Here We Have Idaho | Fall 2007

fall 2007 Here We Have

fall 2007

Dollars, sense and sustainability

idaho

Your University Your Family

Here we have

A Timeless Tradition

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Proud families share proud moments.

Celebrating commencement from the University of Idaho is very much a time of pride.

A degree from Idaho can be a family legacy, a timeless tradition that touches every generation.

The Alumni Association’s

32 Unforgettable Vandals Nancy Bechtholdt Koch ’82 and the Athletics Hall of Fame.

Legacy Scholarship helps make lifelong memories

Max Balmain

On the Cover:

of the University of Idaho

Associate Professor of Soil and Water Quality Jodi Johnson-Maynard, third from left, joins members of the Soil Stewards to harvest vegetables and herbs at the club’s organic farm at the Palouse Research, Extension and Education Center east of Moscow.

Johnson-Maynard is faculty adviser to the sustainable and organic farming club.

Cover photo by Joe Pallen.

come true. It’s a one-time scholarship for children of all Idaho alumni.

Share your memories of the University of Idaho with your sons and daughters, and encourage them to make their own.

Departments

Letter From the President

Campus News

Quest

Features 13 It’s a Natural Connection

Idaho’s Environmental Science Program.

16 Economics and Enlightenment

The life and impact of Professor S. M. Ghazanfar.

0 Ag Days 2 Reading, Writing and Roping.

22 Operation Education Update Tom Prewitt ’07 is the scholarship program’s first alumnus. fall 2007

Class Notes 25 Events Upcoming 37

8 Living Smart, Living Well in the 21st Century It’s all about dollars, sense and sustainability.

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2 4 7

Cover Story

One Million Beads – One Piece of Art

The University of Idaho Magazine fall 2007 • Volume 24, Number 3 University President Timothy White

Vice President for Advancement Chris Murray

Assistant Vice President for Marketing and Strategic Communications Wendy Shattuck

University of Idaho Alumni Director Steven C. Johnson ’71

Alumni Association President Andrea Niehenke ’96

University of Idaho Foundation President William G. Gilbert Jr. ’97

Editor

Jeff Olson

Magazine Design Julene Ewert ’91

Illustrations

Nathan Nielson

Class Notes Editor Amber Crowley ’99

Writers and Contributors Hugh Cooke ’74, ’77, ’02 Katie Dahlinger ’05 Leslie Einhaus Donna Emert Nancy Gould-Hilliard Tim Helmke ’95 Jennifer Karinen Bauer Joni Kirk ’98 Bill Loftus ’81 Carol Price Spurling Don Shelton ’65 Matt Strange ’07 Tania Thompson Bruce Woodard

Photographs

Joe Pallen ’96 Kelly Weaver and as credited

www.uidaho.edu/herewehaveidaho

From the President

O

nce again there is something remarkable and exciting happening at the University of Idaho – something that can change our world for the better. A scientific, political, economic and social movement focusing on the issue of sustainability is growing and maturing.

It has sparked the imagination of many students, faculty, staff and administrators, and the tenets of sustainability now guide much of our decision-making.

Sustainability has a common theme at its core: the ability to achieve continuing economic prosperity while protecting the integrity of ecological systems and providing quality of life for all people.

Energy conservation, environmental stewardship and sustainability have gained traction on many university campuses because of rising energy costs, as well as increased knowledge and public sentiment about the value and necessity of sustainable management. The University of Idaho reaps benefits today from many energy conservation measures implemented here two decades ago. And we remain at the forefront of sustainable thinking, living and working by continually adding new energy efficiency measures and new approaches to sustainable management of our campus. In addition, we have incorporated sustainability themes into degree programs and research efforts, and the University’s Strategic Action Plan.

This issue of Here We Have Idaho looks at sustainability as an integral part of the University’s past, present and future. Our collective challenge in the 21st century is to link economic growth to stewardship of our state, national and world resources. I am proud of the University of Idaho’s leading role in this crucial effort to create a stronger, healthier world.

The University of Idaho is an equal opportunity/ affirmative action employer and educational institution. © 2007, University of Idaho Here We Have Idaho magazine is published three times a year, in January, April and August. The magazine is free to alumni and friends of the university.

Send address changes to: PO Box 443147, Moscow, ID 83844-3147.

Send editorial correspondence to: University Communications and Marketing, PO Box 443221, Moscow, ID 83844-3221; phone (208) 885-6291; fax (208) 885-5841; e-mail: uinews@uidaho.edu.

Tim White President

Students in Art 100 classes had a hand in creating a massive community art project over the last two years. The Million Bead Project, led by Moscow artist Jeanne Leffingwell, was created in response to news stories on the world’s population and the extent of the national debt.

Just how much is a million, anyway?

Leffingwell thought the number would be a lot more comprehensible if it were visual.

She worked with some 2,500 people from 22 schools and learning groups to piece together more than one million glass beads that are presented in 35 panels of various shapes and sizes.

Amanda Goldfuss, an animal and veterinary science major from Meridian, wove some 21,000 beads of the 200,000 completed by University of Idaho students.

“People don’t have enough opportunity to be engaged in creative things,” said Sally Machlis, associate professor of art and design and art education. “This project became an interesting and valuable experience for the students because it’s a grassroots community project.

They had to relinquish their individual pieces to be part of a whole.”

The Million Bead Project was featured at the University’s Prichard Art Gallery from mid-May to mid-July.

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Letter Policy

We welcome letters to the editor. Correspondence should include the writer’s full name, address and daytime phone number. We reserve the right to edit letters for purposes of clarity or space.

News Campus

Campus News

TODAY@IDAHO

For more on these stories and for daily University of Idaho news, go to www.today.uidaho.edu.

The University will receive more than $3 million in federal grant awards for three Upward Bound programs. The programs assist high school students from low-income families; high school students from families in which neither parent holds a bachelor’s degree; and low-income, first generation military veterans.

Steven Garrity, a natural resources graduate student studying how trees control carbon dioxide exchange with the atmosphere, has been awarded a national Biosphere Atmosphere Research & Training Fellowship. Only eight or fewer students in the nation are selected to receive this award annually.

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The University of Idaho has doubled its scholarship funds available to in-state high school student leaders. Students who are president of their senior class, high school student body or school’s honor society and have at least a 3.0 cumulative grade point average will receive $1,000. The scholarship now is renewable for a second year if students maintain a 2.8 GPA at the University.

Idaho engineers led by Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Jeffrey Young, in partnership with engineers at the Navy’s Carderock Division, Acoustic Research Detachment at Bayview, have been awarded $1 million to support research on extremely low frequency (ELF) signals associated with mine warfare. Also, electrical and computer engineering professors Herbert Hess and Brian Johnson received $555,000 in Defense Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research funding from the Department of Defense.

They will conduct research at Bayview to research and develop power distribution systems, motor drives and power electronics controls for the U.S. Navy.

Space Elevator team members, left to right: Robert Rebich of Boise; Jeffrey McCowin of Idaho Falls; and Jason Stirpe of Spokane, Wash.

Much More Than Rocket Science For University of Idaho students, rocket science is “so last decade.” In the new millennium, the buzz is about space elevators.

Mechanical engineering student Jason Stirpe saw a public television program on the space elevator and immediately was drawn to NASA’s Space Elevator competition with its $500,000 prize and the unparalleled engineering challenge. Stirpe and teammates put together a proposal seeking $2,500 from the College of Engineering to cover NASA’s entry fee, and college Dean Aicha Elshabini awarded the funds.

“It’s a really intriguing challenge to take the concept of a space elevator from science fiction to science fact,” said Stirpe. “The physics behind it is as if you take a yoyo and swing it around, and the mass on the end being thrust outward keeps the string taut,” Stirpe explained.

But the devil is in the details: NASA and other scientists envision constructing a planet-sized “yoyo” and attaching it to a futuristic carbon nano-tubing ribbon/string about 60,000 miles long.

Once it is firmly attached to a platform on earth, proponents hope to beam people and payloads up the super strong ribbon using robot climbers propelled by lasers.

The Idaho student team is working to create an innovative climber and beamed power source and will compete in the Power Beaming/Climber category at the Annual Space Elevator Games this October in New Mexico.

It started simply enough in 1894 with two students who earned degrees from the University of Idaho. Those two degrees were followed by thousands more and at 2007 May Commencement the University reached a most impressive Paul Risser milestone by awarding its 100,000th degree.

The University had 1,724 candidates for degrees for the 2006-07 academic year.

Graduates were addressed by Paul Risser, acting director of the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of Natural History. “Get out of the frame of reading what is comfortable,” said Risser, and suggested they bring a “breadth of view” into their lives by reading paired viewpoints, such as reading Business Week and Field and Stream magazines, or Science and

People magazines. “You’ll be richer in ideas, have more options, and you’ll find your life more interesting.

Special honors awarded at commencement ceremonies around the state included: Honorary Degree • Former Idaho Gov. John V. Evans • Laird Noh ’60, former state senator • Rotchford L. “Rotchy” Barker ’61, former director and honorary life member of the Chicago Board of Trade.

President’s Medallion • Rev. Percy “Happy” Watkins, pastor of the Spokane, Wash., New Hope Baptist Church • The servicemen and servicewomen of the Idaho National Guard • William “Bill” Holden ’58, alumnus and volunteer • Anna “Patty Duke” Pearce, actress, author and mental health spokeswoman Alumni Hall of Fame • D. John Thornton, ’70, ’73 • Kirby Dyess, ’68 • Sharlene Gage ’64, ’66 • Keith Riffle ’62, ’63

The Class of 2007 Forty-five percent of the graduates were female | Fifty-five percent of the graduates were male Psychology was the most popular major Graduates came from 44 states, three provinces and 28 countries Sixty-three percent of graduates called Idaho home Most common name for male graduates: Robert (followed by Ryan) | Most common name for female graduates: Amanda (followed by Jennifer)

New at the U Arthur M. Taylor is the University’s new tribal liaison.

Since 2002, Taylor has been assistant director of multicultural student programs and services at the University of Notre Dame.

Mark Elison Hoversten joins the University as dean of the College of Art and Architecture.

He previously served as professor Arthur M. Taylor and coordinator of landscape architecture and planning at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas.

Katherine G. Mark Elison Hoversten Aiken, professor of history at the University of Idaho, is the new dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS), the Katherine G. Aiken University’s largest academic division.

She served as interim dean of the college for the last year.

Steven Martin joins the University Steven Martin as director of the Native American Student Center, and will focus on outreach, student retention and program building.

Trudy Anderson Trudy Anderson has been selected as the University of Idaho Boise’s associate vice president and center executive officer. Anderson is no stranger to the University’s Boise center, where she has served as dean since 2002.

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Marking a Milestone at Commencement

Quest

News

research news

Campus

Teaming Up for Leadership

Valuing Location

Idaho design team in New York City, left to right; Nathan Carman, Tara Garrett, Monika Kuhnau, Tami McDonald, Jeffrey Haines, Emily Rawls and Jacob Dunn.

Design for Better Living A team of eight students from the College of Art and Architecture exhibited at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Center in May. A jury of editors from leading design journals hand-selected only six design schools from around the globe to participate in the exhibition.

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The Idaho team designed an exhibit to express

Chelsea Smith, at left, participates in the endowment signing ceremony with President Tim White and Sen. Larry Craig in Washington, D.C.

the idea of embodied energy – the quantity of

Correction

from manufacturing to the point of use.

In the story on Idaho alumni serving in the state legislature in the Spring 2007 issue of Here We Have Idaho, one name was omitted. Senator Lee Heinrich ’65 serves as vice chairman of the Agricultural Affairs committee. With the addition of Sen. Heinrich to the list of legislative leaders, the number of our alumni grows to 25 of the 105 members of the Legislature.

energy a product, material or service requires

For appraisers in an area of rapid growth like metropolitan Boise and its surroundings in Ada and Canyon counties, it’s not the lay of the land that counts most but how far it is from the nearest town. The value of property decreases as the distance from a city increases, although the land’s productivity and land-use regulations affect value, too.

University of Idaho researchers reported that finding in a paper published this month that explores what factors determine farmland values in southwestern Idaho’s Treasure Valley near Boise.

The paper by April Beasley, James Nelson, Ruby Stroschein and Joel Hamilton from the university’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences commemorates agricultural economist Nelson’s efforts. The former head of the college’s Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology Department died unexpectedly Dec. 8, 2006, as the study was concluding.

