Fifty years of work continues to flourish for the University of Idaho and Washington State University’s School of Food Science.
Both universities originally had independent food science departments, but in 1996, students from both schools were allowed to take classes from the other campus. From then on collaboration increased, leading the departments to merge in 2008.
School of Food Science director Barbara Rasco said the collaboration between schools helps the future of the program.
“It’s critical for both schools to work together,” Rasco said. “It adds resources, opportunities, more facilities and a greater diversity of students, and I think more programs should merge across the border.”
UI alumnus and professor Brennan Smith said the food science program is beneficial for everyone.
“It’s a win-win situation for faculty and students,” Smith said. “From a research point of view, it makes it a lot easier than it would’ve been if the schools were unjointed.” Smith said transportation difficulties have been challenging for students in the last few years. The program faced a roadblock in 2012 when bus transportation was canceled, which created an obstacle for students who had to travel between campuses.
“The only thing that’s a little bit tricky sometimes for students is to drive back and forth,” Smith said. “Since there’s isn’t bus transportation anymore, students carpooling is their only solution.”
Smith said the program has tried scheduling different forms of transportation, but the lack of commitment from students prevented the option from going forward.
Rasco said transportation is key to the program’s success.
“We need to get the bus back,” Rasco said. “Students have to find their own transportation, which is a major hassle and expense. It would seem to me the Moscow-Pullman bus would benefit a lot of students and community members.”
Rasco said there has been interest in bringing back transportation from the respective city councils, but a university movement has yet to be made.
The program includes both schools, but some facilities are exclusive to UI or WSU. Smith said some of his research is conducted at WSU’s pilot processing facility because UI doesn’t have the same resources on campus.
“A piloting processing facility is kind of in between binge-top and what we use in the food industry,” Smith said. “It’s the smallest version of something that can be accurately scaled up to a full-scale processing system, and that’s what I mostly used so far.”
Like several faculty members, Smith teaches at both schools. Smith said his experience has been surprisingly positive.
“Teaching a larger enrollment course like Washington State, people would think there would be general issues than it has been,” Smith said. “I haven’t really experienced anything that negative, which I think says a lot for the student body on both campuses.”
Luis Torres
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