Boise State president outlines student-success gains, LAUNCH growth and says lawsuit defense used non-taxpayer funds

Boise State University President Marlene Tromp told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Jan. 29 that the university has increased LAUNCH program enrollment, reconfigured campus resource centers to emphasize student success, and used non-state funds in defense of a recent lawsuit.

Tromp (correcting published references to her name in the hearing record) said Boise State currently has about 1,300 students enrolled in LAUNCH and that roughly 600 of those students use LAUNCH as their only financial support. She credited the program with expanding access to in-demand fields including nursing, radiologic sciences, computer science and engineering.

Student-success and center reorganizations: Tromp described a multiyear effort to transform campus student-support structures away from narrowly focused centers to broader student-success functions. She told the committee that the institution had previously operated multiple centers (she said “initially we had 8 staff” across relevant programs) and that staff reductions and reorganization followed research into national models for student-success centers. Tromp said the…