Old Is New Again Camelina, an ancient oilseed with a name that rolls off the tongue like a verse, has agronomists singing its praises as a potential new crop that can yield food and fuel.

“This is the most exciting crop that I’ve worked with,” said Stephen Guy, a University of Idaho Extension crop management specialist.

The tiny seeds of camelina produce a high proportion of oil. The plants themselves can grow in a wide variety of environments, including some so cold that only barley and wheat can prosper among more conventional crops.

Guy said word about camelina’s potential is generating widespread interest and plenty of calls. After first planting camelina near Moscow two years ago, other Extension colleagues are conducting field trials from southeastern Idaho near Soda Springs to the Treasure Valley near Boise.

Neither Plant nor Animal Curtis Bjork, a botanist with the University of Idaho, likens rainforests in British Columbia to a hotbed of undiscovered species, specifically lichens.

Bjork combed old-growth rainforests near Glacier National Park in Canada’s Kootenay Mountains for new forms of lichen, a creature that is neither a plant nor an animal but has characteristics that it shares with both.

Bjork reports the 13 new species of lichen he discovered with colleague Toby Spribille, a lichenologist from the University of Gottingen in Germany, range from small, pennysized, to tiny, pinhead-sized forms.

The scientists expect to find as many as 50 new lichen species growing on various kinds of coniferous trees in the rainforest. Although generally regarded as nondescript, the lichens’ present a palette of earth tones ranging from orange and grey to pink, russet and onyx.

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When Vandals work together, some very good things can happen.

Like the U.S. Senator Larry E. Craig Student Leadership Endowment.

Craig ’69 has for many years directed that his honoraria for speaking engagements be donated to an endowment fund at the University of Idaho, and the fund has grown to more than $25,000.

Now, current student Chelsea Smith enters the story.

Through her work in student government, Smith became aware of the endowment fund and took a proposal to the Senator last year to use the endowment to provide “opportunities outside of the traditional classroom setting, where students can engage, learn and gain skills from hands-on, real-life leadership experiences. Simply put, learning by doing.”

The proposal, and Chelsea’s enthusiasm and leadership abilities, struck a chord with Craig, who served as ASUI president in the late 1960s. A formal agreement to create the leadership endowment was signed in June in Washington, D.C. “My time at the University of Idaho provided me the environment to grow and become a political leader for Idaho,” said Craig. “I am confident this endowment will provide that same opportunity for tomorrow’s leaders.”

Smith, from Boise, has completed her economics studies and is pursing additional degrees in international studies and French. She also is involved in fundraising projects for ASUI.

Illustrations by Nathan Nielson

Living Smart, Living Well in the 21st Century It’s all about dollars, sense and sustainability Three of the campus leaders directing the University’s sustainability efforts are, left to right, Darin Saul, sustaina bility coordinator; Max Dakins, interim director of the environmental science program; and Richard Nagy, Facilites resource con servation manager.

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arin Saul’s new position as the University of Idaho’s first-ever sustainability coordinator is easier than he anticipated.

“Everyone is already making changes,” said Saul.

“Dozens of serious projects are underway. So I think my role is going to be supporting efforts rather than having to start anything new.”

“Sustainability” is a hot topic these days, although exactly what it means is still a matter of debate. But no matter how sustainability is defined, it is more than just a buzzword at the University of Idaho.

“I think that sustainability will become one of the defining concepts of our time, possibly of this century,” said Max Dakins, interim director of the University’s environmental science program. “Concerns over global climate change, biodiversity loss, the possibility of an energy crisis and what that will mean in terms of affordable access to food and other necessities, the growing disparity between the working poor and the excessively wealthy ... seem to be creating a perfect storm of issues that cross economic, social and environmental boundaries.”

Saul, who has worked for decades in the field of environmental education and literacy, also talks about sustainability in terms of the “big picture.”

“It’s an expansion of our focus, to look at how our individual and institutional lives and operations impact our region and the rest of the world over the long term,” Saul said. ”Carbon emissions, for instance, are only one aspect of sustainability ... Sustainability values the environment, the economy and culture, all three.”

Pretty heady stuff, indeed, but University faculty, staff, administrators and students are taking a hands-on approach to it. Here are just a few examples of sustainability projects already underway: • The University’s new interdisciplinary water resources graduate program, “Water of the West,” begins this fall.

• The new Building Sustainable Communities Initiative is working toward establishing a degree program in Bioregional Planning.

• The Department of Landscape Architecture is constructing a Rain Water Harvest Demonstration Garden at the historic Art and Architecture building to showcase rainwater collection as a viable water conservation innovation.

• The College of Business and Economics, through its Barker Capital Management and Trading Program, provides hands-on experiences for students trading in many different markets including the fast-growing carbon market.

• The University’s National Institute for Advanced Transportation Technology is a national leader in developing tools to reduce congestion on arterials, improve the quality and economic viability of biofuels and reduce the environmental impacts and improve the fuel economy of motorized vehicles.

• The University of Idaho and Canon, one of the largest corporate supporters of conservation and environmental education, have created a professorship designed to educate and develop future conservation scientists and leaders.

• Idaho’s work in biofuels, which began in 1979, now includes a $2 million contract with Gibraltar-based Eco-Energy Ltd. to develop high-value oilseed crops worldwide for alternative fuel production.

• At its highest administrative levels, the University has taken some steps recently to highlight its commitment to sustainability, such as joining the Chicago Climate Exchange, which involves a voluntary commitment to reduce the University’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions six percent by 2010.

The University’s GHG emissions are already relatively low, thanks to its biomass-fueled boiler that put University facilities way ahead of the sustainability curve when it was installed more than 20 years ago. By burning the region’s wood waste instead of natural gas to supply more than 90 percent of the campus’ central steam heating needs, the system adds no more carbon to the atmosphere than would have occurred naturally if the wood had decayed or burned in a forest fire.

The University also led the way in water sustainability almost 30 years ago when it began using treated effluent from the nearby wastewater treatment plant to irrigate most of the green spaces on campus. That saves 120 million gallons of water each year.

Now, the University has partnered with an energy services company to study measures that will reduce energy usage on campus.

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By Carol Price Spurling

“We need to do more than just the simple stuff,” said Richard Nagy, the University’s resource conservation manager, who notes that all the obvious energy-conserving measures have already been started. “This new partnership addresses the central plan infrastructure, with projects worth $20 to $30 million that may go all the way up to a 25-year payback.”

In the past, energy conservation projects with paybacks longer than five or 10 years wouldn’t even have been considered, Saul explained, but the “what’s cheaper this year” mindset is a thing of the past.

Thinking ahead is also the hallmark of the new Sustainable Idaho Initiative (SII) that serves as a think tank and campus sustainability incubator. The initiative offered its first round of grants this spring and divided $15,000 among five proposals.

The largest award went to the Soil Stewards, a group comprised of students, faculty, staff and community members, who have concentrated their efforts on producing organic food and raising awareness about the importance of eating locally grown food.

The Soil Stewards used the grant to build a semipermanent 1,000-square-foot hoophouse at their 3-acre farm near Moscow this spring, a project that’s been on their to-do list for quite a while.

“The hoophouse will help extend our growing season, which will fill more needs on campus for longer-season crops like tomatoes and melons,” said the Soil Steward’s faculty adviser Jodi Johnson-Maynard, associate professor of soil and water management. “We also want to build our

capacity as an outdoor classroom, so that faculty members from all disciplines can take their students there.”

Johnson-Maynard is excited about the hoophouse’s potential to attract attention to the Soil Stewards’ mission, which is increasingly relevant in a society that is becoming more urban all the time.

“At a time when fewer people are directly connected with farms, we have all these students from different disciplines – not just agriculture – coming together over food. This reflects a larger-scale, growing interest in sustainable food systems and an exciting opportunity for the University. One of the more exciting things about the whole Sustainable Idaho Initiative is that now, all the groups that have been taking their own steps toward sustainability are communicating with each other. This is bound to cause new cooperative relationships and greater impact across campus as a whole.” Johnson-Maynard said.

The University’s sustainability initiatives are having an impact not just across campus but across the entire state. Along with its new academic program in bioregional planning, the Building Sustainable Communities Initiative (BSCI) has created two statewide outreach programs – the Learning and Practice Collaborative, and the Center for Effective Planning and Governance – that will help Idaho’s communities and their leaders plan for sustainable futures.

“We will begin working with at least two communities this fall through the Learning/Practice Collaborative, and I am working directly with Extension to identify and prioritize planning projects resulting from the Horizons Project, funded by a grant from the Northwest Continued on page 12

Soil Stewards Locally Grown

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Sustainable transportation issues are being addressed by the University’s National Institute for Advanced Transportation Technology (NIATT). Engineering students showcased their battery-powered hybrid HMMWV (Humvee) at Engineering Design Expo 2007. The Office of Naval Research project aims to power vehicles that are fuel efficient and silent for use in military operations around the globe.

Going organic: The Soil Stewards not only grow and distribute organic vegetables, the group also is raising awareness on the economic value of locally-grown foods.

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The University’s biomass-fueled boiler provides 90 percent of the campus’ steam heating needs.

Ariel Agenbroad

Tom Hansen

The Soil Steward’s organic produce is distributed through a community supported agriculture (CSA) program, a campus farm stand, and the campus food service company, Sodexho, which serves the fresh, local produce at special dinners in University president Tim White’s home.

White, the most visible leader of the University’s sustainability movement, does not take these veggies and fruits for granted.

“It is a wonderful gift to us, both gastronomically – it’s distinctive, tasty and pretty – and because it allows us a great way to impress upon our guests the creativity and ability of our students and faculty,” White said.

As the farm’s profile and production capacity grows, more of its produce will be showcased in Sodexho’s campus food service offerings, sure to be appreciated by the many students who, according to a Soil Stewards survey, care about where their food comes from, how much petroleum was required to transport it, and the manner in which it was grown.

Learn more at http://stuorgs.uidaho.edu/~soilstewards/index.htm

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Continued from page 10

Area Foundation, to assess the needs of Idaho’s rural communities,” said Steve Drown, head of the University’s landscape architecture department, who is leading the initiative with Steve Hollenhorst, head of conservation social sciences. “In addition we have been working with the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe to develop a process to engage students and faculty in a partnership to create a comprehensive plan for the tribal lands.

BSCI’s partnership with the well-established Extension offices in 42 of Idaho’s 44 counties is especially productive, explained Drown.

By last fall, Extension community development team members, working with faculty and students from most of the University’s colleges, had already conducted the first step – “listening sessions” – in Sandpoint, Coeur d’Alene, Worley, Plummer, Lewiston, McCall, Marsing, Twin Falls and Burley. Drown came away from these initial gatherings with a greater understanding of how the University can work with these communities to realize their visions and goals.

“While many communities have benefited from technology, their sense of ‘community’ as such has been diminished either by rapid growth, the inability to manage

that growth, or by the out migration of family and friends to the larger urban areas of the Northwest,” Drown said.

“The localized, regionally based character of the initiative will be an effective partnership between communities and University faculty and students to address these issues collectively.”

Thinking, talking, and taking action toward sustainability – on so many levels – are generating new enthusiasm at the University and around the state; talk to very many people who are involved and you’ll hear plenty of adjectives like “exciting” and “rewarding.”

For Saul, who will help bring the University’s sustainability hopes and dreams to fruition, each day offers fresh motivation.

“What is most exciting is that by working on sustainability, we’re trying to make a better world, culturally, environmentally, economically, and that is really idealistic,” Saul said. “But, at the same time, everything we’re doing makes financial sense. Sustainability doesn’t happen at the cost of other things; every time we save energy we save money. If we reduce garbage, we save money. That is what makes this work. Suddenly, it makes sense to everyone.” I

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Tallahassee cleanup: Robert Neff ’99 on site at a multi-million dollar project in Tallahassee, Fla., where a manufactured gas plant site was reclaimed and turned into a public park.

It’s a Natural Connection Idaho’s environmental science program links the past and the future

By Carol Price Spurling

W

orking on sustainability requires thinking “outside of the box.” and there’s no better example of how beneficial that approach can be than the University of Idaho’s interdisciplinary environmental science program.

