Idaho State University history

Classes officially began in September 1902.

By 1910, enrollment had reached nearly 300 students, and the academy had purchased four additional city blocks in Pocatello to help meet its growing needs.

The Academy of Idaho was renamed Idaho Technical Institute in 1915.

Almost exactly a century ago, in 1919, the United States exploded in racial violence during the “Red Summer,” in which African Americans were the targets of white supremacist terror throughout the country, resulting in massive casualties and over one thousand deaths.

At this time the institute adopted the Bengal as the school mascot; head football coach Ralph Hutchinson (1920–27) was an alumnus of Princeton, a school with orange and black theme colors and a tiger mascot.

During World War II, Idaho was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program, which offered students a path to a Navy commission. It was renamed again in 1927, this time as the University of Idaho—Southern Branch, and continued as a two-year school, overseen by an executive dean, John R. Nichols.

Nichols decided to leave the college, and named Carl McIntosh, an associate professor of speech, as acting executive dean in January 1947.

McIntosh left ISC in 1959 to become president of Long Beach State College, and was succeeded by Donald E. Walker.

In 1963, ISC was renamed for the fifth and final time to Idaho State University, reflecting its new status as a full four-year public university.

Arthur Vailas, former vice chancellor of the University of Houston System and vice president of the University of Houston in Texas, became president of ISU on July 1, 2006.

Renovation of the ESTEC building began in summer 2007, after the team of ISU's College of Technology, Idaho National Laboratory and Partners for Prosperity received grant funding totaling more than $2.5 million.

Beginning in 2010, a new digital media track was created to complement the existing GIS track.

In 2011, ISU purchased the $3.6 million former Ballard Medical facility and The ISU Research and Innovation in Science and Engineering Complex (RISE) was created.

Vailas announced his retirement from serving as President of ISU on August 9, 2017.

He will continue to serve as President of ISU until his contract expires on June 17, 2018, at which point Kevin Satterlee, who was named as the 13th President of ISU by the Idaho State Board of Education on April 5, 2018, will take over.

Spring 2020 Global Idaho seminar students built a website to explore over a century of experiences and contributions of Japanese Americans of southeastern Idaho, centered on the towns of Pocatello and Blackfoot.