BAE Alumni Home
Information Form
Bill Wilcke is Regional NCRSARE Coordinator
Greetings From Kevin Janni
 |
Wow, what a year we have had! Our newsletter highlights some of the accomplishments of the faculty, staff and students over the past year. It also has news about some of you, which you have graciously shared with us. I encourage you to glance through the newsletter, give us feedback, and give us updates on your activites. We love to hear from you.
One key accomplishment was word that our undergraduate engineering program was reaccredited after the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) review last December. Vance Morey provided outstanding leadership in preparation and follow-up of the review.
This year’s newsletter highlights some of our workshop activities. Workshops are becoming a bigger part of our outreach activities. They are fee-based; some are entirely self-funded. These workshops support the University of Minnesota’s efforts to increase research-based outreach.
We receive help from our alumni in numerous ways. Many of you contribute financially through the University of Minnesota Foundation (see page 4) through wills, trusts, endowments, charitable gift annuities, and cash. Some of you contribute time and experience as members on advisory boards or presenters in classes. Some of you provide intern opportunities for students and some of you are in positions of authority to hire graduates. Students appreciate the scholarships and work experiences you provide. If you have not contributed in the past, but would like to, please check out pages 4-5. I cannot over emphasize how much we appreciate your support.
This year the 1/4 Scale Tractor Team is soliciting funds to support the development of a winning machine. The 1/4 Scale Tractor is an excellent extracurricular student activity. It is fun as well as a learning experience. I encourage you to consider making a contribution. See page 3 for details.
Recent changes in leadership have created an air of excitement and uncertainty around the University of Minnesota. In November the Board of Regents appointed Dr. Robert Bruininks as the 15th president of the University of Minnesota. The recent election has selected a new governor and new legislature. The 2003 legislature will have at least 21 new senators (5 House members elected to Senate) and 43 new members of the House of Representatives. This provides an opportunity for those of you living in Minnesota to help us again. Your voice, united with others, can have a powerful impact by generating legislative support for the University. The University of Minnesota Alumni Association legislative network is asking alumni and friends to contact your legislators and the governor-elect now to express your support for the University. Visit http://www.umn.edu/govrel for more information.
As alumni you can be proud of your alma mater. For the second consecutive year, the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, ranks among the top three public research universities in the nation, according to a new study by “The Center” at the University of Florida. The report, The Top American Research Universities, 2002, ranks public and private universities that score within the top 25 on nine quantitative measures of quality. These measures include the strength of the faculty, the research program, and private support. If you are interested, the study report can be found at http://thecenter.ufl.edu. The Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering faculty have contributed to this ranking. We have nearly doubled our annual competitive research expenditures over the past two years, increasing the amount by almost a million dollars. Some of these funding sources are highly competitive. Some agencies fund only 10 to 25% of the proposals submitted. It takes a tremendous amount of work to prepare competitive grant proposals and some good ones do not get funded. The Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering faculty and staff are continuing to identify and work on high priority and fundable issues.
I hope next year will be a good one for you. We appreciate hearing from you. Please stay in touch and stop by if you can. Thank you for your help and support.
Alumnus Ken Albrecht Remembers ‘U’
Alumni Participation—Priceless
Undergraduate Program is Reaccredited
|
by Webmaster © Regents of the University of Minnesota. All Rights Reserved. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer. This page is part of the Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering web at http://www.bae.umn.edu/ Privacy Statement |