McClure Center welcomes new permanent director Priscilla Salant
For more than 50 years, the James A. and Louise McClure Center for Public Policy Research has served Idaho as a leading non-partisan social science research center to provide objective information on contemporary public policy issues for politicians and the public. Until recently, it’s tried to fill the imperative civic role without a director.
After months of searching, the center now has a permanent director to call its own. Priscilla Salant, who served as the interim director for more than than six months, assumed the position of permanent director of the McClure Center Aug. 1.
“Priscilla is the absolute right person at the absolute right time. She is a social scientist who understands public relations and public affairs very well,” said Andrew Kersten, dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences.
Salant said she enjoys the administrative functions and research duties of leading the McClure Center — from establishing mailing lists and maintaining communication with advisory board members to heading important research projects.
Salant said she keeps an eye on the legislature for issues the center could conduct research on to inform policy decisions. She said she also looks for opportunities for University of Idaho students to work in Boise on policy issues.
Making for an easy transition, Salant said she has become familiar with the center and executive tasks during her time as interim director. In her tenure, she and McClure staffers and fellows conducted a statewide survey regarding highway funding — the results of which are already influencing the state’s approach to funding infrastructure improvements.
Kersten said the college is in the process of rebuilding and re-imaging the McClure Center. He said Salant’s qualities and ambitions are going to play a vital role in the development.
Salant said current and future projects for the McClure Center are aimed toward increasing the influence of the center and its work throughout the state. She said there will be a critical event on Idaho’s sage-grouse management plan regarding the state’s natural resources and conservation efforts, as well as a research project on Idaho’s healthcare work force.
“We will be partnering with various non-profits and universities around the state,” Salant said about the upcoming healthcare research project.
Salant said she is also working to increase the internship opportunities available to UI students interested in public policy.
Kersten said such critical projects highlight that above all other facets of the job, the director serves as the lynch pin between the state government and its citizens by exhibiting the McClure Center and UI as a non-partisan provider of research to aid the public policy development of the state of Idaho.
Corrin Bond can be reached at [email protected]