[Vision2020] The UI Friday Letter from UI President White (October 14, 2005)

[Tom Hansen]

Copied and pasted below is today's (October 14, 2005) UI Friday Letter from
UI President White.

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University of Idaho
Office of the President
Moscow, Idaho 83844-3151
Phone: 208-885-6365
Fax: 208-885-6558

The Friday Letter
A Newsletter for University of Idaho Alumni and Friends Oct. 14, 2005

Dear Friends,

I have had a chance to reflect this past week on how far the University of
Idaho has progressed since Karen and I were fortunate, indeed privileged, to
join the University family last August.   

Positive signs of the renewal are all around us, from the quality,
aspiration and commitment of our faculty and staff, to the quality and
dreams of our students, all enabled by the support, advice and commitment of
our alums and stakeholders worldwide. We have a plan for academic and
institutional renewal in place, and while there is a lot to accomplish
together over the next several years, for those of us who are living the
transformation every day, it indeed feels like a renaissance.  

We are a distinctive university producing wonderful outcomes for Idaho and
the world.

We are investing general funds into signature academic areas, opening new
facilities, attracting new and gifted leadership into our academic and
business functions, and revitalizing a strategic communications effort. We
are redoubling efforts to engage alumni and stakeholders across the fabric
of this wonderful University to help us define and reach our vision as one
of the nation's top flagship, student-centered, research extensive
universities. 

We have recently taken public positions affirming that quality and integrity
matter in our curriculum, particularly in science. We have innovative ideas
about how to improve professional education in law, architecture and
education to serve the future needs of Idaho and the world. Our business
curriculum consistently gains national attention and student interest has
sky-rocketed, our work in agricultural sciences and natural resources brings
cutting edge science to bear on vexing and important economic, social and
environmental issues. Our science faculty attract multi-million dollar
awards from federal agencies. Our engineering faculty are engaged in some of
the most important and innovative work on energy, technology and security in
America. Student interest in our provocative programs in letters, arts and
social sciences grew 7 percent this year.

Our theatre, athletic and music programs are interwoven into the life of the
University, and provide multiple opportunities for our students to learn,
grow and express themselves, while being points of pride for the University
of Idaho.

Karen and I made a commitment to be part of this wonderful University for
the long run, and to help shape and lead its transformation to better serve
the needs of the 21st century. I am grateful that we see so many signs that
the University of Idaho family has also summoned the will for the future.
Now is not the time to blink.

Some of you may know that I hit a small speed-bump last Friday morning with
a minor myocardial infarction caused by an inferior blockage in the right
coronary artery. Because of the publicity around this heart attack, I write
to assure you that nothing in our lives has changed our commitment to you
and the University of Idaho. We genuinely enjoy the work, the people, the
state, and the noble cause that we are engaged in.  

I am grateful that I received wonderful, rapid, and state-of-the art care at
Gritman Medical Center here in Moscow and with the Heart Clinics Northwest.
The treatment completely resolved the condition within a few hours. I was
released over the weekend with no change in my normal heart function, and
cleared medically to return to the University on Monday, which I did on a
lighter schedule than normal. 
Please know that I'm recuperating well and doing great.

This week I attended personally to some of the important commitments and
delegated others to the administrative team. The University of Idaho has an
extraordinary administrative team that has stepped up to reduce my workload.


In other words, I - nor we - did not miss a beat!

Next week, the Regents of the University of Idaho/State Board of Education
meet in Lewiston, and I will participate as usual in that daylong meeting.
We have some innovative ideas on delivering architecture, art, landscape and
interior design education for the future, which will be one topic at the
meeting.  I look forward to participating fully in the exciting week ahead
with the Bellwood Lecture, University of Idaho Foundation Annual Meeting,
Leadership Weekend and the Idaho-Fresno State football game. I hope we'll
have a chance to visit along the way if you are in town.

Karen joins with me in thanking those of you who have sent along good wishes
this past week. We are heartened by the wonderful feeling of friendship and
support. 

Tim White,
President

Here's the latest news from the University of Idaho:

Larry Branen has enjoyed a more than 20-year career as a professor and dean
at the University of Idaho. Yesterday we announced that he has agreed to
take on a new assignment as the U of I's associate vice president for
northern Idaho. Larry is charged with identifying and implementing
innovative higher education programs to meet the needs of the Coeur d'Alene,
Post Falls, Sandpoint region. It is one of the fastest-growing areas in
Idaho and the U.S., and that growth has presented new social, economic and
educational issues. Larry will partner with other members of the Northern
Idaho Higher Education Center - North Idaho College, Lewis-Clark State
College, Idaho State University and industry representatives - to provide
affordable access to quality university programs for traditional and
non-traditional students.  Larry also will serve as chief administrator of
the U of I Research Park and the U of I Coeur d'Alene Center, interim
director of District 1 Agricultural Extension and serve as the U of I
spokesman in northern Idaho. 

Three University of Idaho colleges will experience changes in leadership at
the close of this academic year, announced Doug Baker, U of I provost and
executive vice president. College of Education Dean Jeanne Christiansen will
step down from her administrative position effective July 2006. Christiansen
has served in an interim appointment since July 2002. Dean Byron Dangerfield
will step down from his administrative position in the College of Business
and Economics effective August 2006 and will retire in February 2007.
Dangerfield joined UI in 1980, and became permanent dean of the College of
Business and Economics in 1991. CLASS Dean Joe Zeller also will step down
from his administrative position effective July 2006. Zeller has served as
dean since 2002. National searches for all three positions will be
conducted.

More than five years ago, Forest Products Associate Professor Steve Shook
forged a relationship with the co-founders of Silvaris Corporation - Kurt
Bray and Steve Malloy. Over the years, these two entrepreneurs have grown to
respect and admire the University of Idaho for its quality faculty, students
and graduates - so much that they recently hired four U of I graduates and
plan on growing their internship program. When presented with the idea that
the College of Natural Resources was looking for support in its involvement
with the university wide entrepreneurship program, they were quick to jump
on board and generously commit $50,000. 
This U of I initiative, Vandal Innovation and Enterprise Works (VIEW), will
offer educational programs statewide to inspire, teach and enable students,
faculty, alumni and communities to become and support entrepreneurs.

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Take care, Moscow.

Tom Hansen

"What is objectionable, what is dangerous, about extremists is not that they
are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say
about their cause, but what they say about their opponents."

-- Robert F. Kennedy