[Vision2020] The Friday Letter from UI President White (April 14, 2006)

[Tom Hansen]

Today's (April 14, 2006) 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 April 14, 2006

Dear Friends,

As president of this wonderful institution, I realize there is a time to
listen, a time to talk, a time to reflect and a time to answer questions.
This week, I held the first of what will be regularly-scheduled "Fireside
Chats" with the University community. It was a tremendous opportunity to
hear directly from students, staff and faculty about the issues that most
concern them. We covered a variety of topics, from tenure to the role of
campus traditions. Since first assuming the presidency, I have held regular
conversations with small groups of faculty through the assistance of the
Faculty Council office. A little over a year ago, I addressed the University
community with "A Plan for Renewal of People, Programs and Place." We have
made incredible progress as a University since then, and I will recognize
and celebrate the many aspects of our renewal on May 1 with a State of the
University address. 

We have more than 1,700 graduate students at the University of Idaho. 
Their scholarly activities were highlighted this week at the annual Graduate
and Professional Student Association's Expo. Our graduate students are
pursing advanced degrees in a wide range of fields - science, arts,
engineering, education and social sciences - and their presentations were
equally varied - research, creative endeavors and scholarly activity. 
In addition, these students, under the guidance of the graduate faculty,
have based their work not just at the University of Idaho, but throughout
Idaho and around the world. I congratulate them on their successes, 
and recognize their contributions to our University. 	

Tim White
President

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

The Department of Landscape Architecture has passed its accreditation
review, which marks a significant milestone in the program's history. The
Landscape Architecture Accrediting Board of the American Society of
Landscape Architects performed the review. All standards were met with "no
recommendations affecting accreditation." The national review team noted
several strengths of the landscape architecture program, including the
senior-level capstone experience; use of the design studio for service
learning outreach in Idaho communities; quality of student work; and the
program's interdisciplinary outreach with the Department of Architecture.
The University has offered a bachelor's degree in landscape architecture as
an accredited program for 30 years.

The International Jazz Collections is the recipient of a $36,000 grant from
the GRAMMY Foundation(r) to preserve and digitize some unique and
historically significant audio tapes and recordings in its Leonard Feather
collection. Feather was a renowned jazz critic, composer, pianist,
journalist and producer. The recordings are one of the most significant
historic jazz resources housed in a public institution in the country. They
contain interviews with many jazz icons and rarely or never-before publicly
heard performances by the pioneers of jazz. 

The recordings date from 1948 to 1988, and include reel-to-reel tapes, audio
cassettes, and shellac and vinyl test pressings of commercial recordings. 

The College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences received a generous $50,000
gift from Malcolm and Carol Renfrew, in support of the humanities. 
The Carol Campbell Renfrew Humanities Scholarship assists students with a
3.0 GPA and who are majoring in the humanities. "Malcolm and I established
the Carol Campbell Renfrew Humanities Scholarship Endowment in appreciation
of our parents Earl and Elsie Renfrew and Franklin and Alice Campbell. We
are fortunate to have had forbears who recognized the value of education and
gave us the encouragement and the financial means to help us complete
college. As a result we believe we have enjoyed a broader view and more
interesting life. So it gives us pleasure now to be able to provide
assistance to other students at the University of Idaho as well as to honor
the memory of our parents." The University of Idaho is lucky to count
Malcolm and Carol Renfrew in our family. For more information or to donate
to the Renfrew Humanities Scholarship, contact Jennie Hall at (208) 885-5013
or jenniej at uidaho.edu.

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Take care, Moscow (you, too, Vandals).

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
UI '96

"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and the Realist adjusts his sails." 
- Unknown