President Vailas Inaugural Celebration scheduled Sept. 13-14

The Inaugural Celebration of Idaho State University President Arthur C. Vailas will be held on Sept. 13 and 14 in Pocatello.

The Investiture Ceremony for Vailas will be held at 10 a.m. Sept. 14 in Holt Arena on the ISU Pocatello campus. An all-community barbeque featuring entertainment, academic information and various demonstrations by ISU departments and student groups will be held on the ISU Hutchinson Quadrangle immediately following the Investiture Ceremony.

On Thursday, Sept. 13, at 8 p.m. on the eve of the Investiture Ceremony, there will be an Inauguration Performance by a number of ISU performing arts groups in the Joseph C. and Cheryl H. Jensen Grand Concert Hall in the L.E. and Thelma E. Stephens Performing Arts Center. There will be a limited number of free tickets available for these performances.  

The Idaho State Board of Education named Vailas ISU’s 12th president in February 2006. He assumed the position on July 1, 2006. Vailas was previously vice chancellor of all five University of Houston (UH) System campuses, and vice president for research and intellectual property management at the UH main campus.

Beyond his experience as a higher education administrator, Vailas has been a professor of surgery and kinesiology, a laboratory director, a physiology researcher, a college football player, and a national health-care consultant. He is a native of Manchester, New Hampshire, an avid outdoorsman and the eldest of five sons of Greek immigrants. He is married to Dr. Laura Vailas.