The Idaho State Board of Education named Dr. David Hahn as the sole finalist in the search for Boise State University’s next president. On Tuesday, Idaho media outlets were invited to meet with Hahn to discuss his candidacy.
Below is a transcript of Dr. David Hahn’s full conversation with Idaho media outlets on June 16, which has been lightly edited for clarity.
Can you talk a little bit about your engineering background and what you are planning to bring to Boise State’s engineering program?
“I went into academia because I love teaching, I love education and you asked about engineering, so I’ll talk about that. You know, engineering is the profession that solves the world’s problems – food and water and energy and healthcare and security – and it’s been a joy to work in that. Even though I’m a dean, I’m still involved in research. I have a laboratory. I just, alongside my colleague, graduated master’s students not that long ago. It’s something that inspires me, and it’s a very happy place for me to help shape research. Boise State has aspiration to become an R1 university, that’s the top tier of research institutions around the nation, and I’m really excited to work with the entire community, the faculty to help shape that, but I also have a lot of insight into where the nation’s going, and I look forward to really using that. So, the engineer in me will help that, but what’s great about being a university president is now the entire campus is there, right? And so you know that’s pulling people from every discipline across Boise State to be part of that research vision, and I look forward to that. I’ll use my engineering experience to help shape a larger vision for the entire campus.
I know people are just excited to get to know you, and they want to know who you are. Talk through your family and what you’re looking forward to about living in Boise.
Thank you for that. First off, I’m really looking forward to living in Boise. I asked [my wife] yesterday, ‘What do you think about Boise?’ and she said, ‘I love it.’ We have three children, but we’re empty nesters, so we now have our little Jack Russell, Terry or Ophelia. We love to hike, we love to explore. I’m here because of the opportunity at Boise State, but it’s not uncoupled that I’m here because of the opportunity in Idaho, and in Boise. It’s a beautiful community. The future here is so bright. I’ve heard many people say it’s a hidden gem that’s not being hidden so much, so I’m ready to dive in. It’s a great place to be.
From five years from now, what would success look like for you?
Let’s go back to research, [in five years from now,] we’ll be an R1 institution. I think we will continue to grow in enrollment, but we have to monitor that, right? We have infrastructure that has to keep up with it, but you know, the pace at which Boise State has grown, your student enrollment is impressive, and we’ll keep that, we’ll manage that nicely. I think the momentum is strong. As the leader of this institution, I look to be engaged with a community. I really look to work with stakeholders across the entire spectrum of not just Boise, but the state of Idaho and even regional areas. I think we’re already making some connections to Idaho National Laboratory, for example. I’m kind of an energy person, and so I think they’re excited to sit out and further an already strong relationship. I’ve worked throughout my career with some of the military institutions, and we have an Air Force base here. I’d love to talk with them, and Micron and all the other companies that are important to this [state]. We’ll build a lot of relationships, so I look to see that. I’m a culture person – I want to see Boise State have everyone on this campus, students, staff and faculty, have pride in where we’re going, the team that we’re building, how we’re doing that together.
Why Boise State? Why here right now?
Yeah, you know, it’s a cliche – the right opportunity at the right time in the right place. I’ve talked a little bit about place and opportunity. You know, I’ve been a dean, and I think I’ve been a very successful dean for almost seven years at a prominent university. That brings attention. Firms reach out. Are you interested in this? Are you interested in this? Every single time, for seven years, I’ve said ‘no,’ except when Boise State called, and I said ‘yes.’ So, why? Because of the momentum that this institution has. It’s a national athletic brand, which is huge, not everyone has that. That brings people together, right? That’s part of the fabric of the community. It’s the potential in a state that is going places. Idaho is going places economically, people are coming here. All of that couples together to look the opportunity [it is] to come to a university that is in such a good place, that’s really what drew me here.
THE ARBITER: You mentioned prioritizing engagement in your presidency. What will student body engagement look like for you, whether that’s with student government, student media or the general student population? How do you see yourself engaging with students?
It’ll be significant. You know, students are what we do. Students drive a university. You are the future. So, you know, I envision having some very formal interactions with student leadership. We’ll set up a regular rhythm for that. I’ll also rely on my team members to help me with that. We have a great team of student success-oriented people on this campus, but direct meetings, you know, I want to work with you. There can also be some informal gatherings as needed. Throughout my entire career, I’ve done what I do for students. We have to be responsive to your interests, and you’ll come to us with needs, with desires, with challenges and we will sit down and constructively work through those things. I’m a big advocate for student safety, so we’ll work on it. We’ll talk about that – what can we do to make the experience on the campus fulfilling from a degree perspective, from an educational perspective, but a great, welcoming, safe environment. So that’s how we’ll approach that.
THE ARBITER: A big conversation at Boise State over the past two years has been DEI policy coming from the state. There’s been changes in our university foundation courses and we’ve had a DEI center on campus close. As president, how would you see yourself navigating these challenges alongside faculty and students?
There’s a lot in that question. First and foremost, you know, I am governed by the laws of Idaho. That’s not a cop-out, that’s just the reality of the situation, so what we will do is continue to work with student leaders to work within the boundaries, the guidelines that we’ve been given, and also make sure we advance a welcoming place. You know, my view on education is that education lifts every single person, so we want to make Boise State as welcoming as possible to every single person from all walks of life to have them come in, take advantage of what we can offer, advance their education and advance their entire life. So we’re going to continue to do that.
