A Family You Choose

Boise State University alumna, Lesley Slaton Brown, ’88, communications, returned to campus recently as the keynote speaker of the Boise State Women in Leadership Conference. Brown, who has more than 20 years of experience in the technology industry, serves as the Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer for HP, Inc. We asked her about her thoughts on her time at Boise State, diversity and inclusion in higher education and business, and advice she may give to students today.

When Vikki Pepper Ascuena enrolled at Boise State University in 1971, she was just 17, a graduate of Wendell High School, and the first in her family to go to college. Ascuena paid her tuition with a summer job on the road crew at construction sites “at the ends of the earth.” She came to Boise State unaware of what collegiate culture could be. Boise State Honors College provided that scaffolding.

After 20 years on the frontline fighting wildfires across the nation, Boise State alumnus and men’s rugby coach Matt Dutton was ready for a change. In 2014, Dutton and his family moved to Boise and he took a job in training and development with the National Interagency Fire Center, recruiting and teaching firefighters to become drone pilots in the center’s unmanned aerial systems (UAS) program.

Ada County prosecuting attorney Shawna Dunn reflects on how college debate and an Honors College education helped her attain her childhood dreams.