Meet The New COHS Associate Deans

Derek Hiebert: Hello, everyone. Welcome to Bronco Health Talk here. The official podcast of the College of Health Sciences, where we try to focus on all things health sciences and health care and have conversations with a variety of guests. Typically, we like to have faculty from the college here on the show, as well as deans and leadership in the college, which is who we’ll have today, and maybe other guests from the community.

This is Derek here, the marketing and promotions manager for the college, and joining me as co-host is our student media employee, Sam Butler. 

Sam Butler: Thanks for having me.

Derek Hiebert: Yeah, Sam. Sam is in his third year here at the university and in the college as a health studies major. So our guest on the show today, whom we’re really excited about, is our new associate deans. We have Dr. Oaklee Rogers, who is one of our new associate deans. Then we have a new associate dean of research, Dr. Michael Christopher.

So thank you both for being with us on the show. We’d like to spend some time getting to know you today. Then discuss, an issue we see in higher education and how we pursue some solutions when it comes to that issue. Let’s just start out, can you tell us a little bit about your specific role as an associate dean. And what you’re most excited about? 

Oaklee Rogers: Well, thanks so much for having us. We’re very excited. I’m very excited to be here, and I’m sure Mike is as well.

So my name is Oaklee Rogers, one of the new associate deans. I’ve got a large scope that I’m working with, which is very exciting, and it’s continuing to evolve. But I will be working with our community and clinical partnerships. So all of our students, or the majority of our students, will have to complete some kind of an internship or clinical rotation in order to graduate. 

I’m working with our staff and faculty and those students to help them be successful throughout that rotation, and making sure we’ve got our contracts in place. I will also be working with our marketing and communications team, so excited to be here with you and be a part of that team. Also, I have an opportunity to work with our students, where maybe there is a grievance or there is something that they’re not necessarily in agreement with. I like to think of that as student opportunities. And then also helping with some of our accreditation as well. All of our programs have a large work to be done to focus on accreditation, so making sure that they’re successful in helping the college navigate that. 

Derek Hiebert: Great. 

Michael Christopher: Yeah, thanks for having me, Derek and Sam. As you noted, I’m the Associate Dean for Research. So my scope is a little bit more narrow than Oaklee’s, so I’m really focused on all things research.

It’s an exciting time here at Boise State, as we’re seeking R1 at university. This is a classification system that Carnegie puts out. We’re currently in R2 and we’re moving towards R1, which is an intensive research environment. For me, my goal really within the College of Health Sciences is to help support faculty who are already doing wonderful things. We’re securing federal grants, writing tons of papers, presenting it at international conferences, and my goal is the first full-time person in this position is to really help support that as much as I can. 

Sam Butler: What drew you here? Why Boise State? 

Michael Christopher: Yeah, thanks for the question. It’s a great one.

So as I joke around, when I first came for the interview back in March, that was the first time I’ve ever been to Idaho, other than the passing through on my way to Glacier. But I had done my homework, and I was really excited about just so many things at this university. I think one is just the growth overall, at this university, and then two really specifically in terms of research.

There’s such a thriving research infrastructure here, particularly relative to the my previous institution, which is a small private school. So when I did my homework and then came to visit, just to see the amount of resources in place already to help support researchers thrive to me was so exciting. For me at this stage of my career, I’ve had a history of running at an age funded lab for the past 20 years. Really the thing that excites me most now is really just helping support other researchers, junior researchers, PhD students. And again, I think it’s just such a wonderful opportunity to do that here at Boise State. 

Oaklee Rogers: So why Boise State? Well, I’m from Boise. Although I didn’t go here to Boise State, I’ve always been very engaged within the Boise State community, whether it’s athletics or when I was younger going to camps here. Boise State has always had a, you know, a fond place in my heart and also with my family.

