Boise State University will merge two colleges and close down a third college, in a major restructuring plan announced late Tuesday afternoon.
It’s not immediately clear how many positions will be cut, but one dean has already left the university. It’s also unclear how much money Boise State expects to save with the restructuring.
“While we understand that change can be challenging — and our campus has experienced a lot of it — we are confident that these changes will strengthen our university for the future,” interim President Jeremiah Shinn and interim Provost Zeynep Hansen said in an email to the Boise State campus community, obtained Tuesday afternoon by Idaho EdNews.
The changes come as Boise State, and the rest of Idaho’s higher education system, have already absorbed a 3% budget cut for this year — and could face additional and outsized budget cuts next year. A divided Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Monday voted against reversing some of next year’s cuts — a move that could have yielded Boise State close to $2.7 million.
Saying Boise State is facing “a demanding and uncertain time,” Shinn and Hansen announced two major changes:
A merger. Boise State will fold its College of Education and School of Public Service will become the College of Education and Public Service. Pending State Board of Education approval, the merger will go into effect July 1.
“There are no immediate direct impacts on students, and the new college will present opportunities to enhance the student experience through new academic programs and leveraged resources to support students,” Shinn and Hansen wrote.
The College of Education offers a battery of bachelor’s degrees and undergraduate certificates, as well as master’s and doctoral degrees. The school has deep roots at Boise State, dating back to its founding in 1932. “By fall 1935, (Boise Junior College) offered education programs, with curricula designed to help a student qualify for the Idaho State Board of Education State Elementary Certificate,” according to an archive page on Boise State’s website.
The School of Public Service also offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees, in disciplines such as political science, criminal justice, and public policy and public administration. The school celebrated its 10th anniversary last fall.
On Monday, Boise State announced that School of Public Service Dean Angie Bos will leave the university on July 1. Bos will go to Occidental College in Los Angeles, where she will work as vice president for academic affairs and dean. She has been at Boise State since 2022.
Andrew Finstuen, the interim dean of the College of Education, will serve as interim dean of the merged college,
A “sunsetting.” Boise State will close its College of Innovation and Design. Established in 2015, the college offers 27 programs. In 2023, it served 2,500 students.
The college’s mission was to foster innovation across academic disciplines. Shinn and Hansen said that work will now be dispersed.
“Innovation will remain a priority,” they wrote. “Faculty members who have helped lead success in CID will return or transition to other academic colleges, where they will continue to build on their experience forging transdisciplinary relationships and research experiences. We also intend to develop a new position focused on campus-wide innovation to help carry on the great work that CID started.”
EdNews has asked Boise State for details on how the changes will affect staffing — or the university budget. Details were not immediately available Tuesday afternoon.
In January, Boise State and other colleges and universities were ordered to tell legislative budget-writers how they would absorb 1% and 2% funding cuts for this year and next year. Boise State said it might need to delay faculty hires, in areas such as education, engineering and health sciences. But Boise State did not indicate it was considering merging or closing colleges.
The Senate Monday approved an additional 1% budget cut for this fiscal year, which ends June, and lawmakers are considering 2% cuts for next year.
What Boise State said
Here, in full, is the email sent to the campus community, co-signed by interim President Jeremiah Shinn and interim Provost Zeynep Hansen:
Our university and its leaders continually seek ways to improve our structures and processes so that we may better deliver on our mission, and do so as efficiently as possible. We are announcing two strategic academic realignments that we believe better position Boise State for the future. While we acknowledge that this is a demanding and uncertain time, it also is a time of opportunity and revisioning.
First, the College of Education and the School of Public Service will merge to become the College of Education and Public Service. This change will be effective July 1, 2026, pending State Board of Education approval.
These two colleges have uniquely aligned missions centered around serving our state. They are already co-located and collaborative, and we intend to leverage the strengths of each individual college to create one college that is stronger, more diversified and more sustainable. This integration will utilize each college’s strengths in policy and governance, and faculty expertise in education, public service, and policy. Combining the two will help foster new faculty collaboration around programmatic and research opportunities.
There are no immediate direct impacts on students, and the new college will present opportunities to enhance the student experience through new academic programs and leveraged resources to support students. Moreover, consolidating leadership will reduce administrative costs and allow re-investment into critical areas, such as faculty lines, research centers and institutes, and student programs. These two colleges will be stronger together.
We will engage in this transition in a manner that is thoughtful and collaborative as we move toward forming the new college over the next couple of years. Initial steps will be focused on recalibration of college leadership, merging administrative services and combining budgets.
School of Public Service Dean Angie Bos announced Monday that she has accepted an appointment with Occidental College as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College. We extend our sincere congratulations to Dr. Bos as she begins this exciting new chapter of her career. We are grateful for her student-centered mindset and genuine commitment to SPS and to Boise State University. Her leadership and vision will be part of the foundation of the great work to follow.
We have asked Andrew Finstuen, who currently serves as interim dean of the College of Education, to extend his interim service to facilitate the transition to the new College of Education and Public Service.
He will help guide efforts over the next academic year focused on reviewing the strengths of both colleges, identifying opportunities for alignment, and working collaboratively with the faculty and staff to put in place a new management framework and establish new structures for academic units in areas where it makes sense.
Following these initial steps, there will be continued opportunities for deep engagement with faculty and staff to co-design and integrate the processes, programmatic/academic structures, and solidify the identity of the new college under a permanent dean.
Our second planned strategic academic realignment is related to the College of Innovation and Design (CID). CID was created in 2014 with a focus on innovation and the creation of transdisciplinary academic programs and research. It has been highly successful, with many of these programs — Human-Environment Systems, Vertically Integrated Projects, and Games, Interactive Media and Mobile Technology — already graduated and thriving in areas across campus.
We will be graduating the remaining degree program and academic certificate programs within CID to other academic areas, and sunsetting CID.
Innovation is now part of the fabric of this university, and we are grateful to Dr. Jen Schneider for her thoughtful, and forward-thinking leadership as interim dean of the College of Innovation and Design. She has championed innovation, exemplified partnership, and helped build programs that will continue to serve our students and advance Idaho’s workforce, delivering on all that was originally envisioned for CID.
Innovation will remain a priority. Faculty members who have helped lead success in CID will return or transition to other academic colleges, where they will continue to build on their experience forging transdisciplinary relationships and research experiences. We also intend to develop a new position focused on campus-wide innovation to help carry on the great work that CID started.
More information will be forthcoming as these plans advance. While we understand that change can be challenging — and our campus has experienced a lot of it — we are confident that these changes will strengthen our university for the future.
Thank you for your tremendous work and commitment to Boise State. We look forward to navigating these changes together.
