Experiential Learning

Service. It’s an active word. To serve often means to do something. In the School of Public Service, we bring public service to life through unique experiences in which our students learn how to serve the public through active, experiential learning.

In this issue of Public Interest, we’ll share some of the projects our faculty and students are working on right now that go beyond the traditional classroom. We’ll introduce you to a couple of our exciting Field Schools, we’ll tell you about the Boise State Tree Census (Happy Arbor Day, by the way!), we’ll introduce you to service-minded Boise State students who have been awarded Andrus Scholarships, and we’ll share a program which recently brought former members of Congress to Boise State.

Experiential learning can be messy, challenging and uncomfortable. But we believe that it is an important way to learn, especially when learning about the vexing problems that our students will be working to solve.

To learn more about Experiential Learning in the School of Public Service, check out the Experiential Learning pages on our website.  And if you are so inclined donate to our Experience Fund, which provides resources to allow students to participate in experiential learning opportunities, check out our website.

Thanks for joining us as we serve the public. Working, as always, in the public interest.

Thanks for reading,

Andrew Giacomazzi
Interim Dean, School of Public Service
Boise State University

The Andrus Center has announced five Andrus Scholars for the 2022-2023 academic year: Parker Aiello of California, Brooke Davis of Kuna, Idaho, Garrett Hays of California, Lauren Noeker of Boise and Dallas Smith of Driggs, Idaho.

Andrus Scholars participate in a 10-week, 30-40/hours a week, 6-Credit hours Summer Internship. They receive $6,000 in Scholar funds to help pay for internship credit hours, provide the equivalent to a living wage for hours worked, and any internship-related travel and expenses.

Each year, Young Women and Leadership brings together 9th-12th grade students to hear from inspirational leaders, to grow in their developmental journey, and to network with current and future leaders.

Modeled on the popular Women and Leadership Conference, The 4th annual Young Women and leadership event was hosted Tuesday, March 15, 2022. This year’s keynote speaker was Gabby Lemieux. Ms. Lemieux is a member of the Shoshone Paiute tribe of Duck Valley Indian Reservation and is the first female Native American professional golfer.

Student engagement with Idaho Policy Institute is built on a foundation of experiential learning for all students. Idaho Policy Institute’s research and dedicated courses provide experiential learning opportunities to students across disciplines and at all levels (undergraduate to Ph.D.) at the university. They may be interns, WorkU students, work study students, undergrad or graduate research assistants, or with us in a class.

Our students serve in pivotal research roles in order to gain direct experience to take with them into the workforce. A great example of this in practice is the Master of Public Administration Capstone course. This semester there were 17 students divided into eight project teams. The teams engaged with community partners from the private, public, and nonprofit sectors including Boise State University Sustainability Governance Council, CATCH, COMPASS, deChase Miksis/Treasure Valley YMCA, Downtown Boise Association, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, Idaho Walk Bike Alliance, and Whitewater for Well Water.

In April the Capstone students gave presentations to their community partners at the MPA Capstone Showcase.