Faculty Want Say On Engineering Program UI Profs, Students Dislike Secrecy On Transfer Of Program To Boise State

Faculty of the University of Idaho want the state Board of Education to include faculty and students on a steering committee to transfer the engineering education program at Boise from Idaho to Boise State University.

The UI Faculty Council on Wednesday unanimously passed the resolution. It also approved a resolution stating it will provide input and expects participation in the statewide role and mission debate the board’s going through.

The engineering transfer steering committee is made of Idaho interim president Thomas Bell, Boise State President Charles Ruch and Rayburn Barton, executive director for the Board of Education. It’s developing a plan to transfer three undergraduate engineering programs at Boise to Boise State’s administration.

The board meeting to consider the transfer is next week, and faculty and students in Moscow and Boise are wary since few specifics have surfaced.

They say the process is too secretive, and issues such as promotion and tenure of faculty, relocation and accreditation need their input.

“I would like to see us focus on the process,” said the sponsor of the motion, Donald Blackketter, associate professor of mechanical engineering. “I think we need to take a stand on how we think students need to be treated and the concerns of faculty in Boise.”

When the steering committee was formed, engineering Dean Richard Jacobsen was named as an information point person for press, faculty and student questions about the transfer. But Jacobsen said he has no information to give out. If there is a plan, no one has filled him in on details, he said.

Faculty opinions may differ on what should happen with engineering education in Boise, but most Idaho faculty members were unified in discontent with how the board is going about it.

“It seems more like a political decision than a well-thought-out decision weighing the costs and benefits,” said law professor Myron Schreck.