Idaho State University Graduate School’s Year in Review

Recruitment, Enrollment, and Student Funding:

Overall, graduate school applications increased by 3.68%, with a 24.82% rise in admitted applicants. The number of students accepting offers grew by 7.53%, and the percentage of newly enrolled students increased by 6.09%. Graduate school enrollment for fall 2024 also saw a 3% increase compared to the previous year. This success can be partly attributed to partnerships with over a dozen graduate programs to develop recruitment strategies and market-selected programs.

Throughout the summer of 2024, the Graduate School supported over 40 graduate students with $60,000 to persist in their thesis/ dissertation writing efforts or research needs.  Additionally, over $90,000 was provided to 150 graduate students to support conference and research travel in 2024.

Events:

The Idaho State University Research & Creative Works Symposium took place on March 13, 2024, featuring over 140 presentations. This event marked the first collaboration among the Graduate School, the Office for Research, and the Kasiska Division of Health Sciences, allowing both undergraduate and graduate students to share their research in a university-wide forum. The event's success demonstrated the need for such collaborative gatherings, and the next symposium is scheduled for March 19, 2025.

Graduate New Student Orientation was August 13, 2024 (Meridian) and August 17, 2024 (Pocatello). Meridian campus had more than 97 individuals attend the orientation and Pocatello campus had more than 120 new Grad Bengals attend. The second annual Meridian Late Night Social event, held after orientation, saw double the students, staff, and faculty from 2023, who came out for low-key networking and pre-semester socializing.

On November 14, 2024, the ISU celebrated 70 years of its Graduate School and hosted the 8th annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition, featuring 33 presenters.

“From start to finish, all us presenters were treated like royalty, and the competition was run seamlessly (even with such a large group of competitors),” Callan Norby, 2024 3MT First Place Winner, said. “For students in the research sciences, this type of presentation really brings us out of our comfort zones. We are constantly focusing on the fine details of our research, and we typically convey our findings to other researchers in the same field using highly technical language. This event highlights the under-practiced yet essential skill of communicating niche and complicated research to people outside your area of expertise. It seems easy to ‘dumb down your work’ on paper, but after writing many renditions and heavily rehearsing for the presentation, I realized that my professors make it look much easier than it really is.” 

The Graduate School hosted 10 Late Nights/Summer Nights with the Graduate School events throughout the year at various local businesses and locations, including The Union Taproom, The Office Bar, Off The Rails Brewing, The Waterfront at Snake River Landing, Payette Brewing Boise, and the ISU Games Center. Late Nights with the Graduate School is a laid-back networking event for graduate students to connect with staff, faculty, community members, and each other. 

“I was worried about being lonely as a graduate student,” Joseph Do, a Master of Counseling student, said. “I left academics for two years and I was afraid that I would be two years older than others. However, the Late Night events allowed me to have a setting to meet other people from different professions, invite my own friends, and connect with others in similar situations. My biggest excitement for the Late Nights events is being able to step back from my responsibilities and connect with others for just a bit. I don’t have to worry about food or location, just relaxing.” 

Community Service:

In 2024, the staff of the ISU Graduate School dedicated over 72 hours to community service activities, including Leadership Pocatello, ISU’s Indigenous People's Day, the United Way campaign's Hike on Red Hill and Bowling event, and the Food Bank’s Thanksgiving Distribution. Additionally, the 5th Annual Book Drive organized by the ISU Graduate School collected 634 books from more than 60 businesses and individuals, which were then delivered to 18 local elementary schools. Over the past five years, a total of more than 3,100 books have been donated to support these local schools.

For the last community service event of the year, the ISU Graduate School is collecting pet supplies (toys and food) for the Furry Friends Holiday Feast. All donations will be taken to the Pocatello Animal Shelter on December 20, 2024, to help local cats and dogs have a warm and loving holiday season. 

With one year ending, another year is beginning, and the ISU Graduate School continues to look ahead. The State 3MT Competition will be on February 11, 2025, at ISU’s Idaho Falls campus and broadcast via Zoom; graduate students Callan Norby, Arifa Islam Champa, MD Fazle Rabbi, and Dallin Stokes will represent ISU. Additionally, the 2025 Research and Creative Works Symposium is scheduled for March 19, 2025, with submissions opening on January 21, 2025 More information can be found on the Graduate School’s website.