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Boise State University is a state university located near downtown Boise, the capital city of Idaho. The college was originally founded in 1932 but with a different name. BSU offers 201 degrees in 190 fields of study - from doctoral programs to technical certificates.

Campus

The campus is nestled along the Boise River, directly across from Julia Davis Park and Downtown Boise. The primary campus covers 175 acres (708,000 m²), and includes more than 170 buildings. *

Bronco Stadium
Bronco Stadium is one of the most high profile structures in the state of Idaho, featuring 30,000 seats. Bronco Stadium is home to BSU football and track and field and has played host to the NCAA Division I Track and Field Championships on several occasions and is home to the MPC Computers Bowl, held every December. Bronco Stadium is better known for its football playing surface, which is blue and the only non green football playing surface in the country. The "smurf turf," as it is commonly known, is now blue Astroplay, which is a turf that looks like and mimics the feel and texture of grass.

Taco Bell Arena
Formerly known as the "Boise State Pavilion", the TBA is home to BSU basketball, wrestling, women's gymnastics, community events and several concerts each year. The arena seats 12,820 people on three levels. The TBA has played host to rounds one and two of the men's NCAA Division I basketball tournament on seven occasions from 1983-2005 and hosted the third and fourth rounds of the NCAA women's Divisoin I basketball tournament in 2002.

Morrison Center
The Velma V. Morrison Center for the Performing Arts has 2,000 seats in its primary performance hall, and hosts a wide variety of fine arts performances, including off-broadway musicals and plays, and a number of concerts and other events.

Albertsons Library
The school's library, named for grocery pioneer and Boise native Joe Albertson is a 200,000 square foot (19,000 m²) facility in the center of the campus. It houses more than 530,000 books, and has 70 public terminals for student use. An extensive library remodel was completed in the mid-1990s.

Student Union Building
The "SUB" brings together an eclectic mix of services under one roof, including the BSU Bookstore, Bronco Gear apparel shop, a bowling alley, arcade, several restaurants, banquet facilities, recreation rentals and other student services. The building is located along University Drive, and is connected to the "SPEC" or Special Events Center. This part of the building houses a smaller auditorium used for community productions - including annual political debates.

Other Campuses

Recently the Canyon County Center in Nampa began operations. This satellite campus facility specializes in applied technology programs as well as some academic and non-credit courses. Additional education centers can be found at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Gowen Field and in Twin Falls.

Life on campus

Housing

The dominant form of school-supported housing is in coed dorms - making up 60% of all accommodations. Units for women make up 12%, for men 10% -- and disabled students 2%. Single student apartments make up 10% of housing, and married apartments round out the final 6%.

The vast majority of Boise State students live off-campus - 92%. There are a total of three fraternities and three sororities on campus. Total pledged population is less than 3%.

Transportation

Parking
Since most students live outside the campus boundary, the majority of transportation to and from campus is by automobile. 90% of all students commute to campus by auto. Students must obtain permits to use most on-campus parking facilities, with the exception of some hourly parking inventory. BSU is served by a parking garage on the west edge of the campus, and a wide variety of surface parking. Plans currently call for additional parking garages to service the growing student population

Alternative methods
ValleyRide operates a bus shuttle on campus, and walking and biking are encouraged. Limited mass-transit options are available, except Boise City's bus system. The city of Boise is serviced by the Boise Airport and the Greyhound Bus service.

Campus events

An active student association provides a large number of activities and programs to engage students outside the classroom. In addition, the school rallies around its popular football program in the fall -- and to a lesser degree, men's basketball during the winter months.

The Gene Harris Jazz Festival is held in the spring, centered around the BSU campus. "Noon Tunes" and SummerFest are held each summer.

Demographics

In 2004, Boise State had 13,345 full-time, and 5,111 part-time students - making it the most attended school in the state of Idaho.

  • 15,189/82% White
  • 996/5.3% Hispanic
  • 488/2.6% Asian-American
  • 251/1.4% African-American
  • 180/1% Native American
  • 1,353/7.4% Unknown

54% of students are female, 46% are male. 91% of all students are Idaho residents.

Colleges

Boise State offers two doctoral degrees, 46 master's, 94 baccalaureate, 29 Associate of Applied Science, 9 associate, and 21 technical certificates.

In 2004 the school awarded six doctorates, 395 master's, 1823 baccalaureate, 403 associate, and 223 certificates -- 2,850 in all.

The school's 190 fields of interest are organized in to 9 colleges:

  • Applied Technology
  • Arts and Sciences
  • Business and Economics
  • Education
  • Engineering
  • Graduate Studies
  • Health Sciences
  • Social Sciences and Public Affairs.
  • Honors

Athletics

Boise State's athletic nickname is the Broncos. BSU fields many different teams in sports. Its men's teams include football, basketball, cross country, track and field, wrestling, golf, and tennis. Its women's teams include volleyball, basketball, cross country, soccer, track and field, gymnastics, golf, skiing and tennis. Most of these teams compete in the Western Athletic Conference. The wrestling team competes in the Pac-10 Conference and the gymnastics team competes in the Western Gymnastics Conference.

In recent years, Boise State has been best known for its football program. The Broncos competed in the Big West Conference from 1996 to 2001 before transitioning into Division I-A later that year. Since 1999, the Broncos have a record of 73-16, winning Big West titles in 1999 and 2000 and WAC titles from 2002 to 2005. Since 2002, Boise State owns an impressive 31-1 record against WAC teams. The team continues to earn Top 25 recognition in the polls, and finished the 2002, 2003 and 2004 seasons in the rankings. On the strength of an undefeated regular season and a 22-game winning streak, the Broncos reached the Top 10 in 2004 and were invited to the Liberty Bowl against Louisville, considered the biggest game in BSU football history (the Broncos lost, 44-40). The Broncos were nationally ranked for the first time in 2005.

Bronco Stadium, which is the host of Bronco home games and the MPC Computers Bowl, is perhaps the most unique stadium in college football, with a distinct BSU-blue Astroturf and orange end zones. BSU is exempt from the NCAA ban on colored surfaces, and the Broncos have enjoyed wide success at home - they are 189-49 all-time in Bronco Stadium, including a 31-game winning streak that concluded in the 2005 postseason with a loss to Boston College in their host bowl.

History

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Boise State University".

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