Throughout the past 13 years, I’ve been in Phoenix, Arizona. Recently I’ve had my eye on Boise State and also the college because the work that is being done here to produce future health professionals has been remarkable. So I’ve had my eye on it for a while just to see what’s happening. And more recently, I’ve really admired and looked up towards the leadership here within the college and at the university.

There is a lot of momentum happening here at BSU. The fact that Boise State is growing in enrollment and is still able to advance its mission is very desirable at this time in higher education. So being able to come back home and, you know, supporting an institution that I share similar values with and know is working to help promote health and wellness throughout the community and throughout the state was really attractive to me. 

Derek Hiebert: That’s good. Well, it’s really great to have you both here.

You know, as part of the college and doing what you’re doing. I was just thinking, there’s just an incredible amount of work to be done. Both on an administrative level, Oaklee, with the College of Health Sciences growing so much in student enrollment and population. This fall semester, becoming the largest college on campus in terms of student population for the first time. As well, Mike, your work here and how important that is for us to continue to pursue that R1 status as a university is going to be really good. Thank you for just kind of sharing a little bit about your positions and what you’re focusing on and your background.

I wanted to ask in your particular sphere of work, what are the current issues that you see are affecting higher education? Then, maybe how you might see yourself addressing one of those issues at Boise State. What would you say? 

Oaklee Rogers: There’s always a lot of issues that we have to navigate, and I think in particular on what I’m doing is focusing on our community and clinical partnerships. And as I had mentioned, the majority of our students have to complete some kind of clinical rotation to be able to graduate and then pursue their professional journey.

An area that’s of concern is just the limited number of clinical placements of where we can put our students, because there are so many students that we are now enrolling. There’s a limitation in how many our healthcare facilities can accommodate, not only here at BSU where we are having to place students in clinical rotations, but also other institutions in higher education as well. 

So a lot of the institutions are understaffed. They’re not able to accommodate students, or there are too many students to be able to place. We’ve got this really difficult navigation of we need more healthcare providers, but without having more clinical rotations to place those students to train them. We’re not going to be able to meet that need. It’s a matter of how we can think, maybe differently, or how we can really navigate those partnerships to make sure that our students have placements, not only here within the Treasure Valley, but also obviously in rural and underserved communities where there are even more dire needs of having those future healthcare providers. So that’s probably one of the biggest areas of concern that we are seeing.

How am I going to help navigate that? I think it’s a matter of working with our partners to find a win-win. How can we support our clinical and community partners to be able to support our students? Are there ways that maybe we can think creatively so that they could accommodate additional students throughout the year? Is there an opportunity for our students to be placed at some of our clinical sites, where they be able to sign on as a future employee? So I think really working with our community partners to find that beneficial partnership for them and for us is going to be critical. 

Derek Hiebert: Yeah. I think that’s really interesting. That’s helpful to hear.

Mike, I want to get to you in a second, but just maybe to dovetail off that a little bit. Oaklee, we’ve heard for a while about the nursing shortage nationwide as well as here in-state in Idaho. Would you say it sounds like there is a clinical shortage? Because if we’re going to continue to try to meet the demand of nurses or any other healthcare professionals, we definitely need those clinical contexts for them to be adequately trained. Would you say that’s the case? There seems to be a shortage of that, too. 

Oaklee Rogers: Oh, absolutely, yep. It’s a challenge because if we don’t have enough clinical placements, then we can’t have the students go there, or maybe we have to have a smaller cohort size to be able to then be placed. Obviously, we want our students to be successful when they enroll, complete their clinical rotations in a timely manner, and then graduate. So it is challenging when we don’t have enough providers to supervise the students or enough placements, so yeah, absolutely. 

Derek Hiebert: Well, it’s great that you’re in your role, that you are, so you can really work on that. Mike, how would you respond to this? 

Michael Christopher: Yeah, I appreciate the question. From my particular sphere of work, I think probably the biggest challenge right now or the issue that we faced is potential cuts to federal research funding dollars. We’ve always historically benefited from a nice generous funding for things like NIH, DOD, Department of Ed funding. And as you all know, there’s some proposed cuts to those various streams of money on the table.

