Jan Boll is a man with a vision of greater interdisciplinary collaboration within University of Idaho faculty and a passion for his students. These qualities named Boll director of Environmental Science, Water Resources and Professional Science Master’s programs Sept. 4 after an internal hiring search.
Boll is the former director of the Water Resources graduate program, which made his new appointment an expansion of previous duties. Boll said the three programs have alot in common, so to him the collaboration made sense.
“All three of these are considered university-wide programs, meaning they are not residing in a specific department or college,” he said. “We draw from many places in the university to put these degree programs together. They’re closely related in a way. Water and the environment have a lot in common.”
Formerly of the Netherlands, Boll received an agricultural and biological doctorate from Cornell University and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in land use planning from the Agricultural University of Wageningen in the Netherlands. Boll joined UI in 1996 as an agricultural and biological engineering professor.
“We are pleased to make this appointment from within our university community,” said Doug Baker, UI provost and executive vice president. “We are fortunate to have Dr. Boll on our staff and utilize his talents in a new leadership position.”
Boll said he feels interdisciplinary collaboration is crucial in these times of reduced funding. He said his is degrees from Wageningen were interdisciplinary, and might be his reason for stressing the idea now.
“Over the one-year to five-year time frame I would like to see that collaboration be more mutual and bring the university to a high level,” Boll said. “This is a big thing I’m working on, trying to put us on the map. It’s a challenge for higher education.”
“He’s worked real hard on the interdisciplinary programs for the university,” said Jon van Gerpen, department head for biological and agricultural engineering in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. “I think they give the students opportunities they don’t always get through the major departments.”
Boll said he oversees nearly 350 students in the three programs. Many of the students are local, but several work in remote field locations. Communication and networking are his self-described passions. As part of this — and to facilitate his advising role — he is making a point of have lunch with students, to get to know them better.
“Dealing with students is a big thing here,” Boll said. “One of the key things is that the students know me and that I know the students.”
Boll also oversees the Professional Science Master’s Program, an integrated environmentally-focused science degree that provides real-world experience through research, professional skills courses and internships rather than a thesis project. The skills courses include business, ethics and writing to give a well-rounded educational background.
“Those (skills courses) are to make them more ready to go straight for a job,” Boll said. “It’s real common right now to have a bachelor’s degree following a master’s. A master’s degree with a thesis is a two-year commitment. This can be done in 18 months or faster. It’s attractive to students who are actually already working professionals.”
Boll said that the program has trained students well in seeing the big picture and application of the science in a real-world environment.
“I think having programs where students are actively engaged is great,” he said. “We want to produce people in the world who can make good decisions. We do that real well.”
Boll said that his long-term goals include a much greater degree of interdepartmental and other collaboration on the university and state levels, especially joint efforts between universities with common goals. He also wants to expand into K-12 education, preparing more students for the college experience, especially in the sciences.
“I’m a networking guy,” Boll said. “This is a dynamic job … an exciting opportunity.”