Gov. Butch Otter’s STEM Action Center is gradually taking shape, and its board will hold its first meeting later in the month.
However, the center is still in search of an executive director.
The action center’s mission is to coordinate Idaho’s programs in the “STEM” disciplines of science, technology, engineering and math. The 2015 Legislature created the center and appropriated $647,300 in first-year funding. (By contrast, a similar center in Utah received $20 million in first-year funding.)
On Wednesday, Otter announced eight STEM action center board members:
- Jeff Sayer, director, Idaho Department of Commerce.
- Ken Edmunds, director, Idaho Department of Labor.
- Dave Hill, State Board of Education member.
- Tim Corder, special assistant to state superintendent Sherri Ybarra.
- Todd Allen, deputy director, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls.
- Lorna Finman, chief executive officer, LCF Enterprises, Post Falls.
- Dee Mooney, executive director, Micron Foundation, Boise.
- Von Hansen, CEO, AlertSense Inc., Boise.
A ninth member — another industry representative — will be appointed at a later date.
A search for an executive director is “currently under way,” according to an Otter news release issued late Wednesday afternoon.
On repeated occasions — including last week, at a Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce luncheon — Otter said the STEM action center would be up and running by July 1.
