risk benefit analysis, saying ‘yes, I know the risks, but this is the best way to treat the patient now,’” said Berain.

Their next task is to review prescriptions before and after the CDC recommendations to see if patterns in Idaho have changed.

Oliphant and Berain say education on numerous fronts can ease the risk of accidental overdose. They recommend policy makers and community leaders discuss funding drugs like naloxone that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. They urge patients to share their medication history with their prescribing physician and talk to their pharmacist when filling prescriptions.

“Patients need to be informed on multiple levels. When you go in to see a provider and they write you an opioid prescription or one for a BZD or depressant, ask ‘is that the best choice for me?

Are there non-opioid or non-BZD options?’” said Oliphant.

As for Sarah Hill, she is rebuilding her life now—reconnecting with family and working in community outreach for Chrysalis, the recovery program that aided in her sobriety.

She says solving the opioid crisis is complicated, but education is key. She’s eager to share her story of addiction and recovery with those who seek her help.

Chris Gabettas SPRING 2019

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Giving Back: Student Raises Funds to Build Ticket Booth for Southwest Idaho High School Angela Pierce is the kind of person who gets things done.

Pierce said. The family moved from central California to Idaho in 2006.

Just ask her professors at Idaho State University and the residents of the southwest Idaho community of Marsing where construction began this spring on a ticket booth at the entrance to the high school football field. Pierce spearheaded the drive to complete the project.

After Pierce and Little decided on the booth, Pierce tackled the project head on.

She designed a booth prototype, handled publicity, raised funds and secured vendors, including a Marsing steel business whose owner agree to donate some of the construction materials.

“This means so much to us. It’s the kind of project that can build pride in a community,” said Marsing High School principal and athletic director, Tim Little.

Pierce sold 65 engraved bricks at $100 each — engraved with the donor’s name and a brief message of support for the Marsing Huskies. She exceeded the number needed to finance the $5,000 project. The bricks will line the walking path to the ticket booth, which will measure 6 feet by 8 feet.

Little and Pierce came up with the idea for the ticket booth last spring. Pierce had contacted him by email, explaining she was a student enrolled in ISU’s athletic administration program and wanted to work on a project to benefit the school and complete her master’s degree. Her professors had given her the green light to move forward.

Why Marsing High? Well, Pierce’s brother Danny played football there years earlier and she wanted to give back to a program that had given her family so much.

“Our family has a lot of memories and attachment to the high school. Every Friday night we knew we’d go to a football game and even travel to the out-of-town games,” 10

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Little admits he wasn’t certain Pierce could pull off the project when she first approached him, but his doubts quickly evaporated as she met her goals. “She is a true professional,” he said.

Her professors agree. “This is an incredible example of how our students are giving back to the community,” said Caroline Faure, professor of sports science, who with associate professor, Howard Gauthier, approved Pierce’s project for graduate credit.

The community of 1,000 residents will

Angela Pierce spent fall 2018 raising money for the ticket booth by selling engraved bricks. Photo courtesy of Danny Pierce. celebrate the booth’s completion in August with a ribbon cutting, just in time for football season.

As for Pierce, who completed her Master of Physical Education degree in athletic administration in December, she’d like to serve as an athletic director at the collegiate level someday.

“I’ve seen what athletics can do for students. The perseverance behind it and all of the life skills a student athlete develops,” she said.

There’s no doubt she can achieve her goal, says Gauthier, who taught Pierce in his research, leadership and sports marketing classes at ISU. “I’ve never met a student more organized. She has a high deal of integrity and will undoubtedly have an outstanding career,” he said.

Pierce is well on her way. This spring, she accepted the position of athletic department operations coordinator at College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls.

Chris Gabettas

Idaho State University students are learning a new way to roar this year as the new administration led by President Kevin Satterlee, school officials, students and community leaders are introducing new ways to enhance school spirit.

Fans attending basketball and softball games this winter and spring may have noticed that there are now student crowd leaders to help create an “uproar” at ISU home games.

This program was hatched by Athletic Director Pauline Thiros, Assistant Director of Admissions Craig Joseph, Director of the Alumni Association Ryan Sargent and Associated Students of ISU President Logan Schmidt, who came together to discuss how student participation at athletic events could be increased.

Schmidt met with Sweet, Harmon and Jablonski weekly to make their “game plan” for the games that week. At the meetings, they typed up the cheers they planned on doing at each specific game. They also discussed ways they could bridge the gap between student-athletes and the rest of the student body.

“From a non-student athlete perspective, there is quite a divide,” Jablonski said.

“I think having students become more involved in our athletic events is a great stepping stone to bridging that divide.”

After getting started at basketball and softball games this spring, organizers plan

to have a presence at as many sports as possible in the future.

“We plan on expanding to every sport that we can,” Schmidt said.

Though Sweet, Harmon and Jablonski receive a scholarship for their efforts, their desire to be a part of The Uproar stems from their school spirit and love of ISU. “Not only do we want to help students feel connected to ISU athletics, we also want our students to have the best experience here at ISU,” Harmon said. “Our goal is to create an environment that will instill great lasting memories for the rest of our lives.”

Tori Parks, Career Path Intern

Together, the four decided that “crowd leaders” who organize and recruit students to athletic events would help the student body learn how to roar.

Three students were chosen to be crowd leaders – Kyley Sweet, Trey Harmon and Gabrielle Jablonski – and together they decided to be called The Uproar.

“I chose to become a crowd leader to start a new tradition here at ISU that will last for as long as the University does,” Harmon said. “Hopefully, this opportunity will bring the campus community together as a whole.”

Schmidt’s love for ISU and desire to increase spirit prompted him to get involved in The Uproar.

“Initially our goal was to get students to games,” Schmidt said. “Now that students are coming to the games, we are working collectively to bring a new element of excitement to our student section.”

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Internship Leads to Deeper Commitment to Community Megan Poe was well into the spring semester of her sophomore year when she heard about a community health internship with a local Lunch and Play program.

The program, a partnership between Portneuf Health Trust and School District 25, was looking for a volunteer coordinator to organize the daily physical education activities for local schoolchildren. Operating from May until August each year, the Lunch and Play program provides free lunches and opportunities for children to learn about physical activities. Poe, interested in obtaining experience within the field of nursing, applied for the position expecting to receive basic work-related experience and a modest paycheck. What Poe gained through the internship not only changed her path of study but also her definition of community.

“I started my internship knowing I had a passion for helping others, but it wasn’t until I started working daily with the local kids that I really started to consider focusing on community health within my nursing degree,” Poe said. “Community health nursing is a great way to positively impact many people at once through health initiatives.”

During the summer of 2018, the Lunch and Play program served more than 75,000 meals to local youth. Each meal was served with an opportunity to “play” with local volunteers, and activities ranged from Zumba to kickball. Volunteers included firefighters from the Pocatello Fire Department, employees from the Pocatello Gold’s Gym and the ISU men’s and women’s basketball teams.

Poe’s experience was made possible through the Career Path Internship program. The CPI program helps students prepare for life after college by providing real-world, paid, professional experience while they are still in school. Students participating in the program are provided with an internship that is directly related to their degree and career pursuits and is paired with a mentor who helps the student navigate their internship duties.

Megan Poe spent her summer organizing healthy activities for children.

In 2017, the CPI program provided 986 professional internship experiences to Idaho State students. The program works with all colleges and divisions, creating a wide range of experiences for students. Since the inception of the program in 2010, more than 6,000 students have been given the opportunity to stand out among their peers and the results have been outstanding.

“We see time and time again that our CPI participants are able to more easily find employment after graduation or gain access into graduate and professional programs because of their CPI experiences,” said Emily Jahsman, CPI Program Manager.

“Recently one CPI student was being pursued by both John Hopkins University and University of California, Berkley for graduate programs because of the undergraduate research she conducted during her CPI internship. Stories like this are not unusual. CPI participants gain tremendous experiences that set them apart from their peers.”

In 2018, more than 90 percent of student participants reported that their internship experiences would help them gain full-time employment after graduation. Garrett Critchfield was one of these students. Critchfield graduated with a bachelor’s degree in finance and marketing in May 2018. During his senior year, he landed a CPI internship with Advantage Plus Credit Union where he learned the ins and outs of personal and small business loans. Responsible for coding, posting and preparing all loan documents, Critchfield proved his worth during his internship and was hired as a full-time employee after his recent graduation.