It does make it a bit challenging, particularly in health sciences, because as a field, we’re on the verge of coming up with things like cures for cancer. And as a field, we do great work with veterans that has been funded historically, looking at treatments, effective treatments for things like PTSD or alcohol substance misuse. And so the hope is, again, is that maybe those cuts won’t be as draconian as being proposed. 

I think for me and my new role here is I’m excited to just sort of take an above the board strategy in terms of just have a diverse portfolio of research grants to which we’re applying. So in addition to those federal dollars, looking for foundation grants, looking for institutional grants, and looking for state grants. Again, we’ve got a wonderful legacy in the college of getting diverse funds of dollars to support the various research endeavors of faculty here in the college. And my hope was to continue to be able to do that. So hopefully that’ll continue. 

Derek Hiebert: That’s great. It sounds like what you’re saying is that because of the federal cuts, it’s going to be that much more of a priority to look for those private funds and those private grants. 

Michael Christopher: Yeah, a bit of both. As I’m telling junior faculty who I’m encouraging working with closely to write federal grants is even though there’s going to potentially be less money. They still have to give it to somebody, so why not us? I think there are, unfortunately, full labs at other universities that rely more on federal dollars who will be struggling or people who have left to go back to the private workforce. Although there might be fewer overall dollars, the competition for those dollars may actually not be that much less. So again, it’s both a sort of an anxiety provoking time, but an exciting time.

And I think being in this role full-time, which is exciting, I want to position our faculty to be in the best possible position they can to secure those federal dollars. So again, all of the above sort of a strategy for securing those research dollars. 

Derek Hiebert: That’s great, yeah, it’s good to hear. So glad for your role and what you’re doing towards that, so. Thank you.

Sam Butler: What’s one thing you’re excited about? Not necessarily this year, it doesn’t even have to be specifically in your scope, but now that you’re here, something you’re looking forward to. 

Michael Christopher: Hate to keep giving back to research, but given that’s what I’m here for. I’m gonna stick with that. I think I’m really most excited about this phase as we’re transitioning to an R1 Carnegie classification. Again, having come from a smaller school, I’ve just been really blown away by the depth of resources here available to support faculty.

And being able to be that liaison with the College of Health Sciences and really help get our folks linked up with some of these wonderful resources. I think as well as the growth in PhD programs here at the university, and within College of Health Sciences. We have an exciting program that we’re working on. I think the opportunity for additional PhD programs, graduate students, more funding for faculty and research and eventually achieving that R1 classification. That’s, as I said, really one of the big things that brought me here and the thing that makes me excited literally every day. I wake up, get out of bed and head into work, is that I’m excited to take part in this process. 

Sam Butler: Do you have a favorite research lab that you’re most interested in here? 

Michael Christopher: Ooh, I don’t want to pick favorites. I mean, that’s tough; they’re all really exciting. 

Sam Butler: Or just not necessarily, you know, a favorite, but one that’s the most interesting. 

Michael Christopher: Yeah, I mean, everyone’s doing a lot of great work, but I will say the Human Performance Lab from the School of Kinesiology. I think just because I walk past every day on my way to go up to my office. But they are really doing just some cutting edge, exciting stuff. I know they’ve got a couple of brand new faculty who have come in, who again, have that history of bringing in federal dollars for their research. So I’m just so excited to see, it’s an area which I’m have an interest as well. The work that they’re doing and looking with an eye towards the future of the cutting edge research that they’ll continue to do.

Derek Hiebert: That’s great. I was gonna say to–prior to this role, I was in the School of Nursing doing a similar role. I had a chance to attend the Western Institute of Nursing conference in actually Portland one year. That’s usually a conference for nurse practitioners or, nursing faculty at PhDs. It’s a high research conference, just high research quality.

