ISU Meridian: Bringing Opportunity to the Treasure Valley

Serving over 1,000 ISU students annually, the campus offers thirty different health sciences pathways that range from two-year associate degrees to multi-year doctoral degrees. Students in the Treasure Valley looking for a comprehensive, affordable education can go to ISU Meridian to pursue the foundation of their future career. 

“ISU Meridian is a unique campus that has continually adapted to meet the needs of our students, our community, and Idaho’s evolving healthcare workforce. Through strong partnerships with West Ada School District, the City of Meridian, Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine, and others, we are creating an environment that supports innovation, collaboration, and exceptional learning while preparing the healthcare professionals our state needs,” said Gabe Bargen, ISU Meridian campus executive director and faculty member since 2010. 

The 200,000 square foot facility known as the Sam and Aline Skaggs Health Science Center resides on Central Drive and is the fruit of decades of aspiration, teamwork, and grit. Teeming with knowledgeable faculty, experienced staff, and students hungry to learn, the center provides on-site and distance learning, as well as research opportunities and state-of-the-art laboratories. Since its inception, almost 3,000 healthcare professionals have received their degrees on the campus. The growth is nearly incomprehensible when envisioning ISU’s first Treasure Valley presence as a handful of students doing clinical rotations in the area. 

Similar to how the ISU Kasiska Division of Health Sciences (KDHS) began with dedicated pharmacy students, ISU Meridian also has pharmacy origins. ISU pharmacy students began doing rotations at Treasure Valley clinics in the early 1970’s. Rotations branched out over the decades to include speech language pathologists and, by 2002, the need for more health sciences programs in southwestern Idaho was apparent and a 6,000 square foot office space south of the local Boise mall was established.

The office space, known then as the ISU Boise Center, was staffed by three people: Chief Academic Officer Robin Dodson, Admissions Representative Ali Crane, and Management Assistant Patty Tryon. Dodson and Tryon have since retired and Crane now serves as the Director of Enrollment and Student Services for the ISU Meridian campus. 

“The room I was in was a broom closet that had been converted into an office,” said Crane. “Within two months we had outgrown the space we were at and moved to the ‘Explorer Campus.’”

The “Explorer Campus,” nicknamed due to its location on Explorer Drive, began as a single building. Health sciences programs expanded to the new campus in droves and a year and a half later, the building next door was also purchased. Health sciences programs not offered in the Treasure Valley before, such as dietetics and the dental residency program, were now available to people in Idaho’s capitol. 

Dodson knew that the Explorer campus wasn’t big enough and looked to find a permanent home for the ISU Meridian campus. He had four goals in mind when looking for a facility: provide access to health sciences education for working adults who couldn’t move to Pocatello, build clinics with low-cost services for individuals who couldn’t afford regular emergency room visits, produce graduates who could meet Idaho’s workforce and healthcare needs, and collaborate with the community and healthcare facilities as much as possible. With those goals in mind, Dodson met with former West Ada School District Superintendent Linda Clark in Meridian.

“I met [Clark] in nothing but a vacated warehouse. Standing in the middle of the floor, I looked at this opportunity right in the middle of the valley,” said Dodson. “She asked me ‘What do you think?’ I said I’d give her about half of the building’s cost. She countered and we shook hands.” 

That deal led to the purchase of the ISU Meridian campus building in 2007, with students flooding its halls in 2009. The building houses the Sam and Aline Skaggs Health Science Center and is shared with Renaissance High School and the West Ada District Office. Through this partnership, students in West Ada have access to top-of-the-line health sciences facilities, such as the Treasure Valley Anatomy and Physiology Laboratories (TVAPL), as well as enhanced dual enrollment courses that can lead to an associates degree upon high school graduation. 

“I had the privilege of being one of the first faculty members to move into what is now the Meridian campus after the ALSAM Foundation’s transformational $5 million investment made it possible to renovate the building.” said Tom Wadsworth, dean of the L.S. Skaggs College of Pharmacy and Health Professions. ”The doctor of pharmacy degree became the first academic program housed there. I still remember walking into a building that felt mostly empty with a sense that we were only at the beginning of something much larger.”

Growth is a common trend between ISU and the Treasure Valley. The area has continuously ranked in the top 15 fastest growing places in the United States for a decade. Star and Kuna, both towns with less than 35,000 people in the metro area, grew by almost 15 percent apiece from 2024 to 2025—an increase of over 5000 people in a single year. Bringing needed health sciences education to new and established residents alike closes the gaps in healthcare access that many Idahoans face, especially through continued growth alongside the population. 

“The Meridian campus has evolved at an incredible pace,” said Tom O’Berry, maintenance and operations supervisor for the Meridian campus. “This place has grown to accommodate hundreds of students and working professionals. We have expanded programs like nursing, physician assistant studies, physical and occupational therapy, audiology, speech-language pathology, counseling, outreach clinics, dentistry, and so much more.”

One of the next steps ISU is taking to grow the campus is the expansion of the TVAPL this fall. Remodeling of over 6000 feet of retired research space will increase the number of gross anatomy stations available to students, as well as create two new embalming suites. 

“As ISU Meridian continues to grow, we are advancing Idaho State University’s vision to inspire a passion for knowledge and discovery as the state’s designated lead institution for health professions and medical education,” said Bargen. “At the heart of our work are the University’s values—teamwork, community, inclusivity, integrity, learning, and shared responsibility—which are embraced and actively practiced across the Meridian campus.” 

Idaho State plans to create the first university-based willed body donation program in the Treasure Valley, giving residents the opportunity to both advance scientific education and alleviate their families of postmortem financial burdens.

Twenty-three acres of land also sits north of the current property excited to come to life with students and new campus buildings. Plans include new academic and maintenance buildings, potentially a student housing unit, and plenty of parking.