“As a transfer student, I wasn’t sure if ISU was the place for me. During my first tour of the campus I heard about the CPI program and, honestly, that was the reason why I decided to attend ISU,” explained Critchfield. “This was the only school that I visited that had a program where I could go to school full-time and also have a local, paid internship.”

Emily Jahsman

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Returning the “I” to Red Hill For almost 100 years, Idaho State University’s iconic Red Hill was home to the beloved “I,” which was placed on the hill by some of the first students on campus in 1916. What was originally in the form of a “T” for the institution’s name at the time—Idaho Technical Institute — the icon was changed to a “4” to advocate four-year university status in 1926, and then finally an “I” in 1927. It would remain the familiar orange “I” for nearly 90 years before being removed for safety reasons in 2014.

These safety concerns stemmed from erosion caused by soil being taken from Red Hill to help repair roadways around campus.

Returning the “I” to Red Hill has been on the minds of students, faculty, alumni and ISU President Kevin Satterlee. Shortly after becoming ISU’s president, one of his top priorities has been returning the “I” to its rightful place.

Satterlee extended a promise to ISU during his State of the University Address that the “I” would be seen by all at the start of the Fall 2019 semester. Plans are now being finalized to construct the new “I” this summer.

However, returning the “I” to Red Hill is no easy task. Because soil on the hill is loose, placing a new, stable “I” requires thoughtful design efforts.

“The University started working with

a couple engineering firms several months ago to evaluate the soil on Red Hill,” Ryan Sargent, director of alumni relations, said.

“The engineers have now presented a plan to restore the ‘I,’ built to the same dimensions and in the same colors as the original, to Red Hill in the same approximate location.”

“During its long life, the Red Hill ‘I’ became perhaps the best-known landmark on campus,” Sargent said. “Several Idaho State traditions revolved around the ‘I,’ including lighting the ‘I’ every year during homecoming. Students would light a fire around the outline of the ‘I,’ illuminating it for the pep rally below.”

Unlike the original “I,” which was constructed out of concrete, plaster, wood and chicken wire, the new one proposed by the engineers will be built of fiberglass grating.

The “I” not only represents University traditions; it also represents how far we have come as an institution. Gaining fouryear university status was a struggle for ISU— a long struggle that was spearheaded by students, faculty, staff and the Pocatello community. The “I” represents that accomplishment.

“The fiberglass grating will minimize erosion and ensure that the ‘I’ remains a fixture on Red Hill for decades,” Sargent said.

Though returning the “I” to Red Hill might seem like a minor improvement to Idaho State, the traditions behind the “I” are a critical part of ISU’s history.

“The ‘I’ represents the ingenuity and grit of our students,” Sargent said. “It is a symbol of Bengal pride for many alumni, students and supporters.”

(208) 282-4899 | isu.edu/healthsciences

A DESTINATION SITE FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONS EDUCATION

The students in ISU’s health professions programs make up nearly one-third of the student body, a testament to our mission of meeting the health workforce needs in Idaho. Contact the Kasiska Division of Health Sciences to discover opportunities as we prepare the future leaders of health care in Idaho.

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• Audiology, AuD • Clinical Psychopharmacology, MS • Communication Sciences and Disorders, BS • Community and Public Health, MPH • Community Paramedic Academic Certificate • Counseling, MCoun, PhD, EdS • Dental Hygiene, BS, MS • Dentistry Residency • Dietetics, BS, MS, Internship • Emergency Management, AS, BS • Family Medicine Residency • Fire Services Administration, AS, BS • Geriatric Certificate • Health Education, BA, BS, MHE • Health Informatics, BBA, MS • Health Sciences, BS • Medical Laboratory Science, BS, MS

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Tori Parks, Career Path Intern

• Nursing, BS, MS, PhD, DNP • Occupational Therapy, MOT • Paramedic Science, AS • Pharmacy, MS, PhD, PharmD • Physical Therapy, DPT • Physician Assistant Studies, MPAS • Radiographic Science, AAS, BS • Rehabilitation and Communications Sciences, PhD • Sign Language, AS, BS • Speech Language Pathology, MS Partnering with other colleges: Athletic Training, MS Clinical Psychology, PhD College of Technology, various Deaf Education, MS Health Care Administration, BS, MS Health Physics, AS, BS, MS Social Work, BA Spanish for the Health Professions, BA

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RENOVATION PLANNED HISTORIC, BEAUTIFUL DAVIS FIELD TO GET UPGRADES

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In 1933, teams of horses and men worked for months moving dirt, flattening the earth and building walls with rock mined from nearby Red Hill. The goal was to create an athletic venue fit for a Bengal.

Since then, Davis Field has been the training ground for countless athletes, including Olympians.

Davis Field will finally be getting much-needed renovations so its functionality as an athletics venue can better match its tremendous aesthetics.

“Davis Field is historic, it is significant and it is an important part of our history to restore,” said Pauline Thiros, ISU athletic director. “The President and the administration supported this project enthusiastically, recognizing that it is important to the community, as well as to the student experience and athletic team performance. Restoring Davis Field is simply the right thing to do.”

In recent years, however, the two biggest problems for athletics posed by the current Davis Field facilities are that the soccer field is too narrow and the track and field facilities, including the running track itself, no longer meet NCAA standards. This means, ISU soccer and track and field are not able to host conference championships.

Furthermore, ISU soccer was having trouble scheduling non-conference games on the field because it isn’t regulation width, and track and field has not been able to host any outdoor meets at Davis Field since 2007. continued on next page

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Now there are solid plans in place, backed by $4 million in funding, to restore and improve the soccer field, running track and field-events area, fix the bleacher problem on the east side and add lights.

“I am absolutely ecstatic. It will elevate the entire game-day experience for both the players and the fans,” said Debs Brereton, ISU women’s soccer coach. “We are very fortunate to call Davis Field home. It is such an iconic location, and the players are thrilled about being able to play on a new surface, under lights in front of our awesome fans.”

Davis Field renovations include: • Taking out the condemned bleachers on the east (Red Hill) side of the field, putting in a retaining wall and landscaping a grass hill that will extend back toward Red Hill.

• Removing the condemned bleachers will allow the soccer field to be widened to regulation width and for the track to be widened. The soccer field will then be regulation size and eligible to host championships and non-conference teams.

• The track will be replaced and drainage for the track and the field will be improved. ISU track and field will then be able to host outdoor track meets, including conference championships, at Davis Field.

• The field events area – for events such as long jump, pole vault, discus and high jump – will be moved from inside the oval of the track to a newly developed area on the south side of Davis field. This will help address safety a issue.

• Lights will be added, which will greatly help both athletic programs, adding flexibility for scheduling games and practices.

“The new design includes lights, which extends useful time in the venue,” Thiros said. “Soccer games can be played at 7 in the evening, rather than 4 in the afternoon when it is difficult for the community to come out and show their

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DATES OF NOTE • 1933: Construction begins on the Spud Bowl, one of the first federally-funded projects at ISU (then Idaho Technical College). Teams of men and horses built the rock walls, using mostly rock from nearby Red Hill. The iron gates were designed by Abe Lillibridge, an instructor at the school.

Prior to this, football games were played at Hutchinson Field, now known as the Hutchinson Quad.

• Nov. 11, 1936: Idaho State plays its first football game in the Spud Bowl, against Montana State.

• September 1941: Electronics instructor William H. Shiflett, Jr., and his students design and build a television transmission and receiving system, and, during a home football game, pull off the first live television broadcast on a college campus.

• Homecoming, 1961: A surprise snowstorm buries the Spud Bowl, so much that spectators had to sit six rows up to see over the snow piles.

The field is plowed, the game goes on and ISU beat Montana State, 14-12.

• 1965: William “Bud” Davis becomes ISU’s president. He begins a series of improvements to campus worth more than $25 million, including Bartz Field, the Minidome (now Holt Arena) and many of the current buildings on campus.

The Spud Bowl is converted into a track facility. It is also used for special occasions, such as commencement.

For many track athletes, the Spud Bowl also served as home. Up to 12 athletes at a time stayed in a converted concession stand-turned dorm.

• 1974: With many other changes on campus, including the removal of Swanson Hall, administration discussed leveling the Spud Bowl and turning it into a parking lot. The track is saved, and is used for not only track, but intramural sports as well.

• 1981: A Department of Public Works report calls for the demolition of three buildings on campus, including Davis Field House, because of extensive repairs that were needed. The Field House is spared.