“When you’re solving an environmental problem, it requires a whole bunch of different kinds of expertise,” explained Margrit von Braun, dean of graduate studies and professor of chemical engineering. “The University has all that expertise: natural resources, engineering technology for cleaning up water and waste and hazardous materials, political science and philosophy that address the social side of environmental issues, and so on – so we packaged all that into the environmental science program, using mostly existing faculty and courses from all of the colleges.”

The program began in 1993, and has grown into the University’s largest and oldest interdisciplinary program, with approximately 90 graduate students and 130 undergraduates. It is available through the University of Idaho campus in Moscow, its centers in Boise, Coeur d’Alene, and Idaho Falls, and the bachelor’s and master’s degrees also are available online through the Distance Education program.

The program emphasizes the sciences and offers three tracks for undergraduates: biological, physical or social sciences. But students in the program – who come from all over the world – also take courses in a variety of areas including history, economics, environmental law, philosophy, sociology, political science, mathematics and management.

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Brad Beckman

“Designers have a passion for creating something useful for people,” says mechanical engineering professor Don Elger. It is no coincidence that useful designs are often sustainable ones as well.

Some students in the colleges of engineering and agricultural and life sciences learned that lesson firsthand among the Maasai people in Kenya this past year, as part of the students’ senior “capstone” projects, Clearwater Aid and H2Oasis. Elger, along with Tom Hess, served as faculty advisers.

The students worked with the Maasai, who are traditionally nomadic cattle herders, to develop surface water catchment and storage systems, as well as some prototype portable, lowtech water filters to transform muddy surface water – which they usually must share with their cattle – into safe, clean drinking water.

“We have a sustainability problem Professor of mechanical engineering Don Elger, center, served as adviser to students who with water right here on the Palouse, traveled to Kenya to develop methods of providing safe, clean drinking water. Also pictured and the Kenyan lesson transfers are Julius Pulei at left, and Idaho student Whitney Menzel at right. back to the U.S.,” Elger said. “In Kenya or on the Palouse, the solutions have to be economically viable and they have to work over the long term.”

Two of the more promising developments for the Maasai are a “slow sand” filter and another that uses native moringa seeds to attract suspended particles in dirty water and allow them to settle out.

“This is the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done professionally,” Elger said. “We’re working on a problem that really matters, with people who care about others, and who have a passion for getting things done.”

Learn more at http://seniordesign.engr.uidaho.edu/2006_2007/clearwater/Home.html

John Powell

The World is Our Laboratory

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All that positive energy is being felt throughout campus, as Max Dakins and Chris Dixon, environmental science program adviser, continue to direct the Sustainable Idaho Initiative, which resulted not only in the Soil Stewards’ hoophouse, but also in the addition of sustainability considerations to coursework in several departments.

For instance, professor Dean Panttaja in the theater department will expose students to the practical aspects of alternative and green technologies in construction in his Technical Direction class that deals with designing sets for plays. Professor Sharon Stoll, director of the Center for ETHICS, will have her students in Sports in American Society discuss the ethical, environmental and social responsibility issues associated with commercialized mountain climbing.

“The environmental science program has spawned the campuswide emphasis on sustainability, spawned opportunities for faculty to find each other,” said von Braun. “And the University of Idaho is really becoming a leader in interdisciplinary education as a result.” I

Karen Zelch ’99 works for the Army Corps of Engineers in Walla Walla, Wash., and researches salmon migration on the Snake and Columbia rivers.

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Putting the “Science” in Environmental Science

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Hooked on Science

Alan Place

Margrit von Braun led the environmental science program for its first decade, until 2003. Acclaimed by students and colleagues alike for her focus, poise, leadership, accessibility and high standards, von Braun is a worldclass scientist, too. She is an expert in hazardous waste clean-up and related community health risks. It’s taken her to some of the Top 10 most polluted sites in the world – Zambia, China, Russia, Slovenia and the Dominican Republic.

She also is proud of the worldwide impact of Idaho’s environmental science program. One of her former students, Petr Sharov ’02 wrote his master’s thesis on adapting the lead pollution clean-up effort at Idaho’s Bunker Hill mining district to benefit a similar site in Russia. Sharov now is director of cleanup at the site, Rudnaya Pristan, in the Russian Far East.

Von Braun hopes to identify other prospective graduate students from throughout the world as part of an international environmental research initiative developed at Idaho.

“It’s rewarding to have students come into the program and then take Margrit von Braun, dean of the College of what they’ve learned out into the world,” said von Braun. “There are so Graduate Studies and former director of the many opportunities for Idaho to play a role in finding solutions to environmental science program. environmental issues.”

She has spent much of her own career broadening out into other areas.

Trained as an engineer, von Braun reveals with a playful smile that her first publication was not in a scientific journal.

“I took a Japanese literature in translation class, and I translated a haiku that my professor published in a poetry anthology,” von Braun said. “Science is my passion, but I’m also interested in lots of other things.”

Moscow Mayor Nancy Chaney ’02 is a graduate of the environmental science program.

After many years of nursing, Nancy Chaney ’02 was ready for a career change.

“I Googled words related to things that give meaning to my life: nature, wildlife, people, water, trees, clean air, science, psychology… To my amazement, someone had already conceived of the field of environmental science.”

So, at age 45, Chaney enrolled in the University of Idaho’s environmental science program, and was immediately hooked.

“The energy of being on campus, the unqualified acceptance of non-traditional students like me, and the affirmation that I could still do well in school fueled my enthusiasm, but it was the interdisciplinary subject matter that absolutely captivated my attention,” Chaney said. She earned her master’s degree in 2002.

Now Chaney is the mayor of Moscow. While she did not expect her education to lead to a career in politics, she finds herself drawing on it every day.

“Moscow is becoming a model for environmental responsibility, and many of these efforts were inspired by my education at the University of Idaho, where I learned about the connection between the well-being of this region and the people who live here,” Chaney said. fall 2007

to remediate contamination from a former manufactured gas plant site so the area can become a public park. The clean up was under the regulation of the state and the Environmental Protection Agency. Such projects make him more appreciative of interdisciplinary classes he took such as Politics of the Environment.

“Everything I do now involves politics,” he said.

An interdisciplinary approach to academics benefits faculty as well as students.

Adam Sowards, assistant professor of history, teaches American Environmental History. Because the course satisfies one of the environmental science requirements, usually one-quarter to a one-half of all the students who enroll in the class are environmental science majors.

“One of the really nice things about that is that I end up with a mix of students. Students are supposed to learn from each other in the classroom, and that happens more in this course than in any other classes that I teach,” Sowards said. “They have different strengths and vastly different perspectives; it’s great for discussion.”

It is also great, not surprisingly, for Sowards’ outlook on life.

“Historians tend to be a little cynical,” Sowards admitted. “But environmental science students come here to solve problems; they’re very optimistic. And whenever I have a meeting with the environmental science people, I always leave feeling better than when I went in. The program is run by people who are forward thinking and acting.”

Ben Tice, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

“The program allows students to experience the complicated world of the environment from many angles,” said Karen Zelch ’99, a Pittsburgh native who earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in environmental science at Idaho. “Everyone on the planet is connected by large scale environmental processes like climate, and the environmental science program is developing students who are able to address these global issues…and who are learning about the connections between these processes and the politics which drive policy.”

Zelch works for the Army Corps of Engineers in Walla Walla, Wash., and researches migrating salmon on the Snake and Columbia rivers. She collaborates with all the various federal, state and tribal agencies that study the rivers and the Columbia’s estuary.

Environmental science program graduate Robert Neff ’99 is a project manager at WRS Infrastructure & Environment, Inc., in Tallahassee, Fla. “The interdisciplinary aspects of the program allowed me to branch out, and my senior thesis allowed me to work closely with faculty,” said Neff. “It completely prepared me for the job market.

“I also participated in a month-long internship in Far East Russia, studying lead pollution from mining and smelting activities, similar to the situation in Kellogg, Idaho. Getting the chance to go overseas and collect data and be involved with the Russian students was a great learning experience.”

Neff recently has worked on a very public, multimillion dollar clean-up project in downtown Tallahassee

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Economics and Enlightenment

Ghazi’s World –S. M. Ghazanfar

By Nancy Gould-Hilliard

IDAHO

S 16

eeking peace and justice in a divided world actually does relate to supply and demand, free trade, public finance, global development and all the subjects taught in college economics.

At least that message has been transmitted over nearly four decades to more than 10,000 students of Shaikh Mohammed Ghazanfar, professor and chairman emeritus of economics at Idaho.

Like the fabled shepherd who planted 100 acorns a day to transform French hillsides into oak forests, Ghazanfar advances human rights one lesson at a time – both in and out of the classroom.

An Indo-Pakistani refugee with Islamic roots, Ghazi, as he is widely known, has been part of the Palouse fabric for half a century. He considers himself a “citizen of the world” and Moscow, Idaho, his perch from which to view it. He is a voice of reason in times of crises and a wise mentor to students becoming world citizens.

Learning Moments

Audrianna Gurr ’92, a counselor at Oregon Health and Science University, emulates Ghazi’s “reaching out to those with multicultural values.”

“During the first Gulf War, he helped us understand cultural differences and how not to generalize about people from Muslim countries. Ghazi Ghazi was born in India, made the economics of survival and at age 10 his family apparent to me. He blended the was forced to migrate to more mundane numbers with Pakistan. the human aspect of third-world economics. He inspired me to see the world beyond our very homogeneous campus.”

For Ghazi, history-making conflicts become “learning moments” to dispel stereotypical thinking about the ArabMuslim culture and other prejudices. When the 2001 terrorist attack resulted in ethnic profiling and the jailing of an Idaho graduate student from Saudi Arabia, Ghazi emphasized the need to presume his innocence until proven guilty – regardless of appearances.

“As I drove home from campus (the evening of Sami Omar al-Hussayen’s arrest in February 2002), I thought maybe there will be a bunch of police cars in front of my house,” Ghazi was quoted in the Lewiston Morning Tribune. As a member of the Muslim faith, he said he felt vulnerable despite his 45 years of living here. “Fear has been rampant throughout the country, and now here.”

As part of a Borah Symposium panel in 2005, Ghazi showed how propaganda shaped people’s regard for most citizens of his background after 9-11.

He went further, in fact, said Idaho Rep. Tom Trail.

“When international students were discriminated against, Ghazi stepped forward to work with everyone, writing and speaking about bringing people together to calm the situation.

The Prophet Mohammad did not base Islam on the sword, despite Western myth, Ghazi insists. “The name Islam signifies peace and reconciliation and is not violence-oriented. ‘Jihad’ means struggle to enhance personal and common welfare.”

Rather than generalize from the extremists, Ghazi urges Fulfilling his dream for a better understanding of college education: Ghazi mainstream Islam. at Washington State Ghazi sees the brightest University in 1960 from pathway via replacing polarized the Chinook yearbook. paranoia with pluralistic tolerance. Toward this end, he has written scholarly articles, presented papers at international meetings and documented historical truths.

One of Ghazi’s students in the late 80s has become his colleague in the College of Business and Economics. Steven Peterson, instructor and research economist, appreciates first hand Ghazi’s 150 professional publications on public finance, economic development of third-world countries and Islamic contributions to the West.

“Ghazi mentored me all along the way, just as he has for others since the 1960s,” says Peterson. “I now hear myself using his global perspective of the economic problems the planet faces. He has this disarming way of engaging people and stretching them to do their best. His passion is truly endearing.”

Sidney Strong ’02 is a lease accountant for Boeing aircraft. “Whenever I hear the word mentor, Ghazi comes to mind – so important to my academic and professional career. I’m sure I learned all about supply and demand from him, but Ghazi’s encouragement left a lasting impression. He demanded the best from both good and struggling students. He taught me the importance of hard work, humility and determination.” fall 2007

“Try to leave the world a little better than the one you inherited. You’ll never really know if you’ve succeeded – but have you tried?”

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Ghazi’s Own Journey

A portrait of Rukhsana and Ghazi on their first wedding anniversary.

Ghazi’s father-in-law and his mother in 1981.

IDAHO

The Ghazanfar family: front; Rukhsana ‘71 and Ghazi.

Back: Asif ’94, Farah ’92 and Kashif ’97.

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There is no last class: Professor Ghanzafar retired in 2002 but continues to teach business courses part time. Here, he poses with a class in 2003.

