An endowed professorship is a prestigious faculty position permanently funded by a donation. Endowed faculty positions strengthen Boise State, benefit important research and create countless opportunities for students. But who are these endowed professors, and what are their plans for helping students thrive?
Kevin Feris is a biology professor and the inaugural Patrick Cavanaugh Endowed Professor for the School of the Environment. The endowment is attached to the school’s directorship, which Feris has held since its founding in 2023. We sat down with Feris to talk about the School of the Environment, the value of interdisciplinary environmental scholarship and the ways this generous gift will support Boise State students.
Q and A with Kevin Feris
Q: What is the School of the Environment?
A: The School Environment creates a focal point for our communities to engage with the university, and for the university to engage with the local community. It is a place to bring folks together from a variety of different disciplines to address complex problems in the environment and, ideally, doing that in ways that we have not yet done before. It’s a place to engage students and faculty with our local community to directly address problems here in the Treasure Valley — like water scarcity, invasive cheatgrass and wildfire danger — but also in our region and nation.
Q: What is your background with environmental research?
A: I’m a microbial ecologist. I work on the role of microorganisms in controlling or responding to a variety of ecosystems processes. I’ve also worked in biofuel production systems — the creation of fuel from substances found in or made from living organisms — and bioremediation, where we use microbes to clean up heavy metal or petroleum contamination.
Q: Environmental research often takes place in the field. How does the school support that for our students?
A: We know that providing students training in the classroom is very important for expanding their skill base. But we also know that providing students the opportunity to put those new skills into practice is just as important as the classroom-based education.
Our students participate in rangelands and Zena Creek Ranch field schools, where they practice the skills taught in the classroom. They might collect hydrological soil data, practice wildlife restoration and get their hands dirty in the same ecosystems they may work in after graduation.
They also get placed with community partners in internships. Those internships provide practical exposure and opportunities for career awareness and professional networking. Sometimes those are paid, sometimes they’re unpaid. If those of you’re reading this and you want to provide a paid internship for one of our fantastic students, we’d love to hear from you.
Q: Environmental advocate Patrick Cavanaugh made the endowed professorship possible through a generous gift. How will this gift support the School of the Environment?
A: This gift is a very tangible and amazingly generous expression of a belief in the mission and vision of the school. It means we’re pointing ourselves in the right direction. We’re working on the right kinds of problems, we’re engaging the right folks in the community, and we’re providing an opportunity for students and faculty to come out of the university and work with folks in the community.
In a more specific way, the funds will provide an opportunity for students to get a fellowship and work on a project collaboratively with a faculty member and a community partner, addressing a modern-day challenge.
Q: What can we look forward to from the School of the Environment in the future?
A: We will be launching new projects with community partners that will come directly from this gift. That’s something that we’re actively recruiting students and ideas through a proposal process right now. Later this fall, we’ll be announcing the student winners of those awards.
We’ll be hosting the members of the Northwest hub of National Geographic Explorers on campus in February, and that’s a great opportunity to learn about some really fantastic work that’s happening around the globe.
Finally, we have a new professional mentoring initiative that provides opportunities for folks in the community to mentor students and help them get engaged in their future career trajectories in fields like rangeland management, mineral exploration, and so much more. It’s growing very quickly, and we’re actively looking for more folks who want to get to know our students.