• 1998: ISU Soccer is born, playing at Davis Field.

• 2000: Thousands come to Davis Field to send off Olympian and ISU pole vaulter and coach Stacy Dragila to the Melbourne Olympics.

• 2002: A new soccer field is installed for the 2003 season.

• 2006: ISU Soccer hosts the Big Sky tournament, winning the title in front of a record-breaking 1,540 fans.

support and enjoy the game. Track and field will host collegiate events in a beautiful venue, and we have the opportunity of hosting high school meets at Davis. The longer days also mean that teams have fewer conflicts training in the venue. It’s absolutely necessary to provide our student athletes, coaches and our community with the type of experience to which we are committed.”

The project will begin as soon as this summer. While Davis Field is being renovated, alternate arrangements will be made for soccer and track and field practices and competitions. The project is slated to be completed by the end of the year.

“I am really excited about this one, just as much as any project I have done at ISU, because I’ve been working on this since 2014,” said Jason Adams, director of design and construction for the ISU Facilities Services Administration. “It’s a great project that solves a lot of problems for Athletics and also addresses long-standing deferred maintenance issues at the facility.”

Hillary Merkley, ISU head track coach, said this project has been a long time in coming. “ I was an athlete here at ISU and graduated in 2001 and loved practicing and competing at Davis Field. It carries some fond memories for so many people who have been a part of the University history,” Merkley said. “We look forward to this project being completed and then we can’t wait to showcase Idaho State University once again. We hope it will open up more opportunities to bring people to our campus and community.”

Andrew Taylor

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PROFESSORS LAND MAJOR GRANT TO HELP IDAHO CHILDREN WITH HEARING LOSS

Inside the HATCH Lab at Idaho State University-Meridian, associate professors Kristina Blaiser and Gabe Bargen study a green pie chart on a computer screen.

The image tells the story of how a child with hearing loss is progressing in the real world. Is he using words to communicate or relying on gestures? Is he speaking in sentences? Is he using hearing technology?

“This shows he is using about 60 words—mostly nouns with very few descriptors,” said Blaiser, pointing to the chart.

“There’s some work that can be done here,” added Bargen, noting the child’s daily use of hearing technology— hearing aids or cochlear implants—is low.

Boosting the use of technology can speed progress.

The beauty of the screen image is its simplicity. Gone is the complicated maze of numbers that would typically accompany a report of this type and overwhelm a parent. In its place is a one-page snapshot of the child’s progress in clear, concise terms a layperson can understand.

“Our goal is to create a data system that can tell the story of how a child is performing and what variables predict the best outcomes,” said Blaiser, a speech-language pathologist

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Associate professors and researchers Gabe Bargen and Kristina Blaiser reviewing assessments in the HATCH Lab at ISU-Meridian.

anything he wants to do,” she said.

The Boise mother and special education teacher is completing the assessments provided by the ISU researchers and she’s thrilled to chart his progress.

in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders.

Thanks to a $290,000 grant from the Philadelphia-based Oberkotter Foundation awarded in November, the researchers will spend the next three years telling the stories of hundreds of children who are deaf and hard of hearing in the Gem State.

Using online assessments, Blaiser and Bargen are gathering vast amounts of data from the parents of the children and the providers who serve them.

The assessments measure a child’s vocabulary and language development, use of hearing technology, how comfortable the parent and child are using that technology and the level of support from providers.

“We want to ensure that whatever could potentially hold a child back doesn’t.

That they’re given every opportunity to succeed regardless of where they live in Idaho,” said Bargen, an audiologist in the CSD department.

The ISU team is distributing the assessments electronically to parents through the Idaho Collaborative Assessment Project or ICAP—state and community organizations that have partnered with ISU to provide services for kids with hearing loss. More than 250 children from birth to 5 years old will have the opportunity to be assessed.

“This will give us a great look at how the little ones are doing,” said Paula Mason, outreach director for the Idaho Educational

Services for the Deaf and Blind, an ICAP member, serving more than 1,600 hearing-impaired children and young adults in Idaho.

Mason is excited about the study because it’ll help providers and policy makers isolate the needs of children and families in Idaho’s so-called frontier counties—where services are limited due to geography and population. “We’ll be able to dive in and take a look at how providers can reach those areas,” she said, noting early intervention is key to the communication and language development of a hearing-impaired child. Alternatives to in-person services include online speech therapy, interactive webinars or one-onone sessions via the internet.

BEHRENGER’S STORY Behrenger Player is an energetic 2-½ year old who likes to help his mom in the kitchen when he’s not tossing a ball around. Diagnosed with a hearing loss in both ears as an infant, he started wearing hearing aids at 10 months.

His mother, Valerie, says he’s learning to speak in complete sentences, expanding his vocabulary and using American Sign Language.

“Our goal for him is to have access to language, spoken language as well as American Sign Language, so that he can do

“When you are the parent of a kid with hearing loss, you spend a lot of time realizing what they can’t do, but with the assessments you’re like ‘oh, he can do that now and he can do that.’ It’s kind of heart warming,” she said.

She loves the ease of reading the reports and comparing his progress to the language and vocabulary development of his hearing peers. On that front, Behrenger is doing well, even a little ahead of them.

“Apparently that’s because I never stop talking to him,” laughed his mom.

CONDUCTING THE RESEARCH

Back at ISU-Meridian, student researchers Rachel Reiber, Kaitlyn Counts and Cassandra Arias will help Blaiser and Bargen compile the assessment data and prepare the “data visualization” reports for parents and providers for the duration of the grant.

“It’s really cool to be a part of a project that can impact people’s lives,” said Reiber, a first-year master’s student working on her degree in speech language pathology.

Blaiser says it’s about setting the bar high for kids with hearing loss and providing families with the tools to soar over it.

“If we can give support early on, they can do anything they want,” Blaiser said.

Chris Gabettas

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Mechanical Engineering Takes on Task of Creating New Augmented Reality System for Communicating with Robots A team of Idaho State University students and faculty has one year to create a system that will enable programmers wearing augmented reality glasses to communicate directly with robots.

There are seven ISU undergraduate students, three graduate students and two mechanical engineering faculty who are working with the robotic systems integration company House of Design in Nampa to design and develop an augmented reality platform for robotic systems design and interaction.

The project started in January, funded by a $162,606 grant from the Idaho Global

Entrepreneurial Mission (IGEM) Council, which is administered by the Idaho Department of Commerce. They have until the end of 2019 to get the project done.

“The project has to be finished and we have to deliver to House of Design by December,” said Alba Perez, co-principal investigator, ISU associate professor and chair of mechanical engineering. “The system we’re creating will have to integrate with the HoloLens (augmented reality glasses created by Microsoft) so users will be able to communicate with the robots to send and receive information. We have to make the programming and the setup very natural and easy.”

Omid Heidari, a Ph.D. student from Iran who is working on the project, said 12 people involved with the study have been divided in four groups to focus on different aspects of the project. There are two major challenges, managing people and creating new knowledge.

“We need every group to do their task on time and hit deadlines. That’s one part of it, ”Heidari said. “The other part is the technology is new and we need to do a lot of research. Everyone has to do a lot of research. Then we decide for each step of the project what we need to do and what should be done.”

The grant’s other principal investigator is Mechanical Engineering Professor Marco Schoen in the College of Science and Engineering. ISU will work with House of Design CEO Shane Dittrich. They’ll be

From left, students Amevi Semodji, Carl Crome, Michael Kelley, Omid Heidari (also seen on opposite page), George W Loyd, Professor Marco Schoen, students Shovan Chowdhury, Taher Deemyad, Matthew Hessler, Mohammed Almatrook, Kenneth Stone and Assistant Professor Alba Perez Gracia.

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completing the work at ISU’s Measurement and Control Engineering Research Center.

An industrial robot worth about $35,000 is being provided to ISU for the project by House of Design. House of Design does custom automation of robots that are used in industrial settings.

Students working on the project expressed their enthusiasm.

“I think it is cool,” said Michael Kelly, a senior mechanical engineering student from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. “I think this is something that people haven’t even done professionally, so to be able to get to do it on the educational side of things is even cooler. They don’t even have the virtual reality interaction with the robots, yet.”

Shovan Chowdhury, a master’s mechanical engineering student from Bangladesh, came to ISU just to work on this project.

