ISU President calls 2022 'a great year to be a Bengal' during Fall address - East Idaho News
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ISU President calls 2022 ‘a great year to be a Bengal’ during Fall address

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POCATELLO — During his annual Fall Address, Idaho State University President Kevin Satterlee spoke about the university’s successes in recent years. He also provided faculty, staff and students with the institution’s new strategic plan.

As Satterlee explained, the new five-part plan will be implemented over the next five years. And even coming off a year lined with success, the university will pursue ways to improve.

“We are going to deliver on our mission of bettering students’ lives through education,” he said.

The plan will see the university refocus on increasing student access and opportunity, strengthening programmatic excellence, cultivating external partnerships, expanding creative and clinical activities and energizing the Bengal community.

This plan, Satterlee said, marks the first time that ISU has outlined its specific goals. And with it, the university will implement a new campus masterplan that goes along with the strategic goals.

“Over the next year,” Satterlee said, “we will transition all of our preexisting project charters to align with this new strategic plan.”

And these goals come on the heels of what was a very productive year, according to Satterlee’s address.

The president listed accomplishments from each of the different programs, including massive projects from the College of Education and College of Pharmacy.

A new pilot program from the College of Education has provided scholarships to about 40 current paraprofessionals. With those scholarships, the pilot students will earn their teaching credentials and help combat the state’s teacher shortage.

The College of Pharmacy recently received a $14 million grant — the largest single donation in the university’s history, Satterlee said — to remodel and rename the college’s facilities.

“We change lives every day,” Satterlee said. “… It has been a great year to be a Bengal.”

The last year also saw ISU undergo reaccreditation.

The Northwest Commission of Colleges and Universities assessed ISU last fall. And not only was the accreditation reaffirmed, the university received two commendations from the commission.

Those commendations, Satterlee said, were for the university’s transparent communication and its culture of inviting, inclusive and student-centric campus community.

“This was a significant team effort that took years of hard work and dedication to achieve,” he said. “Those two commendations are proof of what we’ve accomplished.”

Finally, Satterlee announced ISU’s commitment to limiting its carbon emissions.

“We are a university based on facts, data, knowledge and science,” Satterlee said. “… Today, we are going to move ISU forward on the path of eventually operating in a carbon-neutral, net-zero fashion.”

Over the coming year, Satterlee said, the university will assess its own carbon footprint and create a plan on accomplishing this feat. It will be difficult, he added, “but like so many things it life, if it’s worthwhile we will be able to achieve it.”

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