Greetings from the College of Business and Economics where we want to help you create your future.
These are certainly interesting times for business and economics. The events that occur in our country, and throughout the world, provide instant case studies for our undergraduate and graduate courses. I wish I could tell you that we have a quick solution that would get things back on track but the complexity of it all creates significant challenges that will require time and structural changes on many fronts before the economy can recover.
In the midst of all this, COBE keeps marching forward. I am now six months into my term as Dean and have enjoyed the challenges and opportunities associated with the position very much. Fall semester was a whirl-wind of activity. In addition to our faculty teaching almost 250 courses to our 3,200 majors, we celebrated the receipt of a $15 million dollar EPSCOR Grant that is shared between Boise State University, the University of Idaho and Idaho State. Professors Sian Mooney and Scott Lowe from the COBE Department of Economics will lead Boise State’s efforts in studying the economic impact of our State’s water resources.
The COBE faculty and staff continue to work together to create scholarly papers that disseminate important new business and economics knowledge and apply existing knowledge in new and creative ways. Our Small Business Development Center, TechHelp, and the TECenter are heavily involved in helping Idaho’s economic development by offering advice and consultation to hundreds small business and startups. The Idaho Council on Economic Education delivered their famous International Economic Summit to 350 high school students in China and over 5,000 Idaho students. Another 75,000 high school students use the ICEE economic summit materials through an arrangement with the U.S. Federal Reserve system.
In January, we launched the COBE Business Research and Economic Development Center to coordinate our funded research and community engagement efforts. This center serves as a one-stop-shop for accessing the many resources available across the College of Business and Economics that we make available to the help private and public center organizations. You can find more out by clicking on the link to this center on the COBE homepage. As part of the launch of this center, we announced the Spring Economic Turnaround Initiative in which COBE has pledged to help 200 organizations this spring through student projects, internships, faculty consulting, and our outreach centers.
I would be remiss if I didn’t update you on the biggest project ever for COBE – the new COBE building that will form the entry point to the campus from its location at the corner of Capitol Blvd. and University Drive (the site of the old University Inn). Fundraising is moving ahead although it is challenging during these difficult economic times. We have $3 million left to reach the Micron Foundation match which expires in December 2009. I am very grateful for the wonderful support we have had from our donor community. Bill Ilett, a 1967 COBE alum and successful Boise area business leader, is chairing our New Building Steering Committee which will work with COBE’s more than 10,000 alumni to finish the fundraising campaign. This fall, we worked closely with Architects and University planners to program the building. The new five-story building will be nearly 100,000 square feet – over twice as big as our current building – and will cost about $35.5 million. It will transform how we teach and how our students learn. We are in the process of setting up a special webpage so you can track the progress of this project.
By reading this message, I know you have already found our website which has recently been revamped and enhanced. This is an ongoing process and we would always welcome your comments and improvement suggestions.
COBE is committed to helping you “Create Your Future.” This is indeed the right place at the right time.
Go Broncos!
Patrick Shannon, COBE Dean