“I am really interested in this project because this augmented reality is a new topic that no one else is doing big research

on,” Chowdhury said. “We can start a big thing and it will be great and there may be many more opportunities that come in the future because of this project.”

Perez said she envisions a programmer wearing Microsoft Hololens augmented reality glasses will be able to see the real world, but then when they’re within a certain distance they can communicate wirelessly with the robot. The augmented reality glasses may feature menus off to the side that programmers can see and then select options. It is possible the augmented reality system could use voice commands for communications between the programmers and the robots.

vative Company of the Year in Idaho, Perez said. This project has grown out of ISU’s expertise in developing a virtual reality system to assist with arm rehabilitation and Heidari’s internship with House of Design.

“We expect House of Design to benefit from having a very natural application to interact with the robots,” Heidari said.

“Looking at the future, applications in augmented reality may expand to many activities in industry, health care and the environment in which robotics may also be involved” Andrew Taylor

Robotic systems are being deployed more and more in many industrial processes, and House of Design is a leader company in this field, which was named 2017 Inno-

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A Larger-than-Life Project Researchers Receive Grant to Digitally Collect 50 of the World’s Largest Animals and Scan an Entire Blue Whale Skeleton Idaho State University’s Idaho Virtualization Laboratory in the Idaho Museum of Natural History has been tasked to digitally collect the skeletons of 50 of the largest animals in the world, from marine mammals to giraffes, about anything bigger than a cow.

Technicians from the museum’s Idaho Virtualization Laboratory, which received a $175,000 grant from the National Science Foundation in August, will travel to the University of California, Berkeley, California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco and the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology in Boston over two years to make 3D scans of hippos, elephants, rhinos, marine mammals, fish and other large animals.

The Idaho Virtualization Laboratory also received a $20,000 grant in January from the Noyo Marine Science Center in Briggs, California, to scan the entire skeleton of a blue whale that washed ashore in California.

“The bigger part of the project that we are part of is this nationwide effort by the National Science Foundation to scan all of the vertebrate animals,” said Leif Tapanila, director of the Idaho Museum of Natural History. “This is a monstrous task.

Ultimately, they want to have a digital version of every animal on the planet. Let’s just deal with the vertebrate animals like mammals, reptiles and fish — there are thousands of species right there.”

Leif Tapanila, left, and Jesse Pruitt

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Jesse Pruitt working with a scanner Until recently, only smaller animals were able to be scanned with the tools that were available, CT and MRI scanners. Whole animals were put through the scanners, but there was a limitation on the size.

“All the large animals that you know of that are in a zoo, you can’t pack many of those into a scanner, let alone there aren’t any of those in collections,” Tapanila said. “If we have big animals we have their bones. So that is where we come in. We’ve been scanning bones for a long time and we have the technology and we know how to do it, so the NSF funded us to scan the 50 largest terrestrial animals.”

The Idaho Museum of Natural History’s efforts will be led by Jesse Pruitt, Idaho Virtualization Laboratory manager and technology specialist, who will oversee teams of ISU students who will use laser scanners to make 3D digital models of all the bones of 50 different large animals. The ISU students working on this project in the field and in the Idaho Virtualization Laboratory include graduate students and undergraduate Career Path Interns.

“This fits in overall with what we’ve done before and it is a continuation of that niche that we are filling right now in the nation as being able to scan at this level of quality and to deal with this kind of a task. No one else in the country, outside of the Smithsonian, could do this kind of work at this scale,” Tapanila said.

Scanning every bone of each of these species will be a painstaking process.

“Quite literally, working with curators and collection managers at the museums, we have to haul out every bone from cabinets, put it on a table, scan the surface, and rotate it and scan every other

surface, and then put it all together,” Tapanila said. “We do this for every bone.”

Once the bones are scanned, their digital representations will be posted to a public website where they can be viewed.

“The major reason the NSF feels it is important to create this database of life is for researchers as end users,” Tapanila said, “but I am more excited about what we’ll be able to do with all these digital products on the educational sides and with exhibits. I can imagine a future where we are making whole new exhibits off this fundamental data.”

He presented an example of how the digital bones could be used. An entity, like the Idaho Museum of Natural History could use 3D printers to print of bones from a variety of animals so people could compare them.

“Imagine, you’ll have the flipper of a whale and wing of a bat and have the hand of a frog,” Tapanila said. “You could maybe blow up the wing of the bat and shrink the size of the whale flipper, so now you can see that wrist bone in the whale is the same as that wrist bone of the bat, so you can see that it is the same equipment that underlines what a mammal is – we are just adapted different for the different functions that we need for environments.

That is pretty cool. We are kind of getting to the building blocks and connectedness of life.”

Tapanila described ISU’s big-animal scanning project as a module in the National Science Foundation’s umbrella program, Open Vertebrate (oVert) Thematic Collections Network (TCN) that has a goal of scanning more than 20,000 smaller vertebrate specimens. ISU received the grant from the NSF Partner to Existing Networks program.

The co-principal investigator in this project is David Blackburn, of the University of Florida and Florida Museum of Natural History, who is leading the NSF’s oVert efforts.

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The Adventure of

A Life’s Work When you are doing research in one of the most remote, least populated and largest wild areas left of the planet, it can help to take a baby or two along.

That is one of the discoveries, and part of her many adventures, that Idaho State University anthropology Professor and Chair Katherine Reedy has made after conducting research for more than 20 years in Aleut villages located along the nearly 1,200-mile-long chain of Aleutian Islands that stretch westward from mainland Alaska toward the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia.

Reedy, an Idaho native who earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin and her master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, England, first started completing research in the Aleutians in 1995 as volunteer, and has been taking trips to the region annually ever since, “except years when I was having babies.”

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Those babies, Alex and Gus, now age 17 and 13 respectively, proved to be a boon in her interactions with indigenous Aleuts who she has interviewed for a variety of studies.

“When I first went up there I didn’t have kids, and then when I started having kids it seemed like the people in the villages were more interested in my kids than what I was doing,” Reedy said. “One time I was there without them and this woman said, ‘don’t come back unless you bring your kids.’ They love kids.”

Her kids, in turn, have enjoyed their time in the Aleutians exploring, fishing and interacting with resident children.

When visiting, Reedy has benefitted from the generosity of the Aleuts. continued on next page

Research Highlights For the past 24 years while completing both academic and applied research in the Aleutian Islands, Idaho State University’s Katherine Reedy, chair and professor of anthropology, has experienced changing insights into the Aleuts she has worked with.

The focus of her research is community sustainability.

There are 13 major Aleut villages on different islands and Reedy has done research in 11 of them. Every village is different, some have small populations, such as Nikolski, which has about 25 residents, to the largest, Unalaska/Dutch Harbor, what has more than 4,000 residents, although at the latter only about 250 are indigenous Aleuts.

“My visits are usually for weeks, but it depends on the project, depends on who is with me, and depends on the weather,” Reedy said. “I think for Atka it took us two days to get there and four days to get home. That was more than spring break allowed so we had to explain ourselves when we got back.”

Most of the research has been funded by subsistence organizations, like the federal government that sets aside money for doing baseline studies of subsistence activity in these communities. For example, since 2016 she has been funded by a threeyear, $331,126 grant from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the Office of Subsistence Management to study subsistence in communities on the lower Alaska Peninsula.

“But I use those projects to address bigger questions about community sustainability, about in-and-out migration, future fisheries, their engagement with commercial fishing, which is so volatile that you just can’t predict from one year to the next, and now with the climatic effects throwing things off, it makes it even more challenging,” she said.

She also looks at the health of the communities, getting a sense of the overall economic and social well-being of the residents.

“I’ve been doing household interviews in every community and in some cases 100 percent of the households have been interviewed and that’s pretty remarkable for this kind of work and the logistics for doing it,” she said.

These subsistence surveys ask about everything from what kinds of animals households are harvesting annually, from salmon, other fish and sea mammals, to berries, land mammals, birds and eggs. continued on next page SPRING 2019

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Research Highlights continued “We ask about sharing,” she said. “If you get 100 sockeye salmon, what do you do with it? Do you keep it all to yourself? Do you smoke it, jar it, give it away? Where does it go?

We ask who do you share it with and how far so that includes people outside the community, outside in Anchorage or even outside the state and try to track those connections and who is really taking care of who.”

