Dennis Griffin, our newest author – of From Scratch: Inside the Lightning Launch of the College of Western Idaho – delivered a presentation to the Idaho State Board of Education on December 8, during the “open forum” portion of the meeting. He was there to discuss the publication of his new book, which he had talked about writing even while the development of the college was underway.

Here are some of his notes from the meeting:

I introduced myself as the founding president and served between Aug. 2007 – Aug. 2009 (several people are still on the board who where there then). I explained that when we went through it all, I kept saying “I really should write a book when this is over, nobody would believe us about all the balls we have in the air.”

When I retired, several reminded me of saying that. So for the past two years, I have been working on the project, and now it’s complete.

I did it for three reasons:
-Historical record
-As a tribute to my team and to the board — to leave a legacy
-As a tribute the dozens of people and organization both inside the college and especially in the community who made this happen

I mentioned to the board that Governor Otter had written the forword, and several others had written “blurbs” for the book.

I told them there are lots of personal stories and behind-the-scenes experiences in the book. And it also includes such thngs as:

- A short history of the community college movement for the past 30 years

- A description of the campaign leading up to the successful referendum

- A short history of BSU’s junior/community college history and the transfer of that function to CWI

- A short history of the Selland College

- Stories of many of the legal transactions including the land transfer from the state and BSU

- I mentioned where the book could be purchased

There were lots of smiles from the board members and nods of approval. The board President thanked me for doing the book. The audience applauded.

I felt very good about the reception I got.