[Vision2020] The UI Friday Letter (January 11, 2008)

[Tom Hansen]

Copied and pasted below is the UI Friday Letter for January 11, 2008.

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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 January 11, 2008

Dear Friends,

We have welcomed the start of a new year and a new semester at the
University of Idaho, and our campuses statewide have returned to their usual
high level of activity following the holiday break. 
I hope you had a memorable holiday season with family and friends, and wish
you the best for 2008. 

This semester, we welcome new students to our university from places as near
as Nampa and as far-flung as Indonesia, Iraq and Sweden. I also want to
welcome two Fulbright Scholars from Morocco, who will be teaching courses
this semester in International Studies and English, respectively: 
Mohamed Adiouane from the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies at
Mahammed V University, and Professor Moulay Lmustapha Mamaoui from the
English Department at Cadi Ayyad University. I am very proud of the
continuing high caliber of our faculty and students, and grateful to the
staff and faculty who attract and welcome them here. One new arrival - a
non-traditional student pursuing a second bachelor's degree - was overheard
this week commenting on the efficiency and effectiveness of the entry
process; our caring student services staff; the wonderful classroom and
campuswide technology available to him; and the personal touch and dynamic
teaching style of the professor who led his first large lecture. The very
special student experience offered at the University of Idaho is truly one
of our hallmarks.

Another hallmark is the high quality of our academic experience. The
University is included in the 2008 list of Kiplinger's 100 Best Values in
Public Colleges. We are one of only 32 universities west of the Mississippi
to be so recognized. The rankings reflect an institution's academic strength
and affordability, and more than 500 public four-year colleges and
universities were evaluated. 
This is another wonderful affirmation of our leadership in undergraduate
education and enhances our reputation as a top academic institution with
national impact. We are the only institution in Idaho to receive this
ranking.

At the graduate level, the University is undergoing a strategic assessment
of its programs as we 
take it upon ourselves to improve national competitiveness of our
top-quality disciplinary and   
multidisciplinary graduate education and research programs. These programs
identify critical problems that face the state, nation and world, and
develop solutions for those problems. To continue to provide leadership in
this arena, the University is developing a comprehensive strategy to
strengthen and integrate graduate programs so we can consistently compete
for research support, and attract top students in research and creative
activity. This important self-examination is part of our overall, ongoing
strategic planning process, and is an opportunity for our community to look
to the future and strengthen the institution for successive generations. 
	
Tim White	
President

Here's more current news from the University of Idaho:

University of Idaho special purpose computers are hurtling toward the edge
of the solar system at speeds in excess of 43,000 mph aboard NASA's New
Horizons probe. The probe carrying the university's Center for Advanced
Microelectronics and Biomolecular Research's (CAMBR) EDAC5 chip will be more
than 882 million miles from Earth on January 19; it was launched January 19,
2006. The CAMBR chip is essential to the probe's solid state recorder (SSR)
board, where nearly all data from the spacecraft is stored before being
transmitted back to Earth. The chip provides error correction of the data
New Horizons is gathering on its groundbreaking mission. The ultimate
objective of New Horizons' mission is to gather information on the dwarf
planet Pluto and the unexplored Kuiper Belt region beyond it. The probe is
expected to arrive at Pluto in 2015.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Board of
Directors has selected electrical engineering professor Jeff Young as an
IEEE Fellow. It recognizes members who have made outstanding contributions
to the electrical and information technologies and sciences that benefit
humanity and the profession. Young was cited for his contributions to
electromagnetic wave propagation in complex media.

A funeral for Norm Yandt is scheduled for 1 p.m today at the Church of the
Nazarene in Moscow.  Yandt passed away Jan. 7 in an automobile accident east
of Moscow. He was 55. At the University of Idaho, Yandt was a project
architect and architectural project manager from 1990 to 2006. His projects
included the Idaho Commons, the Teaching and Learning Center, Living and
Learning Community, the Ag Biotechnology building, among others. In 2006, he
accepted a position as a project architect at Washington State University.

Arnold Misterek '66 and his wife, Kay, of Spokane Valley, Wash., recently
made two significant gifts to the University of Idaho. One was in the form
of an IRA rollover and will be endowed and made available to the Mathematics
Department for scholarships and other uses. The other is a transfer of
common stock for the Operation Education Scholarship Endowment. Two of the
Misterek's three children, daughter Andrea Misterek-Benson '87 and son Cory
'93, are Idaho graduates with degrees in mathematics. 

The special charitable giving opportunity via the IRA rollover has ended,
but there have been bills introduced in both the House and Senate to extend
it. A gift of stocks allows donors to take a deduction for the full market
value of the securities and avoid capital gain tax on the appreciation in
value. For information on how you can make a securities gift, contact Ed
McBride at the Development Office, mcbride at uidaho.edu, (208) 885-9026.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

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

"Here We Have Idaho"
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