As was just mentioned, we have DEI policies from the state coming in. Your resume is rooted in inclusivity, especially with the University of Florida – raising the engineering and aerospace student body female population. How are you going to navigate a state legislature that’s been openly hostile to your predecessors in the past over DEI policies and generally push to make things more inclusive?
You know, again, as I said, state law is going to guide things, but I can give you a very direct answer for that. If one builds a culture, if one builds a sense of a team and [proves that] we are going places, everyone [will want] to be on that team. If we make this an attractive place, then people will come from all over, and those people will represent what society looks like, and they will come and will be a part of this team. We will end up with a fantastic team on this campus – that’s students, that’s staff, and that’s faculty – and we will do that by making this the place that every single person wants to be. That’s how we’ll address that.
How do you envision achieving that with Boise State’s budget problems that have been cropping up over the past couple of years, with fewer resources, colleges being merged, things of that nature?
I think every university in America right now is fiscally constrained. That puts a little bit of an onus on me to be able to manage our resources. You know, I think a lot about what I call opportunity costs, right? That’s a well-known economic principle. If I spend $1 there, I can’t spend $1 there. I’m gonna help to optimize the situation. I’ve got a lot of listening to do to understand, you know, where do we need some shoring up? Where can we trim back? And then once we set out a strategy and a policy, we will implement that. You know, I don’t like to think of winners and losers. What I like to think of is some areas we might be a little more neutral, some we might invest in, but managing the dollars, stewarding the resources – the taxpayers’ dollars that come to this university – is on me now. And you know, engineers are good analysts. We look at the whole system, and I’m pretty good at piecing those pieces together. I have a great team here to work with, so we will optimize a strategy that constrains those resources. There’s one final piece – go out and get more resources, so we will work tirelessly to make people in all corners want to come forward and help this university. Donations, fundraising, philanthropy – we’ll get there.
Where do you see potential for BSU’s growth?
I have a lot to learn there. Some people hear engineering, they think STEM, of course, STEM is a big part of this university’s future, it’s a part of all higher education’s future, you know. If one looks at the National Student Data Clearing House, the largest growth in higher ed enrollment over the last few years has been in engineering, so that will be a part of our strategy, because it’s here to serve the state’s needs and labor force. But, and this is an important one, we will look at this entire campus. We have five academic colleges, and every single one of those colleges is important to our success and provides graduates that are needed in the community. That’s healthcare, that’s nursing, that’s education, that’s teachers, that’s business, that’s journalists. All of those professions that we support, we will invest, and we will grow, so that we provide the workforce. So, again, what’s wonderful about this opportunity is the whole campus is there to piece together strategically and synergistically. Now, each college summed together is bigger than each college alone, and so we’ll continue to bring those pieces together thoughtfully, so that we can provide the opportunity, the educational pathways and do the right thing for this state.
Tying into your extensive background in research and working within institutions, what led you to become more of an administrator and pursue this presidential role?
I showed up at the University of Florida as a bright-eyed assistant professor, and that’s what I focused on, to teach, to be one of the best teachers that I could be, to set up a lab that was mentoring students and doing leading edge research and scholarship. That’s what I did. If you’re successful in one thing, I think everyone in this room knows that opens other doors, and so after working my way up the ranks to full professor, there was an opportunity in my department for the department head, the department chair, and a lot of my colleagues says, ‘David, why don’t you think about that?’ So I did, and I became the department head, and I did that for eight years. And we were a very successful department. We built a culture of excellence, of working together, of teamwork. We advanced the research mission, the education mission. I did that for eight years in a very large department at the University of Florida, and so again, that opens the next doors. Our children got out of the house, and then you start to look. If you’re a department head, you either go back to the faculty, you go up to dean, and so I looked for opportunities. I was a little particular, and so I had my [eyes on] University of Arizona, a great opportunity to be a dean in a college that was great, but could do more. I went there and spent seven years there, and we’ve really accomplished a lot at that university and in the college of engineering and just built an amazing team of people.
David Turnbull alluded to it this morning – the on again, off again search. The law was changed along the way. When did you become a candidate for this job? Did you apply last year, did you apply this year? When did you walk into this?
I will say that I applied last fall. The search was paused. I sat around and waited, and it opened back up this spring. As you noted, they changed some laws here. I reapplied and went from there. So, it’s been a great process.
Would you have been uneasy about having your name out as a candidate as a finalist?
I can’t speak to the whole process and the changes. I’ll say this, and I’m speaking generically, not for me personally. I think for people that are in leadership roles, particularly in academia, where there’s a lot of turbulence right now in higher ed and leadership, stability is very important. I think people are cautious of stepping out to something. I believe that the previous law was [announcing] five finalists, so you know when you think about stepping forward as one of five, even if you’re confident in yourself, and again I’m speaking generally, you know some people say, ‘Oh, well, okay, even if I’m good, I got a one in five chance that maybe I push it to one in four, one in three.’ You worry about what that sends to the team, right? Do people say, ‘Oh, my leader is now looking to leave?’ and so I think those [reasons are] what shapes those things, you know? I’ll leave it at that.
Have you been to The Blue yet? What did you think?
I love it. Let me talk about that for a minute. Everyone knows The Blue, you know? [When I was telling] some of my closer friends this was a possibility, they said ‘oh my god, the blue field.’ It’s brilliant branding, everyone knows that field. When I was here last visit, we went out on the field and I stood on the logo, and it’s amazing. Last night we had a wonderful dinner with the board up in the stadium club, and looked out on the field, it’s really special.”