Ghazi maintained international networks that enriched his teaching. During sabbaticals, he taught and researched at Punjab University in Pakistan and King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia.

Today at 70, the semi-retired scholar and his wife “can’t seem to get away from campus life and are so deeply embedded in the community, we can’t move away from this wonderful place,” he writes to a former student. The Ghazanfar’s grown children, all educated at the University of Idaho, now live at three corners of the country.

Retirement, in Word Only To refute the radical fringe image of the majority of Muslims, Ghazi recently published a compendium of 550 works in a book “Islamic Civilization: History, Contributions and Influence.” It documents Arab-Islamic culture from 600 AD. The book is a window to literature pertaining to Islamic history and Islam’s contributions to knowledge, and its influence in medieval Europe.

Ghazi’s biggest challenge, he says, has been to connect intellectually and at the human level with others. His office hours are 24/7 and he has picked up foreign students at the airport or let them stay over until they get settled.

“I allow students to share their personal problems if they feel comfortable and let them know it’s okay as long as they do their best. My advice to them is to give their adversaries a break. Don’t hold grudges – learn to give.

Recognize the positive outcomes of all associations.”

Likewise he practices this approach as his own motivation. He dedicated his recent book to his father who died when Ghazi was 4. He “gave me so much in so little time. In a real sense, his death gave me life.”

Ghazi’s has won numerous distinguished faculty awards, community and humanitarian awards, and even a room in the J.A. Albertson Building is soon to be named Ghazi’s Place Team Room. “It’s a place where students can meet, discuss important issues of the day, and reflect on comments from their mentors, exactly the environment Professor Ghazanfar fostered during his many years of service to the University of Idaho,” says Dean Jack Morris of College of Business and Economics.

Despite scores of recognitions, Ghazi’s East-West nexus can trouble his psyche.

At times he has felt “the outsider” and even “the suspect.” He once was interrogated by the FBI, making him wonder if the only acceptable Muslim is one who goes along with everything. It chilled his activism.

How best to strive for a new world order of common humanity? Ghazi urges individuals to “shuck arrogance and believe there’s something to learn from everyone. Build bridges, avoid condescension or confrontation.

“Make it contagious.” I

fall 2007

Ghazi aspires to “reunite all his cousins.” These include humans of every race, ethnicity, religion or other differences, he says. Ghazi and others carried that banner during the CommUNITY Walk in Moscow in April.

Byron Dangerfield, former dean of the business college and Ghazi’s boss for 16 years, says Ghazi lived “the great American success story, and that had a profound effect on students.”

The road from Pakistan to Idaho molded Ghazi’s compassion for the underdog. He came in 1958, as a 21year-old with proof of admission to Washington State College, despite having only a 10th grade education and $50 to his name.

He soon became a homesick freshman at WSC who cried himself to sleep each night, and got up to a job scrubbing floors and doing dishes in order to survive.

“But when you are driven, you don’t mind starving,” he says, remembering this chance to help him escape the poverty and atrocities wrought by Partition in 1947, when the British left India divided in two. Pakistan had become the Islamic state and India a secular one.

Ghazi was just 10 then, and his family was forced to migrate from Philaur, India to Lahore, Pakistan with nothing but the clothes they were wearing. Energized by mob mentality, hundreds were crammed on buses, and his mother made him sit on the floor so as not to see all the carnage occurring outside the window.

In Lahore, they slept on the sidewalk until they could find shelter, and within months, his stepfather beseeched him to find foster homes, saying he could not afford to keep him. He shifted around, living with relatives, and when he matriculated 10th grade at age 14, he learned typing and shorthand. That became the modest means to survive and provide some kickback to his demanding stepfather. Further education had to be postponed, but the yearning never diminished.

When he began working for the U.S. Agency for International Development, he learned of opportunities to make a better life through more education, and WSC became his destination.

Once in Pullman in 1958, Ghazi struggled through his bachelor’s degree work, knowing he had to maintain grades to keep his student visa, keep a job to send money home, pay his $50 rent, and live meagerly. He graduated with honors and was accepted into the master’s program in economics. He felt as though he was on top of the world and even had a small stipend.

At age 28, with degrees in hand, he returned to Pakistan to visit his sisters and mother, and they introduced him to Rukhsana, his future wife. Just before they married in 1965, Ghazi cut off all ties with his bully stepfather and struck his final blow for freedom.

He and his new wife returned to the Palouse and Ghazi completed his doctorate in 1968 and began his teaching career at Idaho. He and Rukhsana set up housekeeping in Moscow where they established a family of three children and Rukhsana also earned a master’s degree in counseling from Idaho.

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Reading, Writing and Roping

A

g Days has been a University of Idaho tradition since 1959.

Sponsored by the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the event celebrates the University’s land-grant heritage and the industry’s importance to the state. Ag Days events include a food fair sponsored by student groups, a college barbecue and an alumni gathering.

Ag Days also attract high school students from across the state to visit the University of Idaho’s Moscow campus to preview college opportunities.

“We plan it so students have fun and they have the chance to learn about things they might be interested in studying in fun and active ways,” said Kim Nelson, the college’s student recruitment coordinator.

This year’s student workshops include sessions devoted to: • the fashion business; • international cooking that helps put foreign cultures in context; • the science of play and how young children develop; • ways microbiologists study disease organisms that cause the common cold or polio; • strategies to identify and solve water resource challenges; and • biodiesel production from field to fuel.

Ag Days are Sept. 28-29. A complete listing of workshops and registration forms are available at www.cals.uidaho.edu/ag days.

IDAHO

fall 2007 fall

Jessica Smith, a senior agricultural education major from Walla Walla, Wash., and president of the Collegiate FFA chapter on campus, shows she knows how to throw a rope during Ag Days 2006.

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21

by Joni Kirk

“The Operation Education Scholarship Program is making a meaningful difference in the lives of the wounded veterans that it supports, as well as in the lives of their families.” ­–Karen White, Operation Education Chair

IDAHO

Operation Education

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Redefines Civilian Life for Wounded Veterans

Tom Prewitt ’07 is the first graduate of the Operation Education Scholarship Program.

at Kandahar Air Field in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Prewitt and his unit ensured some 1,700 airlifted troops had an operable air field from which to take off and land.

After finishing his service stateside at Ft. Campbell, Ky., Prewitt began taking courses at Lexington Community College in preparation for a wildlife resources degree – a field of interest since he was a teenager.

Prewitt shakes his head as he recalls the temporary job he held while going to school. “I was doing landscape work and busting my back for $10 an hour. It made me realize I was in college because I didn’t have the body of a young man anymore and I couldn’t do this work forever.”

With enough credits under his belt, he applied for transfer to the University of Idaho and was accepted.

In August 2004, the Prewitts eagerly prepared for their move to Moscow; he was about to realize his dream. Or so he thought.

The day they moved, Prewitt received recall orders from the Army, much to his frustration.

Upon reporting for duty in South Carolina, Prewitt finally was able to meet with a surgeon and was exempted from active duty; he completed his commitment to the Army in April 2006 and returned to Idaho to complete his degree.

Last fall, through the Hawley-Jameson Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 2905 in Moscow where he serves as chaplain, Prewitt learned about a scholarship that would help fully fund his education. The Operation Education

Scholarship was established by the University of Idaho last year to assist wounded members of the U.S. military.

The scholarship enhances the Montgomery G.I. Bill, which currently provides veterans with $1,075 a month for a maximum of 36 months to cover education expenses.

Additional expenses incurred while pursuing an education can overwhelm young veterans and their families, particularly if the veteran is disabled.

Operation Education provides veterans with financial and social support and resources – such as tuition, fees and books, on-campus housing, transportation, medical assistance, child care, adaptive equipment, tutoring and mentorship – while pursuing a college degree at the University’s main campus in Moscow. The program also is available for spouses and is designed to assist veterans and their families as they seek to enhance their future through higher education. The program is the first of its kind in the nation.

“The instant I heard about Operation Education, I knew it was a scholarship for me; I deal with pain every day of my life,” said Prewitt. “I heard that the scholarship was established for disabled vets from Iraq and Afghanistan to pursue their education and not feel that their disability hinders them.”

He applied for the scholarship in December 2006 and received funds to help cover his educational costs for spring semester 2007, his final semester at the University.

“Money was tight for a while, so it was a relief to get it,” he said.

This May, with his wife and son looking on, Prewitt received a University of Idaho bachelor’s degree in wildlife resources, commencing a new chapter in life.

Cy Kammeier, editor of Purple Heart magazine, said Operation Education is a real feather in the hat of the citizens of Idaho. “I am confident it represents a wise investment; one that will enable veteran Tom Prewitt to continue making a contribution to all Americans,” he said.

A second University of Idaho student also is receiving financial assistance from Operation Education.

“We are encouraged that our vision for Operation Education has been realized so readily,” said Karen White, University of Idaho first lady and chair of the scholarship program. “The Operation Education Scholarship Program is making a meaningful difference in the lives of the wounded veterans that it supports, as well as in the lives of their families.”

The Helping Our Heroes Foundation, which provides funding, services and volunteers to veterans wounded in operations in Iraq or Afghanistan, provided initial funding for the scholarship program and has pledged continued support. Additional support for Operation Education has come from University of Idaho alumni and supporters.

Two alumni donated $25,000 to establish the Lt. Donald Frank Ware Endowment as the first alumni response to Operation Education. An F-100 fighter pilot, Ware was killed in a mid-air collision during a combat training exercise over England in 1963. He attended the

fall 2007

O

n any given day, Tom Prewitt ’07 spends time analyzing wildlife in northern Idaho to ensure the animals are adjusting to rehabilitated habitats. Sitting in tall grass or slugging through riverbank mud as a wildlife habitat biologist, Prewitt is at home in the wild and is one with nature.

Only a few months into his career, Prewitt says he’s already achieving his dreams. While wrapping up the final semester of his wildlife resources degree, Prewitt was hired by the Coeur d’Alene Tribe; he began work immediately after his May 12 graduation.

He manages mitigation land acquisitions for the Tribe, helping rebuild terrestrial and aquatic habitat that was lost by hydroelectric dam construction by the Bonneville Power Administration.

“We’re rehabbing land acquisitions as replacement habitats to offset those that were lost when BPA built and filled the dams,” Prewitt said.

An example of the prompt and easy career transition that all university graduates hope for following commencement, Prewitt’s success is meaningful at a different level.

“If not for this scholarship, along with others, I would have been forced to spend more time at work instead of studying,” said Prewitt. “Money started to become scarce the first semester after my son was born, so I cannot thank the University of Idaho enough for creating Operation Education, which recognizes veterans’ unique needs such as mine.”

Prewitt’s graceful stride as he walked across campus with his wife, Andrea, and son, Logan, on commencement day belied the daily pain he still struggles to overcome.

A veteran of the Army, Prewitt sustained injuries from activities related to his duties, including permanent disability in his knees, three surgically repaired ligaments in his left ankle and a weak right ankle. His injuries hamper day-to-day activities.

In his laid-back manner, despite his injuries, Prewitt shows no disdain for the military. He relays his experience in a matter-of-fact way.

Following his 1998 high school graduation in Boyd, Wisc., Prewitt enlisted as a heavy construction equipment operator for the Army’s 101st Airborne Division. Early in his military career, his unit supported Joint Task Force Six, along with the Marine Corps, in Texas for drug and immigration enforcement operations along the U.S.Mexico border. Several months after the Sept. 11, 2001, tragedies, Cpl. Prewitt and his unit were assigned to Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Prewitt said he didn’t know fear until he boarded a plane in Germany in January 2002 and war became a reality. His was the first Army unit to enter the Afghanistan war zone.

“We had to load our M16s prior to takeoff, and when we landed, we were told by the Air Force to hurry up and get off their plane,” said Prewitt. “That’s when the danger of the situation sunk in.”

During the six-month tour in Afghanistan, his unit was responsible for reconstructing and maintaining the runway

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Alumni

Class Notes

IDAHO

University of Idaho for one year and then received an appointment to the U. S. Air Force Academy, graduating as a member of the Academy’s second graduating class in 1960. He also was “Top Gun” in his fighter combat training class.

The couple, who wish to remain anonymous, have known many returning veterans who received severe physical wounds as well as emotional scars that may never be fully understood. “These veterans deserve any and all assistance we can provide to help them resume a normal life,” said the donor, a class of ’65 alumna.

