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Contact: Rob Lohrmeyer, LCSC Faculty Senate President - 208/792-2381; email> rlohrmeyer@lcsc.edu

Faculty Take Their Cause to Boise

On the day Governor Dirk Kempthorne delivered his budget for fiscal year 2003 to a joint session of Idaho's Legislature, approximately 30 faculty members from Lewis-Clark State College (LCSC), the University of Idaho and five other colleges and universities from around the state were at the capitol to advocate for higher education and their schools.

The trips were funded by the Idaho Council of Higher Education Faculty (ICHEF), a group comprised of the sitting faculty senate presidents of their respective institutions. ICHEF's purpose is to keep issues that are important to higher education faculty before the State Board of Education and the legislature. Because lowered state revenues and a flat economy continue to threaten higher education budgets, faculty traveled to Boise from far-flung parts of Idaho on the first day of the legislature's 2002 session.

Brief meetings in hallways and legislators' offices and a luncheon attended by faculty members and approximately 50 legislators were the settings for discussing faculty members' needs, goals and accomplishments. The reality of the tough economic times was reflected in the words of Senator Cecil Ingram (R) Boise. "Hang in there," he said to a group of faculty from LCSC.

A bright moment for LCSC occurred when Representative Frank Bruneel (R) of Lewiston announced to the entire assemblage of his fellow congressional members that Professor of Business Gerald Ramey, one of the LCSC faculty members present in the gallery, is a 2001 Fulbright Scholarship winner. Of the 700 scholarships awarded annually, less than 10% go to faculty at small schools and he is one of the two 2001 winners from Idaho. The prestigious award will allow Ramey to teach in the city of Isai, Romania, for about 5 months starting January 29 of this year.

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