POCATELLO — Idaho State University has chosen the dean of the College of Education at University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, to be its next vice president of academic affairs and provost.

Valerie Martin Conley will join the ISU staff next summer. She has more than 30 years of experience in higher education and has been a professor and dean at UCCS since 2015, according to a press release.

As dean, she oversaw the launch of new degree programs, helped increase enrollment and improved her college’s financial footing, according to the press release. Before becoming a dean, Conley was a professor and department chair at the Ohio University department of Counseling and Higher Education, as well as the director of the Center for Higher Education.

“I am delighted to join Idaho State University, a community focused on student success in an environment of trust, compassion and hope,” Conley said in the press release. “I am looking forward to working with and supporting (ISU President Kevin) Satterlee, deans, enrollment management staff and faculty in maximizing the strengths of the institution and moving ISU’s academic mission of excellence forward.”

Satterlee said he is confident she has the skills and experience to enhance the university’s strategic planning efforts to support its mission of educating students.

Conley spent the first decade of her career as a consultant to the National Center for Education Statistics in Washington, D.C.

She has a bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Virginia and a doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies from Virginia Tech.