Boise State University is proud to announce that Dr. Amanda Ashley, director of the School of the Arts and professor of urban studies, has been named the first Dr. Thomas and Marilyn Beck Endowed Professor in the Arts. 

“I am beyond grateful and excited to see the Dr. Thomas and Marilyn Beck Endowed Professorship emerge to help us fulfill our mission, grow our workforce, to give students across the university a chance to learn to live an artful life, and to help the school become the front door to our university,” Ashley said.

In her role as School of the Arts director, Ashley oversees the operations and programming of the school and its new facility, the Center for the Visual Arts. As a scholar, her areas of research include placemaking and place-belonging, the intersection of arts and planning, the role of arts organizations and anchor institutions, and the nature of systems in interdisciplinary collaboration in higher education. The enhanced position and resources that come with it will enable her to invest in School of the Arts’ students, programs and facilities; hire graduate students; conduct research and attend conferences, and make the school a “cultural anchor” in Boise. 

The School of the Arts is Boise State’s hub for the study, practice, and integration of the arts, both at the university and in the broader community. While arts schools at colleges and universities around the country have experienced declining enrollments, Ashley said the opposite is the case at Boise State, where arts enrollment is on the rise. Currently, the School of the Arts accounts for 23% of the majors in the College of Arts and Sciences, the largest college at Boise State. 

Making the Beck professorship possible was a gift from Marilyn Beck in honor of her late husband, Dr. Thomas Beck. Nearly 50 years ago, the Becks moved to Boise and quickly became a leader in the Boise arts community, taking classes at Boise State from renowned artist and instructor Cheryl Shurtleff, and becoming involved in organizations like the Idaho Commission on the Arts, the Boise Philharmonic and the Boise Art Museum. In endowing the new Beck professorship, Marilyn said she hopes it will advance the School of the Arts’ mission to be a community cultural hub and accelerator for students. Ashley’s vision as director of the school contributed to the decision to name her the first Beck professor. 

“I was very impressed with Amanda Ashley with her plans and desire to reach out into the community. She has a big picture of what the arts can be in our community, and I was interested in helping to provide the resources to fund some of the programs she envisions for the community,” she said. 

Amplifying Marilyn’s gift has been the Faculty Endowment Match Program through Unbridled: The Campaign for Boise State, which allows the Boise State University Foundation to begin awarding funds through the endowed position — and donors like Marilyn to begin seeing the impacts of their gifts — immediately. Launched in October 2023, Unbridled seeks to elevate Boise State through strategic investments in endowed faculty positions, endowed scholarships, and athletics. 

“We are tremendously grateful for Marilyn’s gift. It is a milestone for the School of the Arts that lifts up one of our most talented faculty members,” said Leslie Durham, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “Through the Unbridled campaign’s matching program, Marilyn will see Dr. Ashley thrive in her enhanced position at the helm of the School of the Arts as it continues to take its place as a locus of creativity at Boise State and the communities it serves.”