“We try to eat what they are eating and they have been so generous,” she said. “Sometimes we get whatever is in the freezer, because they’ll be trying to fill their freezers for this year so they’ll give us last year’s fish, or there have been cases when they give us a rod and reel and said ‘go down here and you’ll catch some pink salmon’ and we did. They are just so proud of their food that they want us to taste it and experience it.”

Survey also asks about income, expenses and vocations other than subsistence activities.

She has come home with gifts of dried fish, smoked fish, jars of salmon berry jam and other foods.

“These are very expensive communities in which to live,” she said. “A lot of tourists go to Anchorage and get sticker shock, but that is the cheapest part of the whole state. The cost of a gallon of milk and gallon of gas can be about $12 each the further out the chain you go.”

Aleuts eat a lot of salmon, cod and other fish.

Hunters also harvest sea mammals such as sea lion or harbor seals and waterfowl. They also collect a lot of salmon berries and moss berries, the latter which Reedy described as “little hard berries that are really so sour that you have to mix them with a lot of sugar.”

On some islands, the Aleuts hunt caribou and other land mammals.

The span of time she has been visiting the Aleutians gives her a special perspective.

“Returning as often as I do I see a lot of changes,” she said.

“I see kids grow up and consider their futures. Some of them I knew when they were little kids and now they are parents.”

She has found that the Aleut villages and people are more interconnected than she originally thought, something that may have been helped by the Internet and cell phones that are now available.

“Initially I had a sense of isolation, working in the eastern communities, but broadening out in those other communities I do see the connections,” Reedy said. “People are sharing food long, long distances, they are starting relationships long distances and, in some cases, sending their kids into another village because they want them to have different opportunities. There is more of a community rather than an eastern and western difference.”

Reedy has also become aware of some of the effect of climate change on this region. She serves North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee, where climate science is regularly presented and discussed.

Among those issues is the “warm blob,” the scientific term describing a huge warming body of water within the North Pacific that is wide and deep in the water column “that is affecting everything,” from salmon returns and cod and pollock fish populations, to a wide array of subsistence activities.

She has also observed a changing weather pattern. It is “definitely” warmer and there is more storminess in the last 15 or 20 years, Reedy said. She has had multiple summers in recent years in these villages when the weather was “gorgeous the whole time.”

“I took a crew to Sand Point a couple of years ago for spring break and it was sunny and gorgeous the whole time we were there. We didn’t see a drop of rain,” she said. “That is really unusual,” she continued. “It is good for tourists and maybe for people not working there, but for the Aleuts it was nerve wracking. It shouldn’t be so calm and nice at that time of year.”

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The Aleutians are in an extreme environment and Reedy has had some unusual experiences completing her research, a few that are recounted in brief below.

• Volcano explosion. The Aleutian Islands and the Aleutian Range have more than 50 active volcanoes and once, in 2009 when flying in small plane from Anchorage to Unalaska/Dutch Harbor, Reedy witnessed Mount Redoubt erupt.

“We had to refuel in King Salmon to top of off the tank and when we took off, boom, it erupted,” Reedy said. “We had all been looking at it out the windows because it had been puffing. We didn’t really feel anything, but all of sudden, the plume was way up in the sky and we were just all, ‘oh my god,’ and were just freaking out.”

The passengers still managed to take photos, but it was “too close for comfort, and I didn’t feel like we should be there,” she added.

• Scary boat ride. Once, when riding the ferry, Reedy got to experience what the locals call a “roll.”

“They warn you it is possible and you are praying it doesn’t happen and then it happens,” she said. “So we were coming from King Cove around the corner to the big dock in Cold Bay and just the way the water and current runs right there it can do this (holding up her hands, showing a wall and trough of water) so the boat just went on its side. That was terrifying. And I don’t swim.”

• Mobbed by Eagles, and not the Don Henley kind.

Reedy was with a friend in Dutch Harbor and drove to the top of a hilltop offering fine views of the village and ocean and where a lot of immature bald eagles were roosting on the bluff. The two got out of the car to read an interpretive sign about the area’s World War II history.

“The juveniles just started dive-bombing us and we didn’t even know if we had time to even open the door and get into the truck or just dive under the truck,” she said. “The juveniles are the worst. It seems like they have something to prove.”

• The bear and the truck. The villages at the end of the Alaska Peninsula deal with coastal brown bears, which are subspecies of grizzly bears, but only larger. Reedy has had a couple close encounters with them, the most memorable was in King Cove when a person left garbage in truck parked in front of the house she was staying in.

“And this bear came over and was snooping around and could smell the trash and finally figured out where it was – we were watching this whole thing through the window,” Reedy said. “And it got into the trash and was making a mess, and eventually got up on the cab and starting jumping up and down and smashed the whole truck. That was hilarious.”

• Big wind. Once, while she was staying in King Cove, a big storm with “sideways rains” moved in that featured winds strong enough to blow over parked vans, tear the lights off of crabbing boats moored in the bay and blow the roofs off buildings, including the one Reedy had been renting.

“So that day I had gone up to a friend’s house to stay with her daughter while she was traveling and that night the storm hit and blew the roof off the house I’d been staying in,” she said. “People had gone to look for me and they didn’t know I had gone to say with this friend. And I went back to the house, it was just a living room and sky.”

Andrew Taylor

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Creating Cleaner Oceans

Researchers Use Neutron Radiography to Detect Pollution in Sea Sponges A tool for visualizing damage to materials made to withstand the harshest conditions inside a nuclear reactor is now being used to examine some of nature’s more delicate species.

Tiny imperfections in nuclear fuel rods or changes to reactor components caused by the bombardment of radiation can have big impacts on performance and safety.

Few methods exist to detect these problems without destroying the specimen itself.

That’s why, for more than 40 years, nuclear energy researchers have used Idaho National Laboratory’s Neutron Radiography Reactor (NRAD), a 250-kilowatt research reactor, to peer inside nuclear fuel and other reactor components.

Now, after a series of upgrades, this powerful imaging technology can assist researchers in other scientific fields as well.

Idaho State University biology student Amanda Smolinski is collaborating with engineers at NRAD to make images of Dragmacidon lunacharta, a sea sponge that is known to accumulate heavy metals in waters with high levels of pollution.

The images will help Smolinski to learn more about how to find and clean up ocean pollution. In turn, Smolinski’s project will help NRAD establish itself as an imaging capability for a wide range of

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scientific pursuits, from learning about how battery chemistry changes during discharge to exploring the innards of dinosaur bones.

Neutrons Versus X-Rays Neutrons are similar to X-rays in that they penetrate a specimen to create an image of internal structures. But neutrons are different. Instead of interacting with the electrons of an atom, like an X-ray, neutrons interact with the nucleus.

Where X-rays show harder substances

such as bone and teeth, neutron radiography shows the softer components of a specimen, especially substances containing hydrogen. Neutrons interact with these substances in a way that allows researchers to create images of internal soft structures using either traditional film or, now, digital imaging.

Smolinski is using neutron imaging to examine the dried soft tissues of sea sponges for signs of cadmium, a naturally occurring metal that is used in metal manufacturing, the pulp and paper industry, and phosphate fertilizers.

While some sea creatures need trace amounts of cadmium for their metabolism, high levels can be toxic for fish and other ocean wildlife. If researchers could learn more about how sponges absorb cadmium, it could help increase knowledge about how cadmium affects other sea life, where pollution is located, and how to mitigate its effects.

Because D. lunacharta and similar species of sponge are so widespread, they could serve as a useful biomarker to gauge levels of pollution in the world’s oceans, said Smolinski.

“They can be used to classify the type and, hopefully, quantify the amount of pollution in the marine environment from which they are harvested,” Smolinski said.

“I’d like to use that information to create pollution maps.”

The pollution maps could then be used to trace the pollution to its source and help with cleanup efforts.

Creating a Neutron Radiograph To create the images, Smolinski offered her sponge specimens to NRAD, where her husband, Andrew Smolinski, works as a nuclear facility system engineer.

Researchers at NRAD have developed digital neutron radiography and tomography capabilities using digital cameras that are shielded against radiation.

Without digital radiography, taking a full set of film radiographs might take a month or more, and previous generations of computers might take several months to reconstruct a 3D image from hundreds of film images.

Using the new digital cameras and state-of-the-art computers, researcher Dr.

Aaron Craft, an scientist at INL developing advanced neutron imaging systems, recently produced 421 radiographs in four hours, and reconstruction of a 3D image took under an hour.

