He might have operated behind the scenes, but Keith Ickes” work as executive director of the Planning and Budget Office was felt around the university.
“He wasn”t focused on the money, he was focused on the good work the university could do,” said University of Idaho President Chuck Staben, adding that Ickes left UI in a better financial order when he left.
After six years at UI, Ickes officially retired from the university at the end of July, but had not been working on campus since late February.
Ickes, 67, said he felt it was the right time to retire. With Staben building a new team of administrators, he said the president needed a budget administrator who was going to be able to stay for a long period of time.
“His job was to handle the money, but his objective was to ensure that the university was a great place,” Staben said.
Ickes arrived at UI in 2009 – a time when the university was cutting budgets and “treading water,” Staben said.
“It”s hard to say it was a fun time because there were so many difficult issues,” Ickes said. “But it was certainly interesting, and challenging and kept my brain engaged.”
With a sense of quiet professionalism, Staben said Ickes stabilized the budget and got the university back on even financial footing. He said Ickes had a large role in increasing UI”s Composite Financial Index – a number that measures a university”s general financial health – to a solid rating.
Now, Staben said, the university is able to afford modest investments in projects on campus, something that is an incredible benefit to the university.
Ickes said the university now has enough money to spend about $200,000 a year fixing up various classrooms on campus. He said this past year the university also put aside another permanent $200,000 to upgrade classroom laboratories.
“The campus is going to see a big change over the next five years,” Ickes said of the permanent and one-time upgrade funds. “That”ll be $1 million of upgrades, and I think people will notice.”
Staben said Ickes had a large part in setting up the Vandal Strategic Loan Fund, an internal loan service that allows departments or colleges to borrow money for projects. He said it was Ickes who found an innovative way for departments to borrow against the principle of extra funds UI departments have on reserve, but UI central administration didn”t have direct access to.
The program allowed Student Affairs to go forward with improvements to the second floor of the Bruce Pitman Center and allowed the department of Journalism and Mass Media to update equipment used by digital media and broadcast students.
Besides the effects the recession had on the university budget, Ickes said he also worked hard to make sure internal funds were spent more effectively at UI.
Staben said Ickes provided good structure to the budget setting process and had a strong rapport with the State Board of Education and UI student leadership.
While the topic can be a little dry, ASUI President Max Cowan said Ickes was great at answering questions and explaining the budget.
As a student representative, Cowan said Ickes always made sure he had enough information going into the budget decision-making process.
“I really valued that Keith never rushed me, he was never demanding,” Cowan said.
Instead of worrying about UI budgets, Ickes said he now spends his time woodworking and fixing his old British sports cars. He now lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, and said the extra free time will allow him to visit his children more often.
Ickes is cautiously optimistic about UI”s future and said it will be up to the new team of administrators to make sound financial decisions for the university.
Ryan Tarinelli can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @ryantarinelli