College of Idaho professor and Boise resident Diane Raptosh has been selected as Boise’s first Poet Laureate, the city’s Department of Arts & History announced today, Jan. 15.

Raptosh, a professor of English and the Eyck-Berringer Chair at The College of Idaho, is the recipient of a number of honors and awards in the field of poetry and is the author of American Amnesiac (Etruscan Press, 2013) among other works.

College of Idaho juniors Kendra Knighten and Ryan Gibson hope one day to help ease poverty through careers in international development. This summer, the students will get a first-hand look at the challenges and rewards associated with such a career as interns for Partners in Sustainable Development International in the South Asia nation of Bangladesh.

The Davis United World College Scholars Program is the world's largest privately-funded international scholarship program, having supported more than 4,200 students from more than 140 countries at more than 90 American colleges since its founding in 2000. The College of Idaho is a major beneficiary of the program, with 50 international Davis Scholars currently enrolled.

In the newest edition of College of Idaho Insights, the subject of education is tackled by history professor Steve Maughan and political economy professors Kerry Hunter and Jasper LiCalzi.

The interplay between science and religion has been discussed and deliberated for centuries. The debate comes to the Treasure Valley this month as Karl Giberson, one of America’s leading scholars on the creation vs. evolution controversy, delivers the lecture “Are Science and Religion at War?” at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 15 inside Langroise Recital Hall on The College of Idaho campus in Caldwell. The lecture is free and open to the public.

The College of Idaho’s effort to create the Intermountain West’s first endowed chair in Judaic studies took another major step toward its realization with a combined $350,000 gift from the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation and alumnus Ray Neilsen (’88) on Jan. 23. The gifts were announced during the grand opening celebration of the exhibition From Haven to Home: 350 Years of Jewish Life in America, which is showing inside the Langroise Center at C of I through March 19.

The College of Idaho for years has strived to increase awareness and interest in Jewish culture and history throughout Idaho and the West. Those efforts continue this winter as the College hosts From Haven to Home: 350 Years of Jewish Life in America, a traveling exhibition made possible by the American Jewish Historical Society and Jewish American History Month. The exhibition will run from Jan. 9 through March 19 inside the Langroise Center for Performing and Fine Arts on the C of I campus in Caldwell.

The College of Idaho has received $250,000 from the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation in support of the College’s effort to create an endowed chair in Judaic Studies. The gift continues the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation’s long-standing support of the College’s mission of preparing students who thrive and also boosts the school’s effort to create the first endowed Judaic Studies chair in the Intermountain West.

A new library serving as an intellectual commons for The College of Idaho will be built with an estate gift that is one of the most significant in the history of Idaho’s oldest private college. The gift was made by Deborah Cruzen Murray, a former trustee of the College, and her husband Glenn Richard Murray, Jr. C of I President Marv Henberg said planning has begun for the future library, to be named the Cruzen-Murray Library, with the goal of creating a modern facility that promotes learning in all respects.