An Educational "Space Race": Idaho's Future Vision Shared in Inaugural Address

University of Idaho President Duane Nellis spoke passionately about current reality and future hope for Idaho's flagship institution and the state during his inaugural address today at the university's main campus in Moscow. Idaho Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter, Moscow Mayor Nancy Chaney, University Board of Regents President Paul Agidius, institution representatives and others brought greetings to Nellis and the university.

Speaking to an audience in the ASUI-Kibbie Activity Center, with dignitaries, colleagues, family, friends and others looking on, Nellis emphasized the need for the university to be more innovative and entrepreneurial in the face of global competition for American knowledge, diminishing domestic support for educational funding and a nationwide increase in the college dropout rate.

"This is our 'space race'," Nellis said, and pledged that the University of Idaho community of faculty, staff, students and administrators will be part of the solution.

"We remain in charge of our own destiny, developing new resources while managing those we have to greater effectiveness and sustainability," Nellis said. "While I will not diminish the consequences of public disinvestment in higher education, I still see our future through very optimistic lenses."

In just 21 years, Nellis said, the world demand for food, water and energy will increase some 30-50 percent and the population will struggle to keep up with the resource needs of that additional two billion people--economically and ecologically.

"This is challenging under any circumstances," Nellis said. "Twenty-one years to solve perhaps the greatest issue we have seen in this generation." But the challenge comes, he cautioned, when federal and state appropriations for fundamental research have stagnated; when the U.S. has the highest college dropout rate of any industrialized nation; and Idaho has the nation's lowest graduation rate.

Nellis said the solution comes from innovation, research and scholarship--just what land-grant universities were established to do."The state of Idaho is our partner and our laboratory, a treasure trove of natural resources and agricultural bounty, of high-tech industry and tourism," said Nellis. "We live at the nexus of many of our world’s most pressing issues – from water usage and policy, to clean energies, to climate change and the environment. We must accelerate our research efforts– and in the process position our state and its people for greater prosperity and a higher quality of life."

Nellis said the university will grow its research enterprise and increase its competitive research funding from its current $100 million annually to $150 million by 2020. Among the areas he identified to emphasize in research are energy, agriculture and the environment; science, technology, engineering and math (STEM); "natural and induced modifications of living systems"; and the transition from wilderness to urbanization.

He praised the university's success in attracting, retaining and graduating students and its "well-deserved national reputation in service-learning, with thousands of students participating in projects here in Moscow, throughout the state and throughout the world." As part of the institution's strategic and innovative direction, it will embark on a comprehensive student success initiative focused on dual-credit programs, online degrees programs and summer programming, in addition to examining and strengthening its academic core to enable students to have the skills needed for life in a rapidly changing society.

The university also will strategically grow its enrollment and focus on access and graduation success for transfer students and underserved populations. By 2020, the University of Idaho system Nellis envisions will have a highly diverse and accomplished student population of more than 16,000 students. He noted that the University of Idaho Foundation continues to attract gifts even through a dire economy; of $8 million in new endowments, 70 percent were for student scholarships.

Nellis said the university's land-grant mission is "alive and well--its calling to be the state's partner in serving the people" as Idaho's flagship research university. But, he said, more can be done to provide research, scholarship and service support to a broad range of individuals and industries in the state. He announced the establishment of a universitywide Outreach and Engagement Council to foster outreach and engagement efforts across the statewide university system and to build stronger ties and connections with the state.

"We will assess our statewide campuses programmatically and by region to ensure our programs meet both the current and future needs of constituents," Nellis said.

Nellis said education helps students' hope become reality, helps dreams come true, and helps a generation meet the promise of the future. He concluded by affirming the University of Idaho's role for the future: "I am committed to the leadership that we can and must provide – for our students, for our state, and for our world."

The Moscow ceremony was video-streamed to the university's statewide centers. A native American drumming circle and special music were woven into the event. Renowned poet Robert Wrigley read a poem called "Idaho" that he wrote for the occasion.