[Vision2020] The UI Friday Letter from UI President Tim White (May 18, 2007)

[Tom Hansen]

Copied and pasted below is the UI Friday Letter from UI President Tim White
for May 18, 2007.

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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 18, 2007

Dear Friends,

Commencement 2007 in Moscow was glorious in so many ways: color, sunshine,
festivity, joy, proud families, happy graduates, buoyant faculty
mentors-academic tradition and ceremony coupled with a new vibrancy and
excitement. It was an uplifting weekend for us all, and I thank the scores
of University of Idaho community members and friends who made it possible.
Commencement 2007 was a most fitting end, as well as new beginning, in the
journey of lifelong learning and discovery from which University of Idaho
students so benefit.
	
The stunning spring weather, and the beauty of campus and the surrounding
Palouse on Commencement day, made me especially proud that the University of
Idaho has just taken another leadership step in sustainability. We have
joined the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), the world's first and North
America's only voluntary, legally binding multi-sector market for reducing
and trading greenhouse gas emissions. As part of this association, the
University has committed to reduce its own emissions of greenhouse gases by
six percent below the average of its 1998-2001 baseline by 2010. 

We are one of only six higher-education institutions that have joined CCX.
This partnership follows an earlier pledge to the Talloires Declaration, the
first international commitment by higher education to environmental
sustainability that includes a 10-point action plan for incorporating
sustainability and environmental literacy in teaching, research, operations
and outreach programs. We also recently became a founding member of the
leadership circle of the American College and University Presidents Climate
Commitment.

Each of these recent actions underscores the University's leadership role in
building a sustainable Idaho, an effort that began more than 20 years ago. A
project to water green spaces with reclaimed water saves up to 120 million
gallons a year. Our wood-fired boiler supplies more than 90 percent of the
campus heating needs at a cost currently one quarter of the cost of natural
gas, and saves $2 million per year in fuel costs. You can read more about
our sustainability efforts at www.dfm.uidaho.edu/default.aspx?pid=89946.
 
I am proud that the University of Idaho has been, and remains, on the
forefront of implementing energy efficiency measures in our business
operations. It is part of our core role of generating and communicating new
knowledge and technology, and providing leadership to help communities and
industry adapt to emerging needs and achieve sustainability goals.

Tim White
President

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

Steven Garrity, a University of Idaho natural resources graduate student
studying how trees control carbon dioxide exchange with the atmosphere, has
been awarded a national Biosphere Atmosphere Research & Training Fellowship.
Garrity's fellowship is funded through a partnership between the University
of Michigan and the National Science Foundation. Only eight or fewer
graduate students in the nation are selected to receive this award annually.
The research opportunity will allow him to expand on the scientific
community's knowledge of how forest tree species interact with the
atmosphere, specifically the process of carbon exchange. 

Two University of Idaho researchers have been awarded highly competitive
Defense Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DEPSCoR)
funding from the Department of Defense. Electrical and computer engineering
professors Herbert Hess and Brian Johnson will receive $555,000 over a three
year period, beginning this summer. The funding supports research and
development of improved power distribution systems, motor drives and power
electronics controls for the U.S. Navy. The Idaho researchers will work in
partnership with the Navy's Acoustic Research Detachment at Bayview, Idaho,
and with the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Philadelphia, Penn.

For the past nine months, 22 Vandals have met at the Vandal Connect Call
Center to do two of the most important jobs a college student could do;
personally speak with alumni and raise funds for the University's Annual
Fund. Callers had the privilege to speak with more than 34,000 alumni,
parents and friends. The generosity of our alumni and other strong
supporters resulted in excess of $865,000 in pledges to the University! This
year, two outstanding students individually raised more than $100,000 and
three students each topped $50,000. The University also is excited to
announce a 23.5 percent participation rate and an average gift of $101. The
student callers at the Vandal Connect Call Center would like to thank the
many alumni, parents and friends who took the time to speak with them and
the generous support that came from those conversations. To learn more about
giving to the University of Idaho, please visit www.uidaho.edu/givetoidaho.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Take care, Vandals.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
UI '96

Came a tribe from the north brave and bold . . .

"Here We Have Idaho"
http://www.tomandrodna.com/HWHI.mp3

"I-D-A-H-O Idaho Idaho Go Go Go"
http://www.tomandrodna.com/Vandals.mp3