[Vision2020] The UI Friday Letter from UI President White (October 28, 2005)

[Tom Hansen]

Copied and pasted below is today's (October 28, 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. 28, 2005

Dear Friends,

The University of Idaho is moving forward quickly to re-establish a
professional college for disciplines in architecture, art, and the emerging
fields of sustainable design, virtual technology, interior design and
landscape architecture. 

In 2002, an organizational change brought the programs of the former College
of Art and Architecture under the umbrella of the College of Letters, Arts
and Social Sciences. The reorganization did not discontinue any academic
programs, majors, minors, emphases or options, but only affected the
management structure. The professional programs have grown slightly since
2002, but visibility and autonomy were diminished. Earlier this month, the
State Board of Education reversed the 2002 decision and called for the new
college administrative structure to be in place for the next academic year.

I am appointing and chairing a transition team of departmental and program
leadership, university leadership and student and stakeholder representation
for the newly configured college. I anticipate the first meeting will take
place in the next two weeks. Once the college is established, it will report
to University of Idaho Provost and Executive Vice President Doug Baker, as
do all the other colleges.

We have now closed the discussion on past decisions and have entered into an
era of new beginnings and renewal. We look forward to distinctive top-tier
programs that are well positioned to serve the needs of the 21st century in
teaching and learning, scholarly creativity and engagement through outreach.
We want our distinctive programs to bring pride and value to our students
and alumni, and properly serve the needs of stakeholders in Idaho and the
nation.

Tim White
President

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

University of Idaho finance students have once again received a large return
on an annual investment portfolio. Tom Richardson, vice president of D.A.
Davidson & Co., presented the 55 members of the UI Student Investment
Program with a check for $4,104.37, the student portion of a 20.86 percent
increase in the portfolio's value in the last year. This compares with Dow
Jones Industrial Average returns of 5.39 percent and S&P 500 returns for
12.55 percent for the same time period. "This experience demonstrates to our
students that some risks are worth taking," said Mario Reyes, head of UI's
department of economics, finance and information systems. "Real-life
education programs like this are important, because our students aren't just
theorizing - they're putting their knowledge to use." Over the last 12
years, UI student investments in the program have garnered a total $32,033
as their share of investment profits. The money is put back into the
college's student programs. 

The College of Agricultural and Life Sciences celebrated Ag Days last week,
and the event included the Soil and Land Resources graduate student reunion.
An endowment has been created to recognize the positive impact that graduate
education has on the lives and careers of students trained in the Soil and
Land Resources Division. To contribute to this endowment or other
scholarships in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, contact Mary
Hasenoehrl at 208 885-4038 or mhaseno at uidaho.edu.

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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