“This new system allows us to perform neutron tomography in less than a day, which makes it a practical research tool for scientific applications such as this,” Craft said. “It opens up new avenues of collaboration with universities, museums and other research institutions.”

These new capabilities have allowed Amanda Smolinski to explore the anatomy of sea sponges in a way that would be impossible without neutron radiography. Eventually, she hopes to branch out

to other species. One day, she hopes that agencies may even use sea sponges to soak up pollution.

“If the sponges are able to absorb the pollution in appreciable amounts, and if they can keep it locked in their biological structure over the long term, they may end up being useful for the remediation of the pollution we are tracking,” she said.

The early results look promising: After examining neutron radiographs of her sea sponges, she’s found what she believes are cadmium deposits. Next she plans to run similar experiments with sea snails and a different species of sea sponge.

By Cory Hatch for INL Public Affairs and Strategic Initiatives

COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING MATH & SCIENCE

Biological Sciences Chemistry Computer Science Geosciences Health Physics Mathematics and Statistics Physics

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Civil and Environmental Engineering Electrical Engineering Mechanical Engineering Nuclear Engineering

(208) 282-3099 cose@isu.edu • isu.edu/cse

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BUILDING

A TECH FUTUR

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The J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation announced a gift in December of $2 million to the Idaho State University College of Technology capital campaign that will be used for the renovation of the ISU William M. and Karin A. Eames Advanced Technical Education and Innovations Complex.

“We applaud the ISU College of Technology leadership and commitment to providing certificates, credentials and degrees that lead to meaningful employment opportunities for its graduates,” Quarles said. “The foundation believes that ISU’s and College of Technology’s commitment to expanding these types of educational opportunities will pay big dividends to our state.”

He said their foundation is impressed by the College of Technology’s Successful Transitions and Retention Track (START) program. Quarles also went on to say that ISU’s business advisory support, job placement success and its approach to delivering a relevant post-secondary experience that leads to livable wage jobs is commendable.

In February 2017, ISU announced plans approved by the State Board of Education to relocate a number of College of Technology programs into the 150,000-square-foot Eames Complex to meet a growing enrollment. The University plans to make it the premier center for technical education in Idaho and to continue its role as a state-of-the-art research facility.

The complex, located in the ISU Business and Research Park, is named after William M. and Karin A. Eames, longtime College of Technology and ISU supporters, and $2.5-million donors to this facility. With this move, programs that are currently located on various parts of the ISU campus will now be in one location.

Research opportunities continue at the Eames Complex housing state-of-the-art

Success through START Two years ago, Paula Ames was a full-time cake decorator with three children, going through a rough divorce. She had never really even considered college, mostly because the idea of taking math classes was so daunting.

Ames had no idea what she wanted to do for sure, but she knew she wanted to help others. Hoping to change her life, Ames set aside her academic fears, and entered Idaho State University’s START program. There, she found confidence and support.

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ISU Office of Research facilities, including the Center for Archaeology, Materials and Applied Spectroscopy.

The total cost of fully renovating the facility and moving programs is estimated to be about $22 million. Renovations began in June 2017 and are ongoing.

“There’s never been a time in our history quite like this one,” said Scott Rasmussen, dean of the College of TechFirst, the START instructors refreshed her academics. After years of neglect, her math skills were so rusty that a class level was created just for her, and her instructors were persistent in helping her to understand. Her math teacher gave the class his cell phone number, and asked them to call as they were studying if they needed help.

“He just really had a passion for helping others,” Ames said. “START is a life-changing program. It provides support for all areas of a student’s life — academic, emotional and even financial. The teachers and support staff are phenomenal people who care about the whole student.”

That feeling of support is exactly what Cherisse Brown, START program director, hopes to create in her students.

Through START, a semester-long program, participants first meet with a counselor to discuss academic plans, career aspirations, and mental and emotional needs. Then, they take tests to see where they may need academic assistance to

nology. “We are embarking on a new era in the College of Technology. This gift from the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation will be a monumental step forward. As we make our move into the William M. and Karin A. Eames Advanced Technical Education and Innovations Complex, it is a time for great optimism and the opportunity to make a difference in our students’ lives right now.”

College of Technology programs that will initially be moved to the complex include automotive collision repair and refinishing, computerized machining technology, automotive technology, diesel/ on-site power generation technology, computer-aided design drafting technology and welding.

become college-ready, and begin classes.

can’t, because they have been in the same situation.

“We know the top three things that keep people from coming to college are fear, anxiety and hopelessness,” Brown said. “We really just take away that overwhelming sense of fear, so they know they belong here. It’s kind of that warm, fuzzy place.”

Today, Ames has earned her associate degree and is working on a bachelor’s degree.

She hopes to soon work as an advocate for victims of domestic violence. Ames says her life was changed by hard work, caring teachers, and Idaho State University’s START program.

Now, she is a START mentor, who meets regularly with a group of students for peer counseling. START mentors can help provide encouragement in a way others

Ames takes her students on program tours, helps them navigate financial aid, and gives them tips others might not think about.

“We’re the gap between the students and the teachers. We know where all the free food is. We’ve been there. We know what it’s like,” she said. “Sometimes they don’t know what questions to ask. We can help with that.”

Each semester, 30 people are admitted into the START program — last semester there was a waiting list. For those who finish the program with 80 percent attendance, and an 80 percent cumulative grade average, there is a scholarship to further their education, along with ongoing support.

“Once a START student, always a START student,” Brown said. “Our biggest goal is to get them going in the right direction.”

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Idaho State’s “Old Man of Track” Still Truckin’ Lifelong Caribbean Percussionist Discovers Track Still Gives Him a Jolt Past Age 65 If they thought he was old then, what would they think now?

Glynn Osborne was christened and teased as, “the old man of track” during the four years he sprinted for Idaho State University from 1979-83 because he was 28 years old when he arrived in Pocatello and 33 when he graduated. When he competed, he was about 6 to 12 years older than his teammates.

Osborne is a native of St. Kitts, one of two islands of the tiny nation of St. Kitts and Nevis — Alexander Hamilton’s birthplace — in the Caribbean.

After arriving at ISU, he was pretty fast for an old guy. The ISU Athletic Department still lists him in a three-way tie at seventh place on the all-time ISU track records in the 200-meter dash with time of 21.1 seconds.

But that mark isn’t what Osborne remembers most from his ISU track days.

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“The highlight was the 1982 Big Sky indoor championships, our 4x400-meter relay team that qualified to compete in the Indoor NCAA Championships in the Pontiac Silver Dome in Detroit,” he said.

Osborne then took about a 33-year hiatus from track after earning a degree in business administration, majoring in finance and minoring in management and organization from the College of Business.

He stayed in Pocatello for six years after graduating as a “professional student,”

moved to Seattle 1990 and then to Hawaii in 1995, before returning to Pocatello in 2015.

In 2016, Osborne attended a barbecue at the home of James “Byrd” Yizar, a former ISU track athlete who is now assistant director of the ISU Student Success Center. At the time, Osborne was considering competing in the Southeast Idaho Senior Games track and field meet hosted in Pocatello, but didn’t think he was in good enough shape to try it. However, Ivan Moody, a guest at the barbeque and another ISU track alumnus, encouraged him.

“Ivan told me ‘just do it,’ Glynn, and you’ll get hooked on competing,” Osborne said.

Ivan’s words were prescience. Osborne competed in that meet and has competed in many seniors-level events since.

“Most, if not all of us seniors and masters athletes, happily proclaim that to be competing again at our ‘advanced ages’ is happily addicting,” said Osborne, who is now 68. “I’m joyfully intoxicated by the friendly competition and the incredible camaraderie at these meets.”

The Bengal alum has had success at the masters level. Among his top accomplishments are: • He holds the Idaho senior track records set in 2018 for the 65-69 age group in the 50-, 200- and 400-meter runs and in 2018 won four gold medals, in these three events plus the 100-meter dash.

• In the 2018 Huntsman World Senior Games held in St. George, Utah, he finished second in 200-meter sprint with a time of 27.5 seconds in the 65-69 age group.

• At the 2018 USA Track and Field American Masters Meet in Spokane he was on a 4x100-meter “non-club” relay team that set the outdoor record for the 65-plus age-group for the meet

with a time of 50.63, running with Max Siu, Charles Allie and Damien Leake. He also won the bronze in the 400-meter race at this meet, and was coached by Dave Nielsen, former ISU head track coach.

