For Rod Gramer, attending the University of Idaho was a pivotal life decision.
Without UI he said he wouldn’t have met his wife nor had the opportunity to study and excel in a field he still loves today.
Gramer is currently president and CEO of Idaho Business for Education, a non-profit group comprised of business heavyweights and state company presidents aimed at improving education in Idaho.
He had not originally planned to attend UI, but visited the university for a journalism workshop while in high school and said he fell in love with the campus. He canceled plans to attend a different university and applied to UI right away.
“I have so many great memories at UI,” Gramer said. “Especially working at the Argonaut – the chance to really learn journalism hands-on.”
Gramer has worked extensively in journalism in Florida, Washington and Idaho and was also once editor-in-chief of The Argonaut. He worked closely with Kenton Bird, the current director of the Department of Journalism and Mass Media.
“I kept journalism as what I wanted to do,” Gramer said. “For lack of a better term, I kept journalism as my practical degree. I always knew that I wanted to be a journalist.”
While working for news outlets in Florida, Gramer and his wife didn’t picture themselves coming back to Idaho so early in Rod’s career. But when the CEO position at IBE became available, they saw it as a chance to come home.
“I’m passionate about education — education is the passport to the American dream for young people,” Gramer said. “Without my education, I would have never been able to do the things I’ve done in my life.”
When visiting campus, Gramer and his wife took their children to the dairy. While the residence hall he once lived in has since been torn down, Gramer said coming back to campus is still important.
“Of course my favorite building on campus is the Administration Building,” Gramer said. “I love that building, and most of my history classes were in that building. I just love the campus.”
Another UI alumnus, Idaho’s Lt. Gov. Brad Little attended UI without much interest in politics. From Emmett, Idaho, Little said he took one political science class for general requirements, but never pictured himself in a high-ranking government position as he is today.
“Where it’s a residential campus, you meet a lot of people,” Little said. “One of my best friends was from Rochester, Minnesota while another was from Rochester, New York. For a kid from Emmett, (being at UI) was a pretty broadening experience.”
Little works with UI students and alumni often and his parents, wife and in-laws and children also attended UI.
“Very seldom do I go somewhere in the state without meeting Vandals,” Little said. “It’s a diverse university, from agriculture to architecture. People that come here from other states are always amazed at the number of Vandal connections.”
Little said his personal connections to UI are eternal and filled with much emotion. He last visited the Moscow campus in Dec. 2012, and said the feelings of being back on the campus of his alma mater are indescribable.
“It’s vastly different,” Little said. “The university tracks the state and place of Idaho.”
Chloe Rambo
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