She emphasized that just being treated by the veterans hospitals, receiving some dollar compensation, and being “dumped back into society” will not prepare them to be the valuable, experienced citizens we so sorely need. The Operation Education Scholarship will help them overcome difficult obstacles and ensure they get a college education.

“These terrific young women and men can teach us so much about courage and perseverance. We, as a nation, cannot turn our backs on them,” said her husband, an alumnus from the class of ’63. “Through this scholarship, the University will work with them to regain self esteem and the ability to support their families. In return, society will be rewarded many times over.”

The couple hopes that other alumni join them in donating to the scholarship program. They also urge current students to begin the habit of “giving back” by donating. Individuals, as well as all living groups, can participate.

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Support Operation Education Gifts in support of Operation Education may be made by calling the University of Idaho at (208) 885-6059, or online at www.uidaho.edu/ OperationEducation.

For those attending homecoming celebrations in Moscow this fall, Idaho Night Out will provide an additional and easy way to contribute. Proceeds from various restaurants and other businesses on Monday, Oct. 8, will be donated to support Operation Education. For more information and a list of participating businesses, contact alumni@uidaho.edu.

For more information or to obtain an application for the scholarship, veterans should contact John Sawyer at the University of Idaho, (208) 885-7979 or johns@uidaho.edu, or visit www.uidaho.edu/ OperationEducation.

A Story Worth Telling For 118 years, the University of Idaho has provided the people of Idaho an education rivaling that of the best universities in the nation. Our cutting-edge research has allowed the state, its people and its business and industry to excel. And our alumni have established a remarkable legacy as leaders here in Idaho, in the nation and in the world.

As we move toward our 119th year, the University of Idaho continues to expand its service and leadership to all Idahoans. We are strong financially, our mission is well defined and we are guided by a highly capable leadership team.

We simply need the help of all alumni to tell the story of this wonderful university.

As an alumnus who worked in the agriculture industry, I have always been aware of the benefits the university provides Idahoans, especially in agriculture. Now, just over six months into my new position as your alumni director, I have an even greater appreciation for what this university means to every citizen of Idaho. From Sandpoint to Idaho Falls, from Seattle to Washington, D.C., I have met with alumni who benefited in so many ways from the University of Idaho and prospered in their careers and lives. These are stories worth telling.

Since 1898, Idaho alumni have gathered together to share stories of their college days and the impact the university has had in their lives, and simply to promote the university. A major goal for the Alumni Association will be to provide you with the information and the opportunities to tell the wonderful story of the University of Idaho everywhere you go. Thanks for your help.

Go Idaho!

Steve Johnson ’71 Executive Director of Alumni Relations

Alcie Ingle Nethken ’36 and Steve Johnson, alumni director.

I Want to Shake Your Hand

By Jennifer Karinen Bauer

In the midst of the Great Depression, Alcie Ingle Nethken ’36 left home to take on the rest of her life.

There was no question that the University of Idaho would be her first stop, despite the financial strain college would put on her family. “We were born that way. That was our future. We didn’t think there was any question of somewhere else to go,” says Nethken, 93, who grew up on a Kendrick farm homesteaded by her grandfather in 1884.

At college, she worked various jobs, including living with an agriculture professor’s family and taking care of the children for room and board. Like many women at the time, Nethken studied education. She remembers one female law student: “I really envied her, but I guess it was easier to go along with custom. If I had my life to live over again... ” she adds wistfully.

In 1936, she joined three other teachers to head for the remote Idaho town of Stites, where she met Norman Nethken. They married in 1939. Not long after, Norman left for aviation school in San Diego. Alcie taught in Stites for four years, sending money to help him.

In 1950, the couple headed for the Alaska Territory. While Norman helped establish the Federal Aviation Agency, Alcie found a job in an Anchorage law firm where the attorneys were interested in statehood. “For some reason or another, I always seemed to get the hardest jobs,” she says with a laugh.

She typed mountains of documents that helped pave Alaska’s way into the Union. It became a state in 1959 but her work wasn’t done. Her boss became Alaska’s Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, charged with setting up its court system. Typing all the courts’ rules and regulations took four years and when she was done, she says, she was tired. She became a potter.

Using the clay soil that contributed to the devastation of the 1964 Alaska Earthquake, she called her vessels Earthquake Pots. They sold well at local boutiques until Norman retired in 1975 and the couple moved to Lewiston to care for their mothers.

They traveled around the globe and were married 67 years before Norman died in March. Alcie continues to explore the world through her computer, which she learned to use when she was in her 80s because arthritis was crippling her ability to write.

“I thought maybe I was too old, but you know, it worked out pretty good.” I

fall 2007

Tom Prewitt with wife, Andrea, and son, Logan.

Others not immediately connected to the university also are donating to Operation Education.

Engaged couple Meagan Bacharach and Chris Rizzo of Virginia, both Army officers, realized they don’t need many items when they marry this coming January. They asked wedding guests to contribute to one of two service-member-benefit opportunities in lieu of the traditional wedding registry items.

Bacharach, the daughter of two University of Idaho alumni, Sam ’71, ’80 and KayEllen ’69 Bacharach, chose Operation Education as her designated organization. Her mother, Kay Ellen, serves as the Alumni Association’s National Capitol Region alumni director.

Bacharach currently is doing a Nephrology Fellowship at Walter Reed Medical Center.

Rizzo, a major in the Army, currently is deployed overseas.

“We are honored that Meagan and Chris have added Operation Meagan Bacharach and Chris Rizzo Education to their registry,” said White. “They know first-hand the benefit of such a program, and their support speaks highly of what we’re trying to accomplish.”

“We also encourage other colleges and universities to establish similar programs for wounded veterans seeking to complete an education and transition to civilian life,” White said. “We’ve done the hard work necessary to create a pilot program; now it’s their turn to step up and provide opportunities for these men and women who have served our country so graciously and honorably.” I

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Alumni

Class Notes

David F. Weeks ’49 received the Distinguished Public Service Award of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology during its annual meeting attended by more then 10,000 scientists from 72 countries. The award acknowledges his commitment and national leadership role in advancing ophthalmic science.

1950 Roy D Merrill ’56 retired from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as an electronic engineer in applied science. He and his wife of 53 years, Ina, have settled in the Rossmoor Retirement Community in Walnut Creek, Calif.

1960 Royce Chigbrow ’61 a veteran Boise accountant was appointed to a six-year term on the Idaho Tax Commission.

Ben Marra ’62 and his wife, Linda, were honored during a reception by Omaha’s elite Bodmer Society at the Joslyn Art Museum in Seattle, Wash., for their work together in photographer and documentation respectively.

Their year-long exhibition, “Faces from the Land: A Photographic Journey through Native America,” features 40 portraits of powwow dancers, each accompanied by personal narratives.

Richard Jacobsen ’63, dean of the Idaho State University College of Engineering, received the Idaho Society of Professional Engineers Excellence in Engineering Educator Award. Jacobsen is the former dean of the University of Idaho College of Engineering.

IDAHO

James Morfitt ’63 retired in April from his job in the 3rd District courts.

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Dale Bosworth ’66, U.S. Forest Service chief, retired in February after a 41-year career with the agency that started in northern Idaho’s St. Joe River backcountry.

Frank Reberger ’66 returned to the Edmonton CrackerCats in a dual role of field manager and pitching coach.

Reberger began his baseball career 41 seasons ago after his senior year at Idaho. He signed a contract with the Chicago Cubs and played for their Pioneer League affiliate.

Ron Dean ’67, who supervised the state elk feed grounds for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department for more than 32 years, has retired.

Sue Hovey ’68 received the Friend of Education Award from the Moscow Education Association.

She is a retired teacher.

Dr. Dayal Meshri ’68 is founder of Advance Research Chemicals in Tulsa, Okla., the largest producer of custom fluorine-based chemicals that serves hundreds of companies in dozens of countries.

1970 Randy Stoker ’72, Twin Falls County magistrate, was appointed to Idaho’s 5th Judicial District in Twin Falls.

He worked in private practice and as a public defender until being appointed magistrate in 2003.

Jim Cash ’73 received the 2006-07 Secondary Teacher of the Year award from the Moscow Education Association. He is an earth science teacher for the Moscow School District.

Julie Rae Monroe ’73 has written two new books, “Latah County (Images of America)” and “Moscow,” both published in 2006 by Arcadia Publishing.

Both feature photos from the archives of the Latah County Historical Society where Monroe is a volunteer.

Sally Moss ’73 has been named director of Human Resources at Desert Commercial Bank in California. She will oversee all HR-related activities in the bank’s offices in Palm Desert

and El Centro. Moss becomes the first executive to head the bank’s newly created human resources department.

Elaine Romano ’73 is the owner of Mill Park Publishing in Eagle, and recently signed a book contract with a national publisher to write a humorous book for women.

Lucinda Weiss ’73 received the College of Law Faculty Award of Legal Merit at the college’s commencement ceremony in May. Linda Baxter ’74 was honored by the Moscow Education Association as the 2006-07 Elementary Teacher of the Year. She is a special education teacher at McDonald Elementary in the Moscow School District.

Lawrence Baum ’75 has retired from his consulting practice and turned to the sea. He earned his U.S. Coast Guard Masters papers and started a sailing and powerboat instruction and chartering business, Camano Sail and Power, LLC, on Camano Island, Wash.

Bob Brueggeman ’75 was selected as the county engineer for Spokane County in Washington. Brueggeman served in the role on an interim basis since October.

Laurie Carlson ’75 received a book award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, for her children’s biography, “Thomas Edison for Kids: His Life and Ideas.” The award recognizes science writing for children.

Mike Schuler ’75 has been selected as vice president of exploration for Explorator Resources Inc. and involved in Chilean copper and gold mining projects. Schuler is a geologist with more than 30 years experience in mineral exploration worldwide.

John T. Hawley ’76, a Boise attorney, has been appointed a magistrate judge in the 4th District Court.

Rod Johnston ’78, is director of planning and development for Mountain Air, a 1,300 acre private community in the North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains.

Bob Moseley ’78, ’85 has been appointed director of conservation programs in Illinois by the Nature Conservancy.

Tom Neiwirth ‘78 has been hired by Hummel Architects to manage its new office in Twin Falls.

Ed Button ’79 was appointed Moscow city fire chief. He has served as interim fire chief since April 2007.

Karen Roetter ’79 has been promoted to regional director in Coeur d’Alene for Senator Mike Crapo. She served as staff assistant in the office for the past six years.

1980 Lynn Baird ’80 has been named dean of the library at the University of Idaho. She served as the interim dean since September 2006.

Diane Rowen Garmire ’80, a teacher in Spokane, Wash., was selected from a pool of 1,700 applicants to participate in the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program. Along with 200 other educators she will visit Tokyo and learn about the Japanese culture. She then will travel and have direct contact with the Japanese teachers and students in primary, secondary schools as well as colleges.

Russ Girsberger ’81 released his third book, “A Manual for the Performance Library,” published by the Music Library Association.

He is ensemble librarian at the Juilliard School in New York City.

Scott Gerber ’83 is the president of NorCal Commercial Inc., a real estate investment company located in Larkspur, Calif.

Linda McFaddan ’83 has been selected as the new district ranger of the Bonners Ferry Ranger District for the Idaho Panhandle National Forests.

McFaddan has been with the forest service since 1988.

David Brown ’84 works for the municipal and state services division of MWH, an environmental engineering and construction company. He will oversee operations for MWH’s offices in Oregon and Washington.

Richard F. DeLong ’84, ’86 was appointed to the board of directors of Terraco Gold Corp. He has worked in the minerals industry for more than 25 years as a geologist and environmental manager.

John L. Heffner ’84 is the president and CEO of Creative Nail Design and was honored in July by the City of Hope and The National Professional Salon Industry with the Spirit of Life Award in Las Vegas, Nev. Wayne Herrenbruck ’84 joins Hatter Creek Land Company as the new real estate agent.

Dirk Perry ’85 has joined Acuity Insurance as its Idaho sales territory manager.

Bob Vorhies ’85 received the Education Support Professional of the Year award from the Moscow Education Association.

He is special education instructional assistant for Moscow High School.

Roger Willman Trail ’89 is the new Clarkston High School principal. Trail comes to Clarkston from Coos Bay, Ore., where he most recently served as assistant principal of the high school.

