Boise State is seeing Green: Kustra announces new Associate Vice President position

Boise State President Bob Kustra is seeing green, but not the envious kind.

In a meeting today with the Boise State Green Team — a committee of faculty, administration, community members and students who meet to discuss environmental sustainability and green initiatives both on campus and nationwide, Kustra announced plans to appoint a new position in his office, the associate vice president for Energy Research and Sustainability. Kustra selected Dr. John Gardner to fill the position.

Gardner is the chair of the Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering department at Boise State University. His specialty is modeling and control of complex systems and he has published two textbooks in that area. Over his 20 year academic career he has worked in areas including railroad car dynamics, artificial hearts and robotic dolphins. Gardner is currently director of Boise State’s wind energy research program in the College of Engineering and teaches courses in engineering dynamics, mechatronics and control systems.

The position will report directly to President Kustra.

“He will be reporting directly to me because I’m personally invested. This is something I care very much about.” Kustra said.

Creating this position is not the only steps Boise State is taking towards environmental awareness.  On January 30, 2008 Boise State will host “Focus on the Nation.”

“Focus the Nation” is a national campaign that coordinates teams of faculty and students at over a thousand colleges, universities and schools in the United States, to collaboratively engage in a nationwide, interdisciplinary discussion about “Global Warming Solutions for America”.

Part of the goal of this event is to involve Idaho politicians and business leaders in a discussion about global change. BSU will invite local, state and federal political leaders and candidates for office, including US Senators and members of congress, state

representatives, mayors and city councilors) to come to campus and participate in a non-partisan, round-table discussion of global warming solutions.

BSU will participate in a nation-wide campus vote on the top five national priorities for global warming action. This will produce a campus-endorsed policy agenda for the 2008 elections.

Shannon Morgan

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2. Robert Kustra announced as Boise State’s sixth president
3. Boise State names new vice president for university advancement
4. Kustra picked as university president
5. ‘The turf may be blue, but our campus is green,’ Gardner says