Blaine Eckles, vice provost and dean of student affairs, presented a 2025 Vandal Care report to the University of Idaho Faculty Senate, showing details of the 2,628 different concerns reported on Tuesday, Oct. 7.
The Faculty Senate meets weekly to hear from administrators about policy changes, financial operations and student services to improve the UI campus. Tuesday’s meeting focused heavily on student well-being and academic resources.
The Vandal Care system allows faculty, staff and students to submit reports about students who may need academic, mental or behavioral support.
In the 2024–25 academic year, Eckles said there were 2,628 reports of concern, of which 1,634 were from unique students. The highest number of reports were regarding academic concern, with mental health issues as the second highest.
According to Eckles, the primary colleges the reports come from are the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences, the College of Engineering and the College of Business and Economics. The most common majors are general studies, psychology and criminology.
“[Our] primary goal is to connect students from a case management standpoint with support and assistance,” Eckles said.
Questions were raised to Tim Murphy, the UI Faculty Senate chair, about issues accessing the Inclusive Access program and certain textbooks. Discussion implied that instructors were aware of this issue based on personal experiences. Responses from the administration were not very detailed. The Senate may invite the vendor, VitalSource, to a future Faculty Senate meeting.
Torrey Lawrence, provost and executive vice president, gave the weekly provost report to the faculty with details on strategic plan funding, faculty gatherings and reminders about participation for homecoming week.
Lawrence encouraged the Senate to participate in the campus events for Homecoming week and shared a link to the UI event calendar.
A faculty gathering will take place on Oct. 22, hosted by the College of Graduate Studies to celebrate the 100th anniversary.
The Faculty Senate will meet every Tuesday throughout the fall semester to discuss academic policy and campus-wide events. Meeting agendas and minutes are available through the UI Faculty Senate website.
Scarlet Herway can be reached at [email protected].