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.

For more information about these items, please contact University Communications at (208) 885-6291 or uinews@uidaho.edu.