Dear Friends, Vandals love their moms, and this weekend we have a chance to show them -- it’s Mom’s Weekend on the Moscow Campus. Great events are in store: receptions, a fun run, classes, entertainment and more, as a way to say thank you and welcome to the university where they’ve entrusted their children. I’m excited to meet many of the moms and their children; I’m also happy to say that there’s one mom very special to me who will be participating: my wife, Mary Beth. I hope that you will have the chance to meet her. This is our first Mom’s Weekend, and we are looking forward to participating in many of the events! As a residential community, we provide unique opportunities for students to learn, to engage in research, to serve, and to lead. These experiences produce well-rounded students with a world-class education. Students who will be great citizens and leaders, in Idaho and beyond. But for most students, succeeding in college would not be possible without the commitment of moms and dads, and often many other family members and friends. For 125 years, young men and women have left here as leaders, prepared to make a difference in a challenging world because of the quality education they’ve received that helped shape what their families had already developed in them. These successes come from a team effort at home and on campus. The support of great parents and extended family combined with our caring faculty, staff, fellow students, and friends provide the environment that crafts citizens from students. Because of the preparation at home and nurturing on campus, I’m proud to report that nearly 60 percent of our first-time, full-time freshmen will graduate within six years. And that’s phenomenal! That teamwork also helps explain why we’ve been ranked by Washington Monthly as 65th in the nation among universities that are the best in providing our graduates social mobility. Combine that with our recent recognition by Forbes Magazine as the third most affordable national university in the United States, and this is the place for students to be. But for this weekend, it’s all about Vandal moms. So on behalf of the Vandal community, let me say, “Thank you moms!” Go Vandal Moms! Chuck Staben President |