ISU’s “Old Man of Track” just wants to stay healthy – while setting some new age-group world records. The latter is a possibility, if he can stay injury free in 2019 – in 2018 he was ranked as high as No. 3 in the world in 400 meters and in the top-10 in the 200 and 50 meters. He will compete in the USA Senior National Championships in June in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

“I think I can do it,” Osborne said.

Beginning in high school, Osborne has played congas and percussion professionally in bands and managed them.

• Before coming to ISU, he was a science and physical education teacher, a banker and player/manager of the bands Ellie Matt & The GI’s Brass (GI’s is short for Group Impressions) and the Earth Tones in St. Kitts.

• In Pocatello, he played in the Center Street Reggae and Blues Band, which included in its members Anthony Stocks, ISU professor emeritus of anthropology.

• In Seattle, he also played congas and percussions for Jumbalassy, a “worldbeat, soca-reggae-dancehall” band that was the winner of the Northwest Area Music Association best world/ethnic recording in 1992.

• While in Hawaii working as a massage therapist, in 2001 he created a worldbeat band Shaka Jambé, “weaving global rhythms and beats to produce music rooted in its motto: ‘We put a smile on your face and a wiggle in your waist!’”

Among his many other pursuits, Osborne is working on a book with the title “The Ultimate Frontier – Maximizing the Incredible Potential of our Human Minds.”

Andrew Taylor

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Sports Hall of Fame Inducts New Members The Idaho State University Alumni Association inducted seven new members into the Sports Hall of Fame on Oct. 27.

The new members include Eddie Johnson, from Marina Del Rey, California; Shannon Boyle, Pocatello; Joe Moreino, Wakefield, Rhode Island; Andrea Lightfoot-Knecht, Omaha, Nebraska; Natalie Doma Boblit, Corona, California; and Bill and Rosemary Kobus, Idaho Falls.

Eddie Johnson – Football Johnson was an All-American selection in 2001 for punting, First Team All-Big Sky in 2001 and still ranks number two in punting average. Johnson was a team captain in 2002, and was instrumental in leading the Bengals to success.

Shannon Boyle – Soccer Boyle came to ISU to play soccer, and graduated from ISU with a Bachelor of Science Degree in zoology. She currently coaches soccer for the Portneuf Valley Soccer Club, works for the Forest Service and has a small woodworking business to keep her busy during the winter months.

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Joe Moreino – Football

Natalie Doma Boblit – Basketball

Moreino played football at ISU from 1973 to 1977 as a defensive and offensive lineman. After his career was finished at ISU, Moreino was a free agent acquisition by the Dallas Cowboys, and was picked up by the New York Jets for the 1978-79 season where he made the 53-man roster.

The next season he played in Canada for the Saskatchewan Rough Riders. In 1980 he returned to the NFL joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, on their injured reserve until 1982. Following football, Moreino had a career as a firefighter in Providence, Rhode Island, and is now retired.

Originally from Toronto, Canada, who moved to Victoria, British Columbia at age 10, Natalie Doma Boblit came to ISU to play basketball. Her freshman performance was one of the best in school history with a season average of 11.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. She was an All-Big Sky Team selection her sophomore year and a Big Sky All-Tournament Team honor.

Andrea Lightfoot-Knecht – Basketball Lightfoot-Knecht came to ISU to play basketball. She ranks first in ISU history for free throw percentage and three-point field goals made. She also ranks second in ISU history with career points, points per game, career free throws made and career threepoint percentage. She also has several Big Sky records. She graduated with a degree in exercise science.

Bill and Rosemary Kobus Bill and Rosemary Kobus both attended ISU. Bill served as President of the ISU Alumni Association in 2000 and returned in 2008 to serve four years as the office of alumni relations director. Bill and Rosemary have received the ISU President’s Medallion Award and are significant supporters of the ISU Alumni Legacy Scholarship Fund. Bill and Rosemary are supporters of most sports at ISU, and are longtime ISU football and basketball season ticket holders.

Retired Weatherman Steve Cannon is Grateful Steve Cannon’s 42-year career as a newscaster and weatherman for KIDK Eyewitness News 3 in East Idaho began even before he graduated from Idaho State University.

“My career started in the hallway of the communication department at ISU,” said Cannon, an ISU alum who retired March 1. “I was walking down the hall in March of 1977 and my advisor comes out of his office and asks ‘how fast can you get to Idaho Falls?’”

KIDK had called looking for recommendations for a newscaster. Cannon had to call his wife to come down from Idaho Falls to pick him up and drive him back up to Idaho Falls for the interview.

“I interviewed on a Wednesday and that Saturday I was on Channel 3,” said Cannon, who graduated later that spring.

He began as a weekend anchor, became a weekday anchor and then did news and features stories. Then, in August 1978, the station’s meteorologist left for another job.

Because Cannon had taken some meteorology and other science classes, his boss asked him to give weather and meteorology reporting a try.

“It was supposed to be temporary, but it turned into a little longer than temporary,” Cannon said.

The newly retired journalist is an East Idaho native who graduated from Idaho Falls High School and also attended what was then Ricks College and is now Brigham Young University–Idaho. His family has deep, multi-generational roots in this area.

Attending ISU accentuated his love for the region.

“I again reiterate how fortunate I was to spend my entire career in on place, especially a place as good and with as many good people as Eastern Idaho,” he said. “I’ll always be indebted to Idaho State University. I wear orange every chance I get and I’m extremely proud of my connection with the University.”

Overall, he said he “had a ball” during his career at KIDK. “There were tough days, when I interviewed convicted murderers or did other stories that were not much fun, but overall it was great and I owe this part of the world a lot.”

As meteorologist, he spent hours daily gathering all the weather information, not

only current, but any information relevant to forecast. For example, his challenge was to figure out if a storm was gaining or losing strength, and when and where storms would arrive.

Weather forecasting has changed much since the late 1970s.

“Weather forecasting has taken quantum leaps,” Cannon said. “One of the big things is when there was a weather office in town. When I started there was only a forecast office in Boise. When we got a weather office here it was the difference between a skate board and a Rolls Royce.”

As for those who scoff at weathermen’s abilities to accurately predict to weather, Cannon has some replies.

“Ted Williams (the legendary, hall-offame baseball player of the Boston Red Sox known “as the greatest hitter to ever live”) had a lifetime average of .300 so every 10 times at bat he was successful for three of them and every major league manager would sell their soul for one .300 hitter,” Cannon said. “Meteorologically speaking, our batting average is .875 to .900, so we get about 8-3/4 days out of 10 days right.”

Cannon has spent most of the last 42 years working a swing shift, from about 1:30 to 10:30 p.m. Thus, one of the biggest benefits of retiring will be getting to spend evenings with his wife and other family members and friends.

“I had to work when most of the rest of the world could watch,” he said.

Cannon plans to travel a lot and he loves to read, particularly history, and more specifically, the history of the American West.

“Going to ISU was kind of a spur-ofthe-moment decision, but I am glad I did,” he said.

Andrew Taylor

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M E M O R I A M

James Rupp Longtime Idaho State University supporter James M. Rupp, 83, passed away on Dec. 28, 2018, in Minnesota.

Over the years, Rupp donated to the ISU Scholarship Fund, the library and the debate team. He and his wife Sharon were also the main sponsors of the James M. and Sharon E. Rupp Debate Society. The debate society is made of students from ISU who compete in intercollegiate debate and speech communications. Rupp received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the ISU Alumni Association in 1995, and the Professional Achievement Award in 1988.

“Because of Mr. Rupp’s kindness and passion for ISU, in particular the debate program, he changed the path for our debate team and helped them become competitive on a national level,” said Kent Tingey, ISU vice president for university advancement.

Jim was a television and broadcasting industry pioneer who was born on Nov. 7, 1935, in Pocatello to Mahlon Earl and Ila Grace Rupp and was the eldest of four children.

Rupp received his bachelor’s degree from ISU in 1957 and a master’s degree from Ohio State University in 1959. He began his career in broadcasting in 1959 at Arbitron in Maryland, which was one of the first TV/Radio ratings companies. He also worked as the general manager at Cox

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Bill Ryan Communications, Broadcast Division in Atlanta, and president and CEO of Midwest Communications in Minneapolis. Under Rupp’s leadership, WCCO TV and Radio won events for being one of the best stations in the nation. He also initiated one of the first United States satellite teleports through Midwest Cable and was a pioneer in Satellite Music Network.

