Skip to main content

Meet the Advisory Board: Cindy Anson

How long have you served on the Advisory Board?

Cindy Anson in front of a butterfly wings sculpture
Cindy Anson

Not quite a year.

Are you part of any committees? If so, what is your role?

I was part of the By-Laws committee last fall.  While it was as uneventful as you might suppose a by-laws committee to be, it was a great introduction to the purpose and operations of the Advisory Board.

What is your most memorable Osher Institute experience?

After a particularly thought-provoking class, about 8-10 of us who had known each other through other, non-Osher associations decided to go out for lunch to continue “provoking our thoughts.”  It was fun to reconnect and to continue a worthwhile discussion.

Favorite Osher presentation you have attended thus far?

It’s hard to pick one!  Now that I’m walking along the greenbelt just about every day (while keeping my social distance), I have appreciated the class I took on bird song.    I try to remember what I learned about various calls and what they might mean:  Mating?  Territory defense?  Danger warning?  Or just “Here I am!”

Are you a Boise native? If not, where are you originally from?

I’m originally from Iowa and moved to Boise 30+ years ago from Minnesota.

What is your career history?

Until my retirement a couple of years ago, I was in school from the age of five:  K-12, then college, then graduate school, then careers as an administrator at universities.  I worked at Boise State 1988 – 2016.

What hobbies do you enjoy?

I’m a mystery novel buff.  I like all the mystery sub-genres, but these days, the cozier, the better!   That means the mystery is short on gruesome detail and long on puzzle solving.

What are you doing to occupy your time during the stay-at-home order?

I recently read This Tender Land, by William Kent Krueger for my book club.  A wonderful coming of age story that takes place during the 1930s and feels like a cross between Huckleberry Finn and The Wizard of Oz.  It’s beautiful prose with an intriguing plot and hopeful message.

Just before worldwide travel disruptions, my husband and I were in Oaxaca, Mexico.  The picture earlier in this article was taken with my angel (or butterfly) wings on full display with a 2,000-year-old cypress tree in the background.  If you see me at an Osher class, I won’t be able to produce the wings on demand!