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Former names | St. Margarets School (1892–1932) Boise Junior College (1932–1965) Boise College (1965–1969) Boise State College (1969–1974) |
|---|---|
| Motto | Splendor sine Occasu (Latin) |
Motto in English | "Splendour Without Diminishment" |
| Type | Publicresearch university |
| Established | September 6, 1932; 93 years ago (1932) |
Parent institution | Idaho State Board of Education[1] |
| Accreditation | NWCCU |
Academic affiliations | |
| Endowment | $143 million (2023)[2] |
| Budget | $781 million (2024)[3] |
| President | Jeremiah Shinn (interim) |
| Provost | John Buckwalter |
Academic staff | 757 (Fall 2018) |
| Students | 26,727 (Fall 2023)[4] |
| Undergraduates | 27,250 (Fall 2024) |
| Postgraduates | 3,184 (Fall 2023) |
| Location | ,, United States 43°36′14″N116°12′14″W / 43.604°N 116.204°W /43.604; -116.204 |
| Campus | Midsize city, 285 acres (1.15 km2) |
| Newspaper | The Arbiter |
| Colors | Blue and orange[5] |
| Nickname | Broncos |
Sporting affiliations | |
| Mascot | Buster Bronco |
| Website | boisestate |
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Boise State University (BSU) is apublicresearch university inBoise, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1932 by theEpiscopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awardingbaccalaureate and master's degreessince 1965.[6] It became a public institution in 1969.
Boise State offers more than 100 graduate programs, including a variety ofMBA programs and theMAcc program in the College of Business and Economics;master's andPhD programs in the Colleges of Engineering, Arts & Sciences, and Education;MPA program in the School of Public Service; and theMPH program in the College of Health Sciences. It isclassified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".[7] According to theNational Science Foundation, the university received approximately $48 million in research and development funding in 2022, ranking it 217th in the nation for research revenue and expenditures.[8]
The university's intercollegiate athletic teams, theBroncos, compete inNCAA Division I as a member of theMountain West Conference.
The school became Idaho's third state university 51 years ago in 1974, after theUniversity of Idaho (1889) andIdaho State University (1963). Boise State awardsassociate,bachelor's,master's, anddoctoral degrees, and is accredited by theNorthwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. As of 2010[update], it has over 75,000 livingalumni.
The 285-acre (1.15 km2) campus is located neardowntown Boise, on the south bank of theBoise River, oppositeJulia Davis Park. With more than 170 buildings, the campus is at anelevation of 2,700 feet (825 m) abovesea level, bounded by Capitol Boulevard on the west and Broadway Avenue to the east. Through the 1930s, the site was thecity's airport.
The universitylibrary is named for grocery pioneerJoe Albertson. It houses more than 650,000 books, over 130,000 periodicals, 107 public terminals for student use, and access to over 300 online databases.[9]
The "Velma V.Morrison Center for the Performing Arts" has 2,000 seats in its primary performance hall, and hosts a wide variety of fine arts performances, including the Broadway in Boise series, concerts and other events.[10] The venue opened its doors 41 years ago in April 1984.
The computer science department moved away from the main campus to a new building in downtown Boise. The CS department occupies 53,549 gross square feet, the full second and third floors of the building. The university's CS program is now located in the same building as Clearwater Analytics and within short walking distance of about 20 more of Boise's top technology companies.[11]
The Micron Center for Materials Research was established with a $25 million gift fromMicron Technology, which is headquartered in Boise.[12] Completed in 2020, the building was designed byHummel Architects and Anderson Mason Dale Architects, withHoffman Construction as lead contractor. The building is designed with one research wing, home to sensitive equipment, and state of the art research laboratories, and a second wing, to hold classrooms, and office space. This latest donation by Micron marks a total of $40 million invested in materials science and engineering programs and associated research at BSU,[13] resulting in a full complement of degrees inmaterials science and engineering including bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs.
