[Vision2020] The Friday Letter from UI President White (May 19, 2006)

[Tom Hansen]

Today's (May 19, 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 May 19, 2006

Dear Friends,

Secretary of State Ben Ysursa delivered thoughtful and inspiring remarks at
last Saturday's Commencement ceremony in Moscow. He spoke eloquently and
clearly on the power and importance of engaging with society, and the
responsibility for University of Idaho graduates to help solve society's
most vexing issues. His comments are available at
http://www.today.uidaho.edu/Details.aspx?ID=3534. 
       
Also at commencement, we presented honorary degrees to Jerry Evans, former
Idaho State Superintendent for Public Instruction, and alumnus Robert
Furgason, who served his alma mater as head of the Department of Chemical
Engineering, dean of the College of Engineering and vice president for
academic affairs and research. At ceremonies in Boise, Coeur d'Alene and
Idaho Falls, we presented President's Medallions to alumni and volunteers
Clen and Emma Atchley, former Idaho Secretary of State Pete Cenarrusa, and
executive director of the Coeur d'Alene Chamber of Commerce James E. "Sandy"
Emerson.

The University of Idaho also recognizes the exceptional classroom
achievements of high school students, the future of Idaho. Since 1994, our
Alumni Association, along with U.S. Bank and the U.S. Bancorp Foundation,
honors Idaho high school juniors in the Top Scholar program. 
Receptions for these students and their families are held throughout the
state each spring to honor the top academic 10 percent of Idaho's high
school juniors. The program now honors about 2,000 students from 140 Idaho
schools for outstanding academic achievement. We are pleased to have an
opportunity to honor them, and to share the pride felt by their communities.
	
Tim White
President

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

The University of Idaho's Victim's Rights Clinic, which currently offers
free legal services to crime victims who may not otherwise have access to
legal counsel in north-central Idaho, has been awarded $105,000 to expand
its services statewide. The grant was provided by the U.S. Department of
Justice through the National Crime Victim Law Institute. People of any age
or income level who are direct victims of a felony or other violent crime
committed in Idaho are eligible for the clinic's services. The clinics offer
real world experience for third year law students, who hold limited licenses
to practice law issued by the Idaho Supreme Court, and work under the
supervision of experienced attorneys on the College of Law faculty.

Jaylene Reasor graduated from the University of Idaho Coeur d'Alene May 8,
and is now off to be in front of her own classroom, teaching multiple grades
in Windhoek, Namibia. Reasor, who earned a bachelor's degree in curriculum
and instruction, will be teaching orphans of the AIDS epidemic. At 27,
Reasor is a seasoned traveler and a woman with a mission. She has worked
with and for children through Youth With a Mission (YWAM), an international
nonprofit organization, since she was 19. In 2005, Namibia, with a
population of 1.8 million, was home to an estimated 180,000 orphans, nearly
half of them due to AIDS.

Ron and Sherrie Auen and program director Catharine Reed of the Auen
Foundation recently transferred title of a 1,100-acre, $4.5 million ranch to
the University of Idaho to establish the Nancy M. Cummings Research,
Extension and Education Center in Salmon. The center honors Sherrie Auen's
late mother, a Lemhi-area community leader who loved the valley and wanted
to expand educational opportunities there. 

"We are grateful for your generosity and vision," President Tim White told
Auen family members. "As you know, gifts transform lives, and together we
can realize the power of philanthropy in honor of Nancy Cummings to benefit
the Salmon region and beyond." In addition to the support of the Auen
Foundation, Idaho cattle producers have donated more than 100 cows to
support the center's research in identification systems for livestock and
improved beef quality. 

For more information, please contact Caroline Nilsson Troy at
(208) 885-7069 or cnilsson at uidaho.edu or the dean of the College of
Agricultural and Life Sciences, John Hammel, at (208) 885-6681 or
calsdean 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