Erik Anderson, the former director of educational communications for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, has been appointed the new interim director of academic programs in northern Idaho.
Anderson’s new position involves developing different academic programs for the Coeur d’Alene campus, as well as collaborating with local colleges such as North Idaho College and Lewis-Clark State College.

Anderson also helps manage day-to-day operations of the Coeur d’Alene branch campus. He is serving under Larry Branen, the associate president for northern Idaho.
Anderson is in charge of distance and distributive education.

“Distance and distributive education offers courses from a distance via telecommunications,” he said. As the program is already in place, Anderson said he plans to expand it.
He will to be overseeing e-Extension programs.
“E-Extension is a non-credit, community education program for the public,” Anderson said.

While the program is still in the developmental stage, he said is hopeful that they can implement the program in north Idaho.
With his new appointment, Anderson said he has big plans for North Idaho over the next several years.
“There’s a proposal for an ‘education corridor,’ a joint facility with UI, NIC, Boise State University, Idaho State University and LCSC,” he said.
The facility would bring those colleges together in offering different education programs at one location in Coeur d’Alene.

The Coeur d’Alene campus is working on bringing in graduate students from NIC. Since UI offers graduate programs for education, psychology and family and consumer sciences where as NIC cannot, the plan is to integrate graduate students into UI programs so they can earn their degrees there, Anderson said.
LCSC is integrating its students as well, but for different areas of study.

As part of his goals, Anderson said he is hoping to see the proposed branch campus in Sandpoint come to fruition. The project is currently on hold due to funding issues.
He has been instrumental in the past regarding the implementation of several different online and video programs at both the local and national levels.
There is also some potential to collaborate with the Spokane branch of Washington State University, although nothing has been done yet, Anderson said.

He graduated from UI in 1983 with a bachelor’s degree in communications. After earning his master’s degree, also in communications, at the University of Wisconsin, he came back to UI and worked in the Boise office for a year.
Anderson came back to school and earned his doctorate in adult education from UI and had been the director of educational communications from 2001 to 2008.

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