And we actually had, it seemed like half a dozen of our bachelor’s degree nursing students, that hadn’t even graduated yet, producing research, bringing their posters, presenting them there alongside a lot of other good research. I was impressed. I was blown away that I think we’re seeing a high caliber of research, especially in our School of Nursing.

That just continues to show, and I’ll say this not just because I work here, but that we do have the top nursing program in the state. It’s not just student enrollment, not just with the clinicals and everything, but also the research quality that we have. So it’s really cool to see that, at least with the nursing program. So Dr. Oaklee, what would you say to that? What’s one thing that you’re, I guess, most excited about? 

Oaklee Rogers: So there’s a lot to be excited about right now. I think there’s so many great opportunities, with us now being the largest college here at Boise State University, is very exciting. There’s real opportunity for us to leverage that growth and thinking about how can we continue to improve what it is that we’re doing.

I just recently had a conversation with one of our divisional deans and thinking how could we offer a program that maybe isn’t the traditional approach. I think there are ways to be innovative as we continue to deliver these different degrees and not necessarily that traditional face-to-face, which is very important. But also, we need to meet students where they’re at. If they’re not able to be here on campus, okay, well then, how can we still help them to accomplish their goals in different ways.

I think what I’m excited about is the opportunity to continue to think differently, to advance our mission, and hopefully help meet the needs of the healthcare workforce. This obviously helps our overall health and wellness throughout Idaho. For us to be able to work together, so think about whether we don’t necessarily have to be siloed within our own professions. But how could we work with nursing, the school of kinesiology, respiratory care, or maybe there are programs that we can help to have some overlap in, so that way we’re not having to duplicate efforts.

So that’s a lot, I’m very excited that there are so many opportunities. I guess in a nutshell, there are so many different opportunities that we have going ahead. It’s an exciting time.

Derek Hiebert: It is, it’s exciting. Well, it’s really exciting to have you both here as part of this. Here’s kind of a final question. It’s probably an easy one, but we’ll see. Being new to Boise for you, Mike, and returning again to Boise, Oaklee, what would you say is your favorite restaurant so far? 

Oaklee Rogers: So I had to think a lot about this because there are a lot of great options. But something that I had thought about, and I keep thinking, well, where do we continue to go back to?

And it’s the Matador. I love Mexican food, and it’s just really good quality. I know there’s one downtown, and then there’s also one in Meridian. But even before we left or when we would come back to visit, it seemed like we would often go there. And just a few weeks ago, their steak and mango tacos were amazing. So shout out to the Matador. 

Sam Butler: We were talking about the Matador while you were walking. 

Oaklee Rogers: Oh really? 

Derek Hiebert: Yeah, three cheers for their happy hour. 

Oaklee Rogers: Yes, for sure. 

Derek Hiebert: So Mike, what about you? 

Michael Christopher: Well, being relatively new, I’ve hit a few restaurants. I haven’t explored as much, and I hope to try a bit more.

Coming from Portland, which is known for its food scene, I will say I have absolutely fallen in love with the restaurants here in Boise. It’s such a thriving, great food scene. There’s just so many different, wonderful places to choose from. If I had to narrow it down to one, I’d say Percy at this point. I really like their food. I like their sort of local farm to table type thing. I like the open kitchen. I love it, but I will say Matador is definitely next on my list. I haven’t been there yet, so I will definitely check it out. 

Derek Hiebert: That’s great, you know, yeah, Percy is a great place. And I’ve been there a couple of times. I’ve enjoyed it.

I don’t know, Sam, have you been to Percy yet? 

Sam Butler: Yes. Yeah, once. 

Derek Hiebert: It’s a good spot. Well, thank you both for this. This is really kind of you to join us. We’re so thankful to have you on our team here in the college and doing the work that you’re doing.

And it’s been enjoyable to have this conversation with you. And thanks everyone for listening in to Bronco Health Talk. We’ll see you next time.