I am thrilled to be back in Moscow among this great Vandal Family. This is a new chapter for the University of Idaho and a time for positive change.
To all our students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends, I pledge to bring a lifetime of passion for my alma mater and years of experience in business and shared governance to support the work you do every day. I cherish this place and view our people as our most important asset. Let’s be excited about what we can accomplish together as we harness our momentum.
As an alumnus, I’ve stayed connected to the university as my career took me around the globe. I know our land-grant university remains a special place, earning a well-deserved reputation for student success, a dynamic research enterprise and a strong connection to communities. The challenges ahead are opportunities for growth and for new ideas to take shape.
There is no place quite like the University of Idaho. This great research university is where breakthroughs happen. Vandals are on the front lines of everything from space exploration to cybersecurity to agriculture and natural resources. We’re leaders in the arts and social sciences. Let’s write new chapters in that success story.
Click here to watch a video message from the president.
Where do we go from here? Our Strategic Plan remains a useful guide to get started. With that underpinning, I have three key priorities to deliver on our mission and elevate our institution. I hope for this to be a renaissance period for U of I. After some hard work setting us up for success, we can be the model that other universities look to. We can be the very best version of the University of Idaho.
I feel we can make significant progress on these priorities over the year ahead:
- Supporting student success: U of I can and should be an innovative, outcomes-oriented institution for our students. Let’s closely examine and work to bolster how we grow our enrollment, enhance our retention efforts, improve our graduation rates and ensure career success. We must deliver the breakthrough experiences our students deserve and our state demands.
- Ensuring excellence across our research, scholarship and creative activity: We are Idaho’s premier research university. I learn more every day about the innovation and ingenuity of our faculty and research teams, and I am deeply impressed. We will continue to connect research to the student experience, and we’ll continue to do work that makes a difference in our world.
- Championing the University of Idaho: We have incredible stories to tell. Lives changed. Discoveries made. Impact generated for communities, organizations and industries. I am proud to be ambassador-in-chief for U of I excellence and will fight to see our story told in the media, in our communities and in the corridors of power in this state. Let’s be proud of our success!
If we excel in those principal priorities, there is no limit to what we can achieve.
As I’ve said, we have challenges. When it comes to budgeting, we need to be able to resource our activities in the short term and the long term. Revenues simply must meet expenses. We also need to make key hires in places like athletics and elsewhere, processes that are already underway.
To immediately take action on our priorities and our challenges, I’m placing an emphasis on informed decision-making, strategic relationships and a reconfigured leadership structure. We are developing working groups made up of people from inside and outside the university and covering multiple areas — university finances, the student experience, and athletics, for instance. Working groups will listen, learn, discuss and then bring recommendations back to me for informed decision-making. They will also help produce and guide roadmaps to implement that decision-making. Chandra Zenner Ford, based in Boise, rejoins U of I to manage the progress of these groups. We will also work on our relationships with key stakeholders, including our State Board of Education. A strong relationship with our board is critical for progress across areas at U of I to meet long-term goals. Based in Moscow, Toni Broyles, another U of I alumna rejoining our team, will lead stakeholder engagement.
I’ll also be meeting regularly with our faculty, student and staff leadership, as well as our community members in Moscow and statewide. Expect more details on these approaches as I have a chance to engage more and the semester draws near. Collaboration, transparency and informed decision-making are my guiding principles.
Tomorrow we’ll have a barbecue on campus, and I’m looking forward to connecting with Vandal friends and community members. After that, I plan to travel around our statewide locations to listen and learn from our Vandals and others. I look forward to being amazed, and strengthening my Vandal pride, if that’s even possible.
I hope you’ll reach out to me or follow my Facebook page. I’m also happy to chat by phone or meet in person. Thank you for the warm welcome to this prestigious role — it truly is an honor. I look forward to working with you to deliver on our mission for our students and our state, now and in the future.
Go Vandals!
C. Scott Green
President