1990 Frances Dobernig Mitchelson ’90 served the University of Idaho as Greek adviser from 198789 and has been selected as a Woman of Distinction in Pittsburg, Kan. Thomas Moore ’90 was selected as the Great Falls, Mont., public school’s assistant superintendent of grades seven through 12. He comes from Spokane, Wash., where he was principal of West Valley High School.

Tammy Everts ’91 of Grandview, Wash., was hired as the Yakima County Development Association’s (New Vision) marketing and development coordinator. She will work to raise the Yakima Valley’s image as a business location.

Greg Zanot ’88 has joined Bank of America as senior vice president and senior client manager for its Idaho area commercial banking group.

Sinh N. Gibbon ’92 has served active duty in the U.S. Army for 13 years. He volunteered for a one-year combat tour last year and works in the Multi National Corps-Iraq headquarters at Camp Victory, Baghdad, Iraq. During this time, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his actions.

Brian K. Allen ’89 has joined Crushpadwine.com as the accounting manager.

Jill Hanoka ’92 is the owner of a new Moxie Java store in Mission Viejo, Calif.

Daniel X. Brennan ’89 has joined Regions Bank as vice president and production manager of the Mortgage Division.

Chris Rullman ’92 has been promoted from senior director to vice president of human resources for Comcast of Oregon and Southwest Washington.

Steven Hatten ’86 is manufacturing specialist and new product development manager of TechHelp at Boise State University. He was named the 2007 Innovator of the Year at the Manufacturing Extension Partnership National Conference in Orlando, Fla.

Mark D. Perison ’93 opened his new law firm, Mark D. Perison, P.A., in the historic Foster’s Building in the BoDo development in Boise.

Zhibing Qian ’93 has been appointed senior vice president for Fuwei Films Co., Ltd. Prior to joining the company, Qian worked at several state-owned and joint venture companies in China.

John Drake ’96 joined Es/ drake to head their business development efforts and its account service capabilities.

Drake was an account director and business development leader at Wongdoody.

Katie Kerby ’96 was named an account manager for c308 Marketing, a Boise-based marketing and communication company.

Kevin Smith ’93 joins KeyBank as a vice president and commercial banking relationship manager in Boise.

Barbara A. Tyree ’96 was promoted to associate professor at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Ind.

Leeann Thomas ’93 is living in Alaska and keeps busy as the owner of the Triangle Club Bar in downtown Juneau. In her spare time, she teaches exercise classes at the local gym.

Lonnie Barber ’97 is now assistant superintendent in the Blaine County School District.

Christine Allen-Yazzie ’93 published her first novel, “The Arc and the Sediment,” with Utah State University Press.

Tom Cubit ’94 is a C-130 Hercules pilot for Lynden Air Cargo out of Anchorage, Alaska, and his wife gave birth to their first child, Asher, in December 2005.

Heidi Meyer ’94 was named accounting manager/controller at Taylor Gregory Butterfield Architects in Edmonds, Wash.

Pete Schneider ’94 is the fisheries biologist for the Juneau Ranger District on the Tongass National Forest in Alaska.

Robert Strope ’94 was appointed as the Cheney, Wash., city administrator.

After serving in the Army for 21 years, Strope served as the city manager for McCall for four years until 2004.

Since then, he has been the city administrator for Long Beach, Wash.

James P. Baker ’95 is the vice president of research and economic development at Missouri State University.

Annette McFarland ’95, has been retained by Formation Capital Corp. as the project engineer and mine planner for the Idaho Cobalt Project.

Michael Andrea ’96 has been hired by Avista Corp. as a staff attorney.

Bruce M. Barnes ’97 has been selected as the University of Idaho’s assistant vice president for enrollment management.

He formerly was a professor of naval science at Idaho.

William K. Hasz ’97 has been hired by Sterling Mining Company as a technical services manager and chief engineer at Sunshine Mine.

Mike Hutchison ’97 is a design manager for the BMC West Boise Truss and Components facility. The company specializes in design and engineering of premanufactured wood roof and floor trusses for residential and commercial buildings.

Sara Sterner ’97 is the graduate assistant of the College of Education at Marymount University in Arlington, Va. She is completing her master’s work in education, English as a Second Language.

Chris Lockhart ’98 formerly manager of the Wells Fargo Five Mile branch, has been promoted to Boise metro west district manager with responsibility for overseeing a group of stores in the Boise area.

fall 2007

1940

AlUMNI Class Notes

27

Class Notes

Recipients of the 2007 Idaho Business Review

Accomplished Under 40 Award Teresa Baker ’96, deputy prosecuting attorney, Ada County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office; Andy Beitia ’92, regional credit manager/vice president, Zions Bank; Georganne Benjamin ’93, assistant director of strategic communications, Regence BlueShield of Idaho; Mark Gier ’90, project manager/associate stockholder, CSHQA; Kevin Satterlee ’93, associate vice president/ general counsel, Boise State University; Katie Vanderzwan ’96, president of Junior Achievement of Idaho; Shane Vaughan ’96, vice president of marketing for Balihoo; Mary York ’94, Holland and Hart partner and trial lawyer; Leela Assefi ’03, ’04, business development manager, Atlas Frontiers; and Mahmood Sheikh ’01, ’07 assistant athletic director/ regional development at the University of Idaho.

Kevin Miller ’98 has been promoted by the Washington State Department of Transportation to Clark County area engineer. Miller has been serving as the acting area engineer for this office since April and has worked for WSDOT for seven years.

Matthew Smith ’98, ’04 is a third-grade teacher in Caney, Okla. He is married with a three-year-old son named Joseph.

Jason Walker ’98 was selected as the new Camas County magistrate. He has served as Minidoka County prosecuting attorney since 2003.

Ben White ’98 is a project architect at Carleton Hart Architecture firm.

Travis Jones ’99 has accepted a job in Boise as the executive director of the Idaho Grain Producers Association. He previously worked for six years for Sen. Larry Craig.

2000 Jonathan Epstein ’00 works for Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-New Mexico, who is the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Epstein will cover energy research and development, and all matters relating to the Department of Energy. He has a Ph.D. in engineering science and applied mechanics from Virginia Tech, a law degree from Idaho, a master’s of law degree in securities and financial regulation from Georgetown and a post doctorate fellowship at Oxford.

Roger Quarles ’01 was selected as the Caldwell School District’s new superintendent. He formerly was the district’s deputy superintendent.

AlUMNI Class Notes Bradley R. Rice ’01, ’06, former Vandal football player and law school graduate, has joined the Coeur d’Alene branch of D.A. Davidson and Co. as a financial consultant.

Ryan M. White ’01 is the new regional director based in the Treasure Valley for Sen. Mike Crapo. He also served as former Gov. Jim Risch’s chief of staff in the Lieutenant Governor’s office in 2003.

Lindsay Erb ’02 has joined the architectural team at CTA as an architectin-training. Erb has project experience in educational, healthcare and government facilities, as well as a variety of commercial projects.

Kelsie Kirkland ’02 has joined Coldwell Banker Howard Perry and Walston’s in the Durham, N.C., real estate division.

Darick Pope ’02 was promoted from technical sales representative in the marketing department for Advanced Input System to regional sales manager.

Maxwell M. Ruckdeschel ’02 joined the University of Buffalo Regional Institute as their GIS/data manager.

David Tuthill ’02 became the director of the Idaho Department of Water Resources. He was appointed the interim director last January. Tuthill has worked for the agency since 1976.

Troy Cuff ’03 has been hired as an electrical engineer for Advanced Input Systems.

Cuff most recently was with the Office of Naval Research’s Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Project through the University of Idaho.

Army Capt. Benjamin J. Nagy ’03 graduated from basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, and participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

He served in Baghdad as a member of a battalion assigned to the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Fort Richardson, Anchorage, Alaska.

Audra Sherman ’03, has joined Forsgren Associates’ Boise office as a project engineer. She will specialize in transportation and water resource projects.

Marissa Caylor ’04 is attending Boston University School of Law. Mike Harper ’04 has been promoted to sales engineer at Colmac Industries in Colville, Wash.

Matt Hammer ’05 is a purchasing agent for Stimson Lumber in Coeur d’Alene. He and his wife, April, had a daughter, Erika, on May 5, 2007.

Brant Osiensky ’05 has been promoted to lead research and development engineer at Colmac Industries in Colville, Wash.

Max Paisley ’05 has been promoted from a buyerplanner to a position of marketing associate at Stryker Communications in Dallas, Texas.

Sara Bartles ’05 is the legislative director at the Republican Majority for Choice. She recently moved to Alexandria, Va. Nicholas Caylor ’06 is attending Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions.

Jen Light ’06 has been hired as a cost accountant by Telect in Spokane, Wash.

Allison Long ’06 has been hired as a risk consultant for Federated Insurance in Owatonna, Minn.

Lucas Howell ’07 had his poetry published in the November 2006 edition of POETRY magazine, an independent monthly publication founded in 1912.

Lance Cpl. Riley McNeal ’07 received a Purple Heart award from the U.S. Marine Corps in May. During combat operations in the Al Anbar Province, McNeal was in a military vehicle that was struck by an explosive device.

He was treated for his injuries and returned immediately to full duty.

Candess Packard ’07 is an architectin-training at CTA, an architecture, interior design and engineering firm in Boise. She also will be involved with the interiors group.

Andrew Stohner ’07 joins CTA as an architectin-training, and will work on modeling and detailing healthcare and retail commercial projects in Boise.

IDAHO

Marriages

Anna Lucia and Conner Andrew, daughter and son of David and Brienne Quilici ’97 Iverson

Amaya Eiguren ’02 to Nicholas Smith ’02

Benjamin Allen, son of Jonathan ’05 and Mandy Weeks ’04 Rey Kristine Michele, daughter of Robert A. ’93 and Jennifer J. Ostrom ’93 Schmidt

Laila Kinnunen ’03 to Frederick Johnson ’04 Aldinger

Dannenberg

G. Francis “Cisco” Reyes ’05 to Louise “Kaui” Torres Dana Rian Zenner ’02 to Tim Scharping

Bryce Todd, son of Todd and Melissa Fuentes-Dannenberg ’91

Stefanie Hitchcock ’06 to David Reinke ’05

Violet Marie, daughter of Chris ’02 and Polly Thompson ’02 Rillstone

Matthew Henman ’05 to Alexandria Dionne White

John Thomas, son of Eric ’97 and Stacy Knutson ’97 Sommer

holloway

nemergut

Kennedy Ora Clay, son of Clay ’03 and Gina Johnson ’04 Holloway and grandson of Roy Clay Holloway ’68, ’71

Chad Berry ’97 to Candace Holloway Ben Bryan ’02 to Erin Monroe ’04 rey

rillstone

Christopher William, son of Chad and Katie Moore ’00 Roe

David Ellison ’94 to Kathleen Meulen Ryan Benzel ’01 to Stacy Hamernik

Mehgan Elizabeth and Joshua Daniel, children of Capt.

Michael M. ’00 and Kimberly L. Gladfelter ’00 Forbes Ryan Joshua, son of Crist and Jolynn Reiley ’98 Aldinger

Luke Rust ’05 to Katie White John Ernest Fluegel ’04 to Heidi Ann Messinger ’01

Preston, son of Craig ’00 and Amanda Felts ’01 Miller

Mark Sawyer ’05 to Brittany Oliver ’07 roe

Schmidt

Sophia Marie, daughter of Elene Margaret Nemergut ’94

To be profiled, mail information, including graduation year, to Annis Shea, Alumni Office, PO Box 443232, Moscow, ID 83844-3232 or e-mail information to alumni@ uidaho.edu. Photos can be e-mailed in a .jpg format.