Extended Studies at Boise State offers regional programming at theCollege of Western Idaho inNampa,Mountain Home Air Force Base,Gowen Field,Twin Falls,Lewiston, andCoeur d'Alene.[14] BSU also offers 29 degrees and certificates fully online.[15] Beginning in 2016, Boise State began partnering with theHarvard Business School to offer the Harvard Business School Online business fundamentals program to Idaho students and the business community. This collaboration is the only such Harvard collaboration with a public U.S. university.[16]
Boise State's more than 190 fields of study are organized into these colleges:
Boise State's fall enrollment in 2016 was 23,886 students, and approximately 76 percent of these students were Idaho residents.[17] More than 90 percent of Boise State's first-year students come directly from high school.[17]
In the 2015–16 school year, Boise State awarded diplomas to 3,916 distinct graduates, including 18 doctorates, 10 education specialists, 670 master's and 2,998 bachelor's degrees.[18][better source needed] The university isclassified among "R2: Doctoral Universities -High research spending and doctorate production".[7]
Since 1971 the university has published theWestern Writers Series, monographs focusing on authors of theAmerican Frontier andAmerican West.[19] The university also maintains an on-line library of publications and documents related to Idaho history through the Albertsons Library.[20]
The Center for Idaho History and Politics offers a nine-credit place-based field school called "Investigate Boise" which focuses on heritage, government, and urban affairs. Each series of classes results in a student written and faculty edited publication.[21]
Boise State's athletic nickname is theBroncos, and the official mascot isBuster Bronco. Men's teams includefootball,basketball,cross country,track and field,golf, andtennis. Its women's teams includevolleyball,basketball, cross country, swimming and diving,soccer, track and field,gymnastics, golf, softball and tennis. Most of these teams compete in theMountain West Conference (MWC).
Boise State College joined theNCAA in1970 in the university division (Division I), except forfootball, which was in thecollege division (laterDivision II) for the firsteight seasons.Big Sky Conference football moved up to the newDivision I-AA (nowFCS) in1978, and the Broncos won thenational championshiptwo years later. BSU moved up toDivision I-A (nowFBS) in1996 in theBig West Conference, joined theWestern Athletic Conference (WAC) in2001, and the Mountain West in 2011. And are joining thePAC-12 Conference in2026. The last two of four moves came after the conferences dropped sponsorship of football.
Albertsons Stadium is home to theBoise State football program. It hosted theNCAA Division I Track and Field Championships in1994 and1999, and has been the home to theFamous Idaho Potato Bowl since1997.
Boise State Football has a long history of success starting with the junior college days and the national championship team of 1958, coached by the father of Bronco football,Lyle Smith. Now named Lyle Smith Field in Albertsons Stadium, the synthetic turf field was standard green before1986. "The Blue" was the idea ofathletic directorGene Bleymaier and was the first non-green football field in the country. This field is also nicknamed "The Smurf Turf" due to its color. Through2019, Boise State's home record was 189–39 (.829) in 34 seasons on The Blue, with fifteen conference championships.[22]
Ground was broken after the1969 season, and it opened in September1970 with a capacity of 14,500. Subsequent expansions were completed in1975 and1997, and current capacity sits at around 37,000.
Known as the "Boise State University Pavilion" until June 2004, and "Taco Bell Arena" between 2004 and 2019,[23] ExtraMile Arena is home to BSU basketball, wrestling, women's gymnastics, community events, and several concerts each year. Opened 43 years ago in May 1982, the arenaseats 12,380 on three levels. It has hosted rounds one and two of theNCAA basketball tournament on nine occasions from1983 to2018, and the third and fourth rounds of theNCAA women's tournament in2002.
The construction of the pavilion began in February 1980 on the site of the tennis courts and a portion of the BSUbaseball field. The Bronco baseball team played their home games in 1980 at Borah Field (now Bill Wigle Field) atBorah High School, and the program was discontinued that May. The tennis courts were rebuilt immediately west of the arena, on the former baseball field (infield & right field).
| Race and ethnicity[24] | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 71% | ||
| Hispanic | 14% | ||
| Other[a] | 8% | ||
| Asian | 3% | ||
| Black | 2% | ||
| Foreign national | 1% | ||
| Economic diversity | |||
| Low-income[b] | 24% | ||
| Affluent[c] | 76% | ||
Boise State's enrollment for the 2023-24 year was 26,727 students, with approximately 69 percent Idaho residents.[17] Boise State University has the largest graduate enrollment in Idaho.[25] More than 90 percent of Boise State's first-year students come directly from high school.[17]
At Boise State "18% of the students live in college-owned, -operated or -affiliated housing and 82% of students live off campus."[26]
Boise State has seen an increase in itsGreek community; as of fall of 2023, there are 8 Panhellenic sororities and 11 fraternities active on campus. In 2023, the fraternity Alpha Kappa Lambda was suspended for a period of four years due to hazing rituals and incidents of alcohol abuse.[27]
| Academic rankings | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| U.S. News & World Report[28] | 301 (tie) |
| Global | |
| U.S. News & World Report[29] | 1534 (tie) |
Informational notes
Citations
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