[Vision2020] The UI Friday Letter for June 27, 2008

[Tom Hansen]

Copied and pasted below is the UI Friday Letter for June 27, 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
June 27, 2008

Dear Friends,

Greetings. I am delighted to embark upon what I pledge to be a rich and 
useful series of communications to you with this, The Friday Letter - 
which, since 1995 and through several presidencies, has informed and 
inspired our University of Idaho community, including this alumnus. I am 
humbled to write to you today as your new University of Idaho president.

Indeed, leading the University of Idaho will be a deeply humbling and 
honorable experience for me. I pursued and accepted the opportunity to 
serve as president of my alma mater - a place my family and I hold very 
dear - with all seriousness, and with a sense of great anticipation. I am 
enthusiastic and confident about serving at this exciting time in our 
history. We have an aspirational vision, a solid strategic direction and 
many talented, dedicated people in our University of Idaho community.  

You are an extremely important part of that community. I thank you for 
your continuing support of this institution. Together we will continue to 
move forward and upward; we will continue to build upon the solid 
foundation of quality and achievement that we enjoy today.
       
Since I was named president-designate, I have been talking with or writing 
to literally hundreds of people who care about our University of Idaho - 
people from both outside its walls and within them. In nearly every 
conversation, I have outlined three areas of focus for my term as 
president. I welcome your interest and support, as together we address 
these priorities and continue to build the University for its next century 
of greatness.
       
1. Momentum. Through a seamless presidential transition and continuity of 
vision, leadership and priorities, we will build upon the confidence and 
engagement of our alumni, friends and donors, of legislators, parents and 
the public - and we will continue to grow this University's leadership 
position in the state and region, and around the globe.

2. Interdependence. We are in this together: our faculty, staff, students 
and all of you. We will weave a community fabric of camaraderie, 
collaboration and inter reliance among the University's units, functions, 
organizational levels and people - a sturdy fabric that will increase our 
productivity and impact, and accelerate progress on our strategic plan.

3. Action. We will make decisions that will advance our most critical 
priorities - projects such as establishing a two-location College of Law; 
constructing the Center for Advanced Energy Studies; growing the WWAMI 
(Washington-Wyoming-Alaska Montana-Idaho) Medical Education Program in 
Idaho; achieving strategic enrollment levels; and strengthening our 
graduate programs.

Under President White's leadership, the University has seen a period of 
astonishing progress. I'm sure you, too, have felt the increase in our 
confidence and pride, our expectations and aspirations for the future. Our 
momentum is strong and growing. The University of Idaho has a legacy of 
leading. I look forward to building upon that legacy with you. 

Go Idaho...Go Vandals!

Steven B. Daley-Laursen '79, '84
President-designate

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

Thanks to the generosity of the University of Idaho Alumni Association, 
President Timothy White will leave a living legacy for the institution 
he's headed for the past four years. Tim and Karen White will take part in 
the ceremonial planting of a Western White Pine tree on Monday, June 30, 
at 2 p.m. The public ceremony will occur on the east end of the 
Administration Lawn, next to the Spanish-American War memorial statue. 

The Department of Civil Engineering has received the inaugural Walter 
LeFevre Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The 
award recognizes the department's dedication and commitment to licensure, 
ethics and professionalism. "This is national recognition that we are 
doing something that few other institutions actually achieve," said Ed 
Schmeckpeper, civil engineering professor and ASCE student adviser. The 
award is based on the percentage of students from a civil engineering 
department who opt to take the national Fundamentals of Engineering exam, 
the percentage of students who pass the exam and the percentage of faculty 
in the department who are licensed engineers. Engineering graduates must 
pass the exam if they are to progress towards licensure as a professional 
engineer. The department's pass rate for the exam has been almost 100 
percent for the last 10 years.

The University of Idaho McCall Outdoor Science School (MOSS) has received 
a $10,000 grant from General Mills to develop a "Live Well Idaho: 
Encouraging Healthy and Active Lifestyles" curriculum. The curriculum will 
be implemented in the school's five-day residential programs, which serve 
more than 600 Idaho fifth- through seventh-grade students each year. 
Approximately 100 teachers and parents also will participate in healthy 
and active lifestyle components alongside students and act as role models 
for the young learners. 

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Seeya at Farmers' Market, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

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


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