Holly Palmer ’01,’03 to Christopher Morgan ’03 Jennifer M. Butler ’01 to Matthew V. Cambier ’00 Michaela M. McGuire ’04 to Jeffery D. Sager Stacey Lynn Patchett ’04 to Daniel Tyler Chase ’05

sommer

Stephanie Hardy ’06 to Stephen Hardy ’05

Lawrence M. Lineberger ’38, Homedale, May 27, 2007

Mary A. Verberkmoes ’38, Bishop, Calif., April 4, 2007

Don J. Lineham ’37, Genesee, May 13, 2007

Harry A. Walden ’32, Spokane, Wash., April 26, 2007

In Memory 1920 Byron L. Berry ’27, Boise, Feb. 27, 2007

1930 Shelley G. Alden ’37, Boise, Dec. 29, 2006 Margaret H. Bacheller ’34, Boise, Feb. 9, 2007 Marie T. Baken ’37, Yakima, Wash., April 11, 2007 Dorothy D. Chester ’30 Boise, May 10, 2007

28

Future Vandals

Virgil S. Cross ’30, Sequim, Wash., Feb. 16, 2007

Jean E. Cruikshank ’35, Lakewood, Colo., April 22, 2007 Edward L. Dailey ’39, Englewood, Colo., Dec. 16, 2006 Margaret M. Galligan ’34, Santa Rosa, Calif., Jan. 24, 2007

David C. Maul ’37, Phoenix, Ariz., Feb. 25, 2007 Horace Pierce ’38, Kirkland, Wash., April 25, 2006

Edward W. Gibb ’36, California, May 30, 2006

Richard H. Seeley ’38, Boise, March 10, 2007

Leo L. Hammond ’39, Ashton, Jan. 9, 2007

George R. Thiessen ’38, Lewiston, March 24, 2007

Ruth E. Kehrer ’34, Boise, April 23, 2007

Vaughn E. Tippets ’38, Logan, Utah, March 3, 2007

Cecilia Hurley Weed ’37, Fremont-Newark, Calif., Feb. 10, 2007

1940 Betty L. Ableman ’49, Kellogg, Dec. 28, 2006 Elsa Agnew ’49, Riverside, Calif., Jan. 7, 2007 Janette J. Jenson Barnes ’49, Richmond, Va., Feb. 18, 2007

fall 2007

Alumni

29

Class Notes

In Memory Continued from page 29

Kyle C. Bates ’47, Post Falls, April 24, 2007 Richard S. Bodine ’49, Lewiston, April 18, 2007 Florence M. Burgoyne ’47, Boise, March 19, 2007 Maxine S. Castoldi ’44, Spokane, Wash., April 3, 2007 Arthur R. Chatburn ’49, Twin Falls, Dec. 24, 2001 Raymond H. Clark ’40, Sheridan, Wyo., Jan. 7, 2007 Donna M. Condie ’48, Los Angeles, Calif., March 11, 2007 William H. Cone M.D. ’44, Lewiston, May 8, 2007 Lorraine Gartner Cushing ’46, Boise, March 9, 2007 Albert P. Disdier ’41, Chevy Chase, Md., May 4, 2007 Charles P. Flora ’48, Modesto, Calif., May 2, 2007 Jane A. Fowler ’43, Peoria, Ariz., Aug. 31, 2006

The Latah County Historical Society is seeking stories from those who rode the Student Special train from southern Idaho to the Moscow campus. Perhaps you also have photos or mementos of those trips north and south each semester. A ticket or a well used suitcase?

Contact the Latah County Historical Society, 327 East Second, Moscow, ID 83843; (208) 882-8486; kdahl@latah.id.us.

Elmer E. Jordan ’42, Coeur d’Alene, Jan. 7, 2007

Gertrude L. Petersen ’40, Moscow, May 22, 2007

Donald E. Julian ’49, Santa Ana, Calif., Feb. 8, 2007

Lucy A. Ramsey ’42, Filer, May 1, 2007

Roy A. Kayler ’49, Anacortes, Wash., Dec. 6, 2006

George R. Reinhardt ’44, Honeoye Falls, N.Y., May 22, 2007

Eleanor A. Kiser ’48 ’50, Boise, March 7, 2007 Dorothy A. Korte ’40, Boise, Jan. 1, 2007

Robert E. Robbins ’43, Watsonville, Calif., April 21, 2007 Donald B. Robertson ’48, Redwood City, Calif., Jan. 20, 2007

Mary E. Freeman ’48, Idaho Falls, April 18, 2007

Patricia M. Lacroix ’41, ’45, Spokane, Wash., May 23, 2007

Franklin D. Rockwell ’41, Spokane, Wash., Feb. 5, 2007

Doran L. Gillette ’49, Arvada, Colo., Jan. 22, 2007

George Lafferty ’42, Boise, May 15, 2007

Frank E. Ross ’47 Seattle, Wash., Nov. 18, 2007

Warren H. Goldsmith ’49, Siskiyou, Calif., June 8, 2006

Jon R. Lafrenz ’49, Portland, Ore., May 14, 2007

Helen L. Sampson ’49, Gooding, Nev., April 15, 2007

Donald Hagedorn ’41, Madison, Wisc., April 11, 2007

Theodore G. Lake ’48, Leavenworth, Wash., April 20, 2007

Susan Schodde ’40, Roseville, Calif., April 6, 2007

Dee W. Hammond ’41, Vancouver, Wash., April 16, 2006 Donald L. Herman ’40, Missoula, Mont., May 30, 2007 Adene H. Heyes ’44, Edison, N.J., Jan. 11, 2007 Clifford E. Higer ’40, Everett, Wash., Feb. 3, 2007 Lyle F. Hill ’40,’41, Seattle, Wash., May 04, 2007 Pauline Hawley Hinman ’43, Eagle, March 24, 2007 Milton W. Holt ’42, Pocatello, Jan. 7, 2007

IDAHO

Remember the Student Special?

Don H. Kroker ’41, Spokane, Wash., April 28, 2007

William A. Freeburg ’47, Snohomish, Wash., March 18, 2006

30

AlUMNI Class Notes

Robert A. Jones ’44, St. John, Wash., May 14, 2007

Arthur R. Langlois ’45, Satellite Beach, Fla., Jan. 15, 2007 Jay R. Leeright ’42, Lyons, Neb., March 2, 2007 Ralph R. Luce ’41, ’42 Issaquah, Wash., March 16, 2007 William D. McFarland ’48, Coeur d’Alene, March 6, 2007 Finley H. McNaughton ’42, Parkdale, Ore., April 25, 2007 Shirley Moon ’45, Boise, Jan. 9, 2007 Jack S. Newell ’47, Wichita, Kan., May 30, 2007 Betty J. O’Rouark ’44, Boise, April 28, 2007

Shirley M. Schooler ’48, ’54, Olympia, Wash., May 29, 2007 William G. Shull ’49, Great Falls, Mont., March 20, 2007 Jack Steneck ’49, Boise, Feb. 20, 2007 Charles W. Sweetwood ’43, Boise, June 4, 2007 Rolland F. Tipsword ’49, Taylorville, Ill., April 5, 2007 Ruth E. Willis ’41, Nampa, May 14, 2007 Billie B. Wilson ’46, Portland, Ore., March, 15, 2007 Maurice A. Young ’40, Montpelier, May 21, 2007

AlUMNI Class Notes J. Stuart Hutchins ’52, Minnesota, Nov. 17, 2006

George Zappettini ’52, Sonora, Calif., June 30, 2006

Ravi Nathan ’61, Seattle, Wash., Jan. 7, 2007

Von J. Johnson ’50, Montrose, Colo., March 22, 2007

Sara Zappettini ’54, Sonora, Calif., Dec. 27, 2006

Charles R. Saults ’60, Boise, May 24, 2007

Karl J. Klason ’51, Tacoma, Wash., Jan. 7, 2007

1960

Elizabeth M. Weaver ’66, Boise, March 9, 2007

James F. Kunkel ’54, Cave Creek, Ariz., March 3, 2007 Charles LaFontaine ’53, Mountain Home, Nov. 30, 2006 Ruth M. Richman Lawrence ’54, Rexburg, March 19, 2007 Emil M. Loe ’58, Billings, Mont., Nov. 27, 2006 Phillip C. Lowder ’52, Portland, Ore., Feb. 20, 2007

Steve R. Base ’62, ’69, Lincoln, Neb., April 30, 2007 Russell J. Buhler ’69, Boise, March 15, 2007

Stephen L. Winter ’63, Butte, Mont., Dec. 17, 2006

1970

Timothy E. Cramer ’64, Tacoma, Wash., June 2, 2007

Joan M. Abrams ’77, Lewiston, March 30, 2007

Robert W. Deyoung ’65, Lewiston, March 20, 2007

John P. Anduiza ’74, Bremerton, Wash., Feb. 5, 2007

Jack Dozier ’62, Salt Lake City, Utah, May 11, 2007

Rodney S. Bateman ’74,

Madge O. Olson Ertel ’65, ’71, South Amherst, Mass., March 25, 2007

Edward J. Baune ’74, Rockford, Wash., April 29, 2007

Harold Glencross ’66, Florence, Ariz., Feb. 19, 2007

Donald R. Benson ’70, Prattsville, Ark., Feb. 15, 2007

Maxine G. Gibbs Halsey ’64, Lewiston, Feb. 10, 2007

Irene E. Dunn ’72, Clark Fork, April 15, 2007

James R. Munds ’58, Spokane, Wash., March 27, 2007

Janice Elizabeth Hamilton ’61, Coeur d’Alene, Feb. 24, 2007

Lois G. Roe-Fanning ’70, Lewiston, May 2, 2007

Bill F. Musgrove ’52, ’53, Farmington, N.M., Dec. 25, 2006

Clara (Maggie) Hood ’62, Lewiston, March 26, 2007

Michael W. Felcman ’73, Rosenberg, Texas, March 30, 2007

William A. Huizinga III ’66, ’68, Boise, Jan. 7, 2007

Robert W. Hawley ’70, San Jose, Calif., March 26, 2007

John H. Payne ’58, Las Vegas, Nev., March 31, 2007

Ernest L. Hunter ’69, ’74, Spokane, Wash., March 29, 2007

James Holt ’79, La Grande, Ore., April 5, 2007

James H. Riggs ’55, Des Moines, Wash., April 30, 2007

Leonard Jacobowitz ’60, Northport, N.Y., April 4, 2007

James C. Shawver ’56, Eden, March 11, 2007

Marlu M. Jensen ’69, Seattle, Wash., April 19, 2007

Erlene Clyde Soulen ’53, Weiser, Jan. 15, 2007

Brent H. Johanson ’67, ’88, Twin Falls, April 28, 2007

Duncan A. Cameron ’51, Dixon, Calif., April 23, 2007

Chris S. Stuphin ’57, Naples, Fla., March 22, 2007

Pearl A. Comstock ’51, Moscow, Jan. 9, 2007

Marion F. Tenney ’57, Moscow, Jan. 3, 2007

Charles G. Johnson Jr. ’67, ’72, Baker City, Ore., March 25, 2007

Jay E. Couch ’51, ’53, ’65, Coeur d’Alene, April 17, 2007

Wesley V. Tolliver ’50, Portland, Ore., June 1, 2007

Joseph Distefano ’53, Hampton, Va., Feb. 12, 2007

Joyce O. Garner Walker ’50, Seattle, Wash., May 18, 2007

Gerald L. Eley ’56, Wooster, Ohio, Jan. 2, 2007

Jack A. Webster ’54, Plains, Mont., March 19, 2007

Frederick W. Engelen ’51 Spokane, Wash., Feb. 15, 2007

Dwaine Welch ’50, ’53, Payette, Ore., May 7, 2007

Donald R. Fluharty ’50, Emmett, April 7, 2007

Claude E. Willows ’51, Lebanon, Ore., Feb. 13, 2007

Harry P. Heleker ’50, Payette, Feb. 4, 2007

Marjorie Winderman ’54, Spokane, Wash., March 13, 2007

1950 Gene W. Allen ’50, Spokane, Wash., April 8, 2007 Rupert E. Andrews ’56, Juneau, Alaska, March 28, 2007 Don Beach ’56, Lewiston, April 16, 2007 Gayle S. Bilbao ’53, Nampa, April 2, 2007 William E. Billings ’57, Carlsbad, Calif., March 7, 2007 William M. Bremmer ’51, ’59 Canby, Ore., May 12, 2007 Billie A. Brown ’56, Quincy, Ill., April 23, 2007 Alfred Francis Byrne ’50, Spokane Valley, Wash., Feb. 12, 2007

Karen Hurdstrom ’56, Moscow, Feb. 18, 2007

Bobby G. Lynch ’57, Moscow, March 11, 2007 Warner D. McFaddin ’52, San Marcos, Calif., Feb. 4, 2007 Hugh W. McNair ’58, Redmond, Ore., Dec. 21, 2006

