Charlotte G. Borst, president, College of Idaho in Caldwell

Perhaps it’s appropriate that Charlotte G. Borst, the College of Idaho’s 13th president, is a historian: she’s certainly making some history herself.

Borst became the college’s first female president in June 2015, selected from a field of more than 130 candidates. Her extensive administrative experience and strong liberal arts background made her uniquely qualified for the job.

Growing up in Vermont, Borst was fascinated with biographies of famous women scientists, her role models — she’d planned on becoming a physician.

“I spent my young life at the library,” she says with a laugh. “I’d ride my bike there, and my mom would call down and ask the workers to please send me home.”

In her senior year at Boston University, however, she took a class from a historian of science and found she loved the mix of history and medicine. She continued her education, earning two master’s degrees and a doctorate in the history of science, and taught history at several schools across the country. Borst took her first administrative position at the University of Birmingham as the executive director of historical colleges, and held similar positions at other schools, most recently as vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty at Whittier College in California, before coming to Idaho.

“My passion is academia and providing access to higher education,” Borst says. “Coming from (Rutland, Vermont), a town where people didn’t go to college and the economy suffered, I like to be part of organizations that want that kind of passion.

Borst is also a published author with two books and numerous articles and papers to her name. Her research focus is at the nexus of how race and gender come together, what professionalism is and how science shapes the whole of it.

“Charlotte has brought an unparalleled passion for everything she’s involved in,” said Doug Brigham, chair of the school’s Board of Trustees, in a letter of recommendation for this award, “whether it’s hosting new students at her home, discussing the role of a liberal arts education in the 21st century … or serving as an excellent role model for the college’s 1,100 students — in particular the 51 percent who are women.”

The new president says she takes “enormous delight” in how well her students perform, both current students and past. She proudly tells of how she recently met a College of Idaho alum on a plane who told her that it was the college that “taught her how to think.”

“My biggest goal is to get us better-known and known nationally,” Borst says. “I’ve told my staff we’re not using the word ‘hidden,’ we’re just ‘a gem.’”

Outside of work, Borst loves to read, especially mysteries with female protagonists and nonfiction. She and her husband, Richard Censullo, who works remotely as an information technology director for Logic Technology, have a son and daughter in California, and Borst says her “biggest joy” is her new baby granddaughter, Fiona. The couple are also enjoying exploring Idaho’s wilderness, particularly camping in the Sawtooth Mountains.