EITC now officially College of Eastern Idaho
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IDAHO FALLS — The College of Eastern Idaho is officially up and running after hosting its first board meeting Monday evening.
Eastern Idaho Technical College is now a community college offering an associate of arts degree, and in January an associate of science degree. The college will continue its technical programs. The board meeting commemorated the school’s official name being in effect.
Voters approved the measure of a community college district May 16 with 71 percent in favor. The college district will provide funding for the university.
The State Board of Education appointed a board of trustees with Park Price as the chairman and Stephanie Mickelson as the vice-chairman.
Other members of the board are Calvin Ozaki, Craig Miller and Carrie Scheid.
Todd Wightman, spokesman for CEI, has been an EITC employee for 17 years. He said the transition was always the administration’s plan.
“It’s always been the goal to be true comprehensive community college,” Wightman said. “After 17 years here we are goal accomplished. We are now officially a community college as of yesterday and now we can move forward in another way. I’m excited to be a part of that.”
With a new name and expanded offerings came a new logo. The new logo for CEI will be similar to that of EITC’s logo in color and theme. It shows three blue mountains with a rising sun, which represents a new dawn.
School is set to open Aug. 21, which falls on the same day as the solar eclipse, but to avoid eclipse issues, the first day of classes will be Aug. 22.
CEI will be offering anywhere from 20 to 40 general education classes. It will be using its adjunct faculty to teach classes as well as adjunct faculty from the College of Southern Idaho’s Idaho Falls center.
Wightman said they are grateful for the community’s support during this exciting time.
“It’s going to open up the doors to a lot of people here in eastern Idaho that normally wouldn’t go on to college and it will be much more affordable,” Wightman said.