This week we welcomed our students back from Winter Break and are enjoying seeing our campus bustling again. Our University of Idaho community continues to do an excellent job navigating the challenges of the pandemic. Faculty are working to accommodate students who may miss class time due to illness. Our staff members remain flexible and resourceful to meet the needs of our university. And our students are taking precautions to protect fellow Vandals. We are very appreciative of these efforts. They are not in vain. In fact, they’ve put us in a position to continue to grow and build upon our success over the past year. We continue to work on our top priorities as a university. - Last fall we embarked on a mission to raise unprecedented support for student scholarships. The Brave. Bold. campaign is dedicated to student success. Last year we raised more than $22 million for scholarships, and we’re poised to raise even more this year.
- We’re striving to earn Carnegie recognition as a Research 1 (R1) institution by 2025. Reaching this goal will increase our visibility and make our faculty more competitive in applying for grants across the research spectrum. We’re making progress in important areas to reach R1 status, and we’re on the right trajectory thanks to cooperation and collaboration across units and colleges.
- Sustainability is a major theme this year. We’re aiming for sustainability in our budget, in our business practices, in our research, and in our operations. Much of our research at U of I is already directly or indirectly tied to sustainability, and we will look to elevate this as a priority throughout the year.
As always, I welcome your feedback and suggestions for how we can work together to advance toward our goals. Email president@uidaho.edu. Finally, Monday, Jan. 17, is Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Idaho Human Rights Day. U of I will commemorate and celebrate King with events throughout the week, including the keynote address on Thursday, Jan. 20. Phillip J. Roundtree will present, “MLK and Mental Health: The Spirit of Memory.” Registration for the Zoom event is required. |