In the midst of University of Idaho President Chuck Staben’s possible return to a faculty position, Steven Daley-Laursen — a former interim president — prepares to retire from his current faculty role.
Daley-Laursen graduated from UI with two master’s degrees and a PhD in 1984. After working for a number of different universities in research and administrative roles, Daley-Laursen returned to the UI as Dean of the College of Natural Resources (CNR) in 2002.
Daley-Laursen worked as the CNR dean for seven years before starting the position as interim president of the university.
“When Steve took over as president, the situation got really bad. That’s when we had the Great Recession,” said Doug Baker, a former colleague of Daley-Laursen’s. “The tax receipts in Idaho plummeted, so all the colleges and universities had to take budget cuts. So, the budget he started his presidency with ended up not being the budget he had for his presidency.”
After serving as interim president, Daley-Laursen worked for the vice president of research before ultimately deciding to return to teaching to finish his career.
“I decided three years ago that I wanted to finish my career as a faculty member with the students,” Daley-Laursen said. “In my job as dean and president, I always wanted to be with the students, understand them and have them conversing with me.”
Daley-Laursen said returning as a faculty member after working in the president’s office was a huge benefit to him as well as his colleagues. He said he thinks it will be the same way for Staben, who recently announced he may return to a faculty position at the university.
“Chuck Staben lives across the street from me, and so he and I have had conversations,” Daley-Laursen said. “I’m happy for President Staben, that he will have an opportunity that very few presidents ever have, and that is to take the power of the knowledge and experience you have of the institution and bring it to the advantage of your fellow faculty and students.”
Daley-Laursen said unfortunately, many presidents don’t take advantage of the opportunity to share that knowledge because, according to him, they feel it is a step down the hierarchical ladder. Daley-Laursen, however, does not see it that way. To Daley-Laursen this is not a step down, but rather a step in a different direction.
In his last years working in higher education, Daley-Laursen has prided himself in working directly with the students and fellow faculty members. Both students and faculty members describe him as being extremely sentimental and a great person to be around.
Kayla Bordelon, who currently works at the University of Idaho, worked with Daley-Laursen as a graduate student and as a teaching assistant for his classes.
“I came to Moscow to find a job as a (teaching assistant) and someone told me I should talk to Steve,” Bordelon said. “I was really intimidated because he was president of the university and he had a reputation as a really charismatic leader in the department. He sort of felt like this mystical figure for me, coming in.”
Bordelon said once she got to know Daley-Laursen, she understood he was sentimental and truly cared about his relationships with his students. She said he told her he decorated his office with photos and greeting cards rather than books like other faculty members, because he wanted to keep what was important to him close to his heart.
Currently on the walls of Daley-Laursen’s office, among the photos and artwork, are several items with the Peace Corps logo. After his retirement in May, Daley-Laursen said he’s looking forward to serving in the Peace Corps for two years with his wife.
While he said this is exciting for him and his family, current students and faculty have said Daley-Laursen will certainly be missed in the Moscow community.
“It is beautiful, but also sad to think of him being gone from Moscow for a while,” Bordelon said. “In a way, he is kind of like family to me in Moscow, and it’ll be hard to replace that in my life.”
Brianna Finnegan can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @BriannaFinnega8