Rupp also served on the boards of King World Productions, United Video, American Women in Radio and TV, Science Museum of Minnesota and First Trust Company of St. Paul.

According to his daughter, Sandra Rupp, her father began selling newspapers at the age of 9. He was very entrepreneurial, and went on to have his own newspaper subscription business that employed people from three states.

While at ISU he had his own radio show and called himself Jim Sapphire.

He also won a national debate title and majored in debate and oratory studies.

Jim is survived by his wife, Sharon Elaine; daughters, Julene Adell Rupp Dasher (husband Thomas Thomson) of Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Sandra Kay Rupp of Naples, Florida; son, Steven James Rupp (wife Catherine Mary Witt) of Minnetonka, Minnesota; grandchildren, Grant Woodson and Lily Sharon Dasher and Anna Mae, David Steven and Jonathan William Rupp; brother, Douglas Burnham Rupp; sisters, Ila Gail Fogg and Brenda Lee Busacker. Jim was preceded in death by his parents.

A memorial service was held on Saturday, January 19, at Wayzata Country Club in Wayzata, Minnesota.

Bill Ryan, Idaho State University’s first full-time alumni director, passed away March 3 in Arlington, Texas. He was 89.

Although Ryan lived in Texas for the past 41 years, he never forgot his Pocatello roots.

“If you talked with him long enough … eventually the conversation would go back to Pocatello,” said his son, Jim Ryan, adding that his dad often reminisced about growing up there and the people he knew there.

Ryan earned his bachelor’s degree from Idaho State University, where he later served as an assistant professor in the journalism department.

He also spent many years working in the media industry.

Among other positions, he served as the news director at KSEI radio in Pocatello and as a broadcast reporter-editor for United Press International.

The 1947 Pocatello High School graduate’s career actually began his senior year when he served as a writer and announcer for the weekly “Poky Highlights” on KEYY Radio.

While living in Texas, Bill wrote hundreds of columns for the Idaho State Journal, many of which focused on Pocatello’s history.

ALUMNI NEWS 1980s Pam Nicholson, ‘86, a nationally known health care strategy and value-based care expert, who is the former Senior Vice President, Chief Strategy and Health Value Solutions Officer of Denver-based Centura Health, has joined the firm as a Senior Advisor.

Chris Jensen, ‘87, was recently named administrator of the Idaho Division of Building Safety. Jensen served as the southeastern Idaho regional manager at the Division of Building Safety for 10 years prior.

1990s Dave Jeppesen, ‘94, is the new director of Idaho Health and Welfare. Jeppesen is a former executive vice president and chief strategy and innovation officer for Blue Cross of Idaho and a former banker.

Timothy Shane Darrington, ‘95, of Caldwell, was named the new Magistrate Judge for Owyhee County. Darrington began his judicial duties around Jan. 14. Darrington graduated from Idaho State University and obtained his law degree from the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University.

He owned and operated his own private law

practice, focusing on court-appointed criminal defense work in Washington, Payette and Adams counties.

Ann Riedesel, ‘97, has joined the Board of Directors for the American Red Cross.

Riedesel is the communications director for Fluor Idaho. She has 20 years of experience in communications and public relations and has worked with government contractors including Fluor, BNFL Inc. and Eg&G Inc as well as two Idaho businesses: North Wind Group and Portage Inc. Riedesel is the chair of the Idaho Falls Arts Council and previously served as the executive director for the Tautphaus Park Zoological Society. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Idaho State University.

Eric Allred, ’97, was named Preston Rotary Club’s teacher of the month in January. Allred has taught for 21 years at Preston High School. He currently teaches electronics and automated manufacturing.

Kimberly R. Davis, ‘97, education law attorney, has been promoted to partner in the Firm of Udall Shumway PLC. Davis has been with the firm since 2013. She attended Idaho State University where she received her bachelor of science in psychology, a masters of education in special education, and an education

specialist degree in school psychology. Davis received her Juris Doctorate from the Phoenix School of Law in 2012.

2000s Cleve B. Colson, ‘02, was named the new Bingham County Magistrate Judge by the Seventh Judicial District Magistrates Commission. Colson will replace the Honorable Ryan Boyer who recently retired. Colson has served as the Elected Prosecutor for Bingham County, Idaho since 2013.

Burke Davis, ‘04, was named as the new principal at Shelley High School by the Shelley School District. Davis is a Shelley High School graduate and earned his bachelor of science degree from Idaho State University, his master’s of education from American Public University, and is currently working on his education specialist degree from Northwest Nazarene University.

He taught health and history at Shelley High School for nine years and has served as the assistant principal for the last five years.

Shane Hamblin, ‘06, was hired by Zions Bank as a commercial banking relationship manager in its Twin Falls Canyon Park branch.

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Hamblin is responsible for developing and maintaining banking relationships with business and agricultural clients. He has more than 16 years of experience in the banking industry, working primarily with commercial and agriculture clients.

Matt Bruning, ‘06, was promoted to senior vice-president of southern Idaho by Northwest Farm Credit Services, based in the company’s Twin Falls branch.

Terek Beckman, ‘06, is executive director of The Springs Living at Bozeman, which is under construction at Catron and 27th Avenue.

Beckman will oversee all aspects of the new senior community, including independent and assisted living, and memory care.

Scott Stuart, ‘06, has joined Tamarack Grove Engineering (TGE) as director of business operations. He previously served as a leadership coach/speaker with Stonecrest Leadership and as athletic director for West Ada School District.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Eastern Washington University and a master’s degree in athletic administration from Idaho State University.

Chad Williams, ‘08 is the new superintendent at Shelley School District. Williams taught Spanish, math, coached at West Jefferson High School for seven years and spent one year at Butte Junior-Senior High School as assistant principal and activities director.

He was principal at Teton High School for six years and served as Ririe’s principal and superintendent for nine years.

Jessica Lewis, ‘08, has been named to the board of directors at Bingham Memorial Hospital. Lewis is a lifelong Bingham County resident and is currently a Bingham County commissioner. She graduated from Blackfoot High School and earned her bachelor of science degree in political science from Idaho State University.

2000s Williston State College announced Kenley Nebeker, ‘10, as the new regional director for technical programs and training at TrainND. Credit Union 1 promoted Brian Ellis, ‘12, to the position of controller. Ellis was initially hired by the credit union in 2013 as a financial analyst. He was promoted to senior financial analyst in 2016, which is the position he held prior to his promotion to controller.

Previously, Ellis worked as an audit associate for KPMG LLP in Anchorage, and he holds an active CPA license from the State of Alaska.

Zions Bank has hired Scott Bame, ‘16, as a commercial banking relationship manager in its Twin Falls Canyon Park branch after a decade with U.S. Bank.

Retired bull rider Wiley Petersen, ‘16, has assembled the first all-Native American team to compete in the Professional Bull Riders Global Cup USA. He coached a team of eight bull riders — all from different tribes in Montana, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Utah.

Trevor Robason, ‘18, has joined the Nampa office of TO Engineers as a staff surveyor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in surveying and geomatics from Idaho State University and gained experience working for various survey firms from Cascade to Jerome to Denver during his time in college.

Haley Douglas, ‘14, is the Piedmont, California police department’s new parking enforcement officer.

Ryanne Lemon, ‘15, was hired as a physical therapy assistant at Cornerstone Physical Therapy in Sandpoint. Lemon graduated with honors from Idaho State University with an applied science degree in physical therapy assistant as well as a bachelor’s degree in health science. Lemon competed as a varsity athlete in both track and cross country for Washington State University for four years and completed her first Ironman triathlon in 2009.

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isu.edu/tech | (208) 282-2800

ETCH YOUR NAME IN ISU HISTORY In 2017, Marilyn Kent Byrne and Bill Byrne donated the “Valentine� sculpture to ISU in celebration of the role that ISU had in their lives. ISU is honored to build a patio of pavers around the sculpture at the new ISU Alumni and Visitor Center. Join us in celebrating the special people and organizations that made ISU so memorable to you. Commemorative pavers are ideal for alumni, donors, former student-athletes, teams, families and friends to leave a lasting impression, or even a wonderful gift for the special Bengals in your life!

Your donation of $1,000 is tax deductible and all gifts will support the building of the new ISU Alumni and Visitor Center. idahostateu.com/paver SPRING 2019

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