Clayton P. Ockert ’55, ’56, Aloha, Ore., May 8, 2007

Charles R. Whitt ’51, Reno, Nev., Dec. 10, 2006

Stephanie J. Karraker ’69, Kearney, Neb., March 21, 2007 Byron W. Kasney ’69, Washington, November 5, 2006 Betty Kedish ’69, Coeur d’Alene, March 3, 2007 Lois H. Kirkland ’64, Moscow, Jan. 12, 2007 Paul B. McCarthy ’69, Idaho Falls, May 8, 2007 Deanna (Dee Dee) Nilsson Moldenhauer ’61, Lewiston, May 25, 2007

Jan S. Johanson ’71, Twin Falls, May 23, 2007 Carolyn K. Justh ’76, Post Falls, Feb. 9, 2007 Michael D. Kloepfer ’76, Las Vegas, Nev., May 1, 2007 James P. Marlowe ’75, Oil Creek, Pa., Jan. 8, 2007 John J. McDermott ’70, St. Paul, Minn., Dec. 12, 2006 Vernon R. McKenzie ’72, Boise, April 28, 2007 Daniel L. Miller ’77, Lihue, Hawaii, Jan. 5, 2007 Douglas A. Rice ’76, Twin Falls, March 16, 2007 John Rudolph Jr. ’73, Lewiston, Feb. 28, 2007

Robert B. Stannard Sr. ’75, ’79, Farmington, N.M., March 21, 2007 Ellen King Tolman ’78, Idaho Falls, Feb. 7, 2007 Sheryl V. Ursidae ’77, Tallahassee, Fla., May 25, 2007 Michael M. Williams ’77, Grand Junction, Colo., May 5, 2007 Michael R. Winkleman ’76, Mesa, Ariz., Aug. 24, 2006

1980 Nicholas J. Brown ’89, Salt Lake City, Utah, April 18, 2007 Leon M. Clausen ’82, Newport, Wash., March 1, 2007 Michael Colo ’83, Nampa, Feb. 18, 2007 Rebecca A. Davenport ’81, Butte, Mont., Feb. 11, 2007 Judy A. Flowers ’85, Nampa, May 31, 2007 Jess Haldeman ’84, Las Vegas, Nev., Feb. 12, 2007 Kathryn M. Koyama ’82, New Jersey, Jan. 9, 2007 Leigh A. Ledford ’80, ’87, Boise, Nov. 7, 2006 Cynthia J. Mann ’81, ’88, Raleigh, N.C., April 6, 2007 Stephen E. McFarland ’81, Coeur d’Alene, March 22, 2007 Lee Newbill ’82, Moscow, May 19, 2007 Gregory D. Waters ’85, Garden Valley, April 26, 2007

1990 Margaret A. Chavez ’99, ’03, Lewiston, April 22, 2007 Philip A. Murphy-Sweet ’91, Caldwell, April 7, 2007 Gary A. Stears ’97, Grangeville, Feb. 10, 2007

2000

Bette S. Sanders ’71, Lewiston, May 4, 2007

Carolyn Z. Fitch ’03, Moscow, March 27, 2007

Christy A. Simpson ’79, Kansas City, Mo., April 28, 2007

Susan Nash ’05, Provo, Utah, March 8, 2007

fall 2007

Alumni

31

Sports VANDAL

vandal sports

100 Unforgettable Vandals Athletics Hall of Fame inducts first class

By Don Shelton

Gary Simm

ons ’58

Wayne Walker ’58

IDAHO

Chris Tormey ’78

32

o ’77

John Yarn

Nancy Bechtholdt

Koch ’82

fall 2007

F

“My hands started to sweat and my heart started or some, thoughts will flash back to a memorable pounding,” said Simmons, a 71-year-old retired dentist moment – the first time they walked into Memorial who has homes in Salinas, Calif., and Surprise, Ariz. “It was Gymnasium or a game-winning touchdown at the weird. That feeling never leaves you. By the time I got to Kibbie Dome. For others, memories will be of a special the top of the steps, I was saying, ‘I’m ready to person – a favorite University of Idaho teammate or an play, coach!’” unforgettable coach.

John Yarno ’77, an All-American football player in 1976 Nancy Bechtholdt Koch ’82 knows where her thoughts who played center for the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, had will be when she is handed her plaque and pin and a similar reaction the first time he walked into Memorial becomes a charter member of the Vandal Athletics Hall Gym. He was a wide-eyed freshman from Spokane when of Fame. She will think of her late father, who was her he saw photos of Vandal football legends Ray McDonald, biggest supporter and often cheered for her at swim meets.

She’ll look at the empty seat next to her mother, Kay, think Jerry Hendren and Willis Smith hanging on a wall, with space for one more picture. about the emptiness in her gut, the “To think that my picture’s hanging hole left when Harvey Bechtholdt “Every time you get recognized, on a wall with those guys now,” said died on Father’s Day 2006 and silently mouth four words: a lot of teammates and coaches the 52-year-old Yarno, who resides at Coeur d’Alene and saw his son and “Look at me, Dad!” deserve to be honored along with daughter graduate from Idaho, and his Memories, smiles and tears should be as easy to find as silver and gold you. Quarterbacks get so much son play football for four years. “What can you say?” when about 50 legendary Idaho credit when a team has success, But hanging pictures of legends athletes, coaches, administrators and on a wall is one thing and organizing contributors are honored Sept. 7-8 so I think my teammates have an official Hall of Fame is another. as charter members of the Vandal had to live vicariously through Past presidents of the Vandal Booster Athletics Hall of Fame. A second Club decided about three years ago group of 50 charter members will be me. They all share in this. They to take the monumental step, and inducted in the fall of 2008. These should all be proud.”

Director of Athletics Rob Spear began 100 legends signify more than 100 the painstaking process of combing years of Vandal athletics and evoke at –John Friesz ’90 through more than 100 years of Idaho least that many emotions. athletics history.

Koch, a 23-time All-American “I felt it was important to reach who won the 200-yard freestyle Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) back and honor the tradition of the University of Idaho, especially athletics,” Spear said.

Division II championship four consecutive years from Becky Paull ’79, assistant athletic director for media 1979 to 1982, has been anticipating her induction since a relations, agreed. “As an alumnus of Idaho, I feel we need letter with a Moscow postmark arrived in May. to do this. This will be a tremendous asset to the Athletic “I still get goosebumps,” said the 47-year-old from Department and University.”

Tacoma, Wash.

Spear headed a 10-person committee steeped in passion Gary Simmons ’58, a high-scoring guard who was and knowledge of Idaho athletics. Members included chair drafted by the NBA’s Minneapolis Lakers in 1958, knows Ken Jones, longtime “Voice of the Vandals” Bob Curtis, he’ll be emotional when his name is called. He remembers and Paull. Joining them was a group that included past how he felt when he returned to Memorial Gym a few and present coaches, former student-athletes, current and years ago and found himself walking up a back stairway former administrators, and alumni who had headed up the from the old locker rooms to the basketball court.

Vandal Scholarship Fund.

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tin ’87

Mary Raese Mar

rien ’93

Dan O’B

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Sherriden May ’94

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Mindy Rice Madsen ’96

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John Friesz ’90

The project was as imposing as it was important.

Mary Raese Martin ’87 is being inducted along with “It was daunting,” said Maureen Taylor Regan ’76, a her 1986 women’s basketball team that won the National former student-athlete who is assistant AD and senior Invitation Tournament. She feels a debt not just to her woman administrator. “I was thinking, ‘Where do we start?’ teammates but to the University.

I think people just started throwing out names.”

“Idaho made me who I am today,” said Martin, now 43 Spear said the group started with two lists – Vandal and living at Bremerton, Wash., with her husband and two Legends and the North Idaho Hall of Fame. Twelve months children. “I was a very shy, meek person. It changed me.” of research, meetings and conference calls built a list No matter what their era or sport, the inductees all approaching 200 nominees. agree on what a special place the University of Idaho was Athletes had to be Idaho graduates who competed at and is. least two seasons and had finished their athletic eligibility Simmons remembers feeling lost when he entered before 2002. Coaches had to have been in Moscow for at dental school at the University of Southern California least five years. The Hall of Fame was broken into three with his degree from Idaho. “At USC, you were a number. eras – pre-1950, 1950 to 1975 and 1976 to 2003.

At Idaho, I was Gary Simmons,” he said. “It was a friendly A hall in the Kibbie Dome will provide temporary place, a place where people took a personal interest in you. quarters, Jones said, with plans for a permanent home later.

It was a blessing and an honor to go to the University of The committee studied other college halls of fame. “We Idaho. People who don’t live in Idaho don’t understand. It’s can see what everybody has done and learn from it,” Jones in your heart, mind and soul.” said. “We will do it first class. We’re not going to make this Mindy Rice Madsen ’96, a former volleyball Alla nickel-and-dime thing.”

American and two-sport athlete, understands.

Added Rick Darnell, a committee member who is “It’s such a beautiful place, a special place” said Madsen, executive director of the Vandal Scholarship Fund, “We now 33 and living at Emmett with her husband and two want to make sure we do this right.” children. “It’s a small town and a small The Vandal Athletics Hall of Fame is campus that feels very personal.”

No matter what their era part of a larger push to reconnect with Dan O’Brien ’93, who won a gold Idaho alumni. On a parallel track is the medal in the decathlon at the 1996 or sport, the inductees all Olympic I Club, a group of former varsity studentGames, says one of his clearest athletes formed a year ago that already has agree on what a special memories from his college years is being more than 110 members, according to Mark introduced at a home football game place the University of Tidd ’87, a former Vandal football player after winning the first of three world who spearheaded its formation.

Idaho was and is. championships. He was worried about Like the I Club, the Hall of Fame’s first how many people really knew who he inductees are only a start. was and was stunned when he drew a “I look at it as a work in progress,” said standing ovation.

Kathy Clark, a committee member who is a former coach, “Before that day, Idaho was where I went to school,” assistant AD and senior woman administrator. “We want said O’Brien, now 40 and a college track coach, teacher everyone to help us build on this. Hopefully, this first and personal trainer in the Phoenix area. “After that, I felt group will spur the collective memory.” it was my home.”

Those being inducted were overwhelmed when Spear, the AD who has worked on campus for 18 years, invitations started arriving in May via letters and isn’t surprised that many Vandals still feel so strongly about phone calls. their alma mater.

Wayne Walker ’58, a former NFL football star and “Just look at our university,” he said. “It’s a great sportscaster, has received many honors during his career. “It residential campus. People form such an emotional bond to ranks right up there with the biggest thrills of my life,” said this place.”

Walker, who is now 70 and lives at Boise.

The ultimate honor roll for Idaho athletes will be John Friesz ’90, another Idaho football legend with NFL celebrated Sept. 7-8, the weekend of the Vandals’ football credentials from a different era, calls it “the ultimate honor home opener against Cal Poly. Plaques and pins will be an Idaho athlete can have.” awarded Friday night at a banquet, and the group also will Friesz, a 40-year-old former quarterback living at be honored at Saturday’s football game.

Hayden Lake, realizes he’s representing more than himself.

Memories and emotions are sure to come flooding back.

“Every time you get recognized, a lot of teammates Football star Sherriden May ’94 will remember hanging and coaches deserve to be honored along with you,” said out with teammates. Chris Tormey ’78, a teammate and Friesz, who is married and has three sons already wearing fraternity brother of Yarno’s who was a successful Idaho Vandal colors. “Quarterbacks get so much credit when a player, assistant coach and head coach, will recall his teams’ team has success, so I think my teammates have had to live biggest victories. And Nancy Bechtholdt Koch’s thoughts vicariously through me. They all share in this. They should will drift back to the man who was her biggest fan. all be proud.”

In a sense, every member of the Vandal Athletics Hall of Fame can say: “Look at me, Dad!” I

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The Charter Members of the Vandal Athletics Hall of Fame Norm Iverson ’37 – basketball, football Gus Johnson ’66 – basketball Elmer Jordan ’42 – basketball, tennis Craig Juntenen ’77 – football Sverre Kongsgaard ’48 – skiing Frank Kara ’40 – boxing Ted Kara ’39 – boxing Mike Keller – coach Brian Kellerman ’83 – basketball Carl Kiilsgaard ’49 – football Flip Kleffner ’53 – football, baseball Sib Kleffner ’25 – football, baseball Trond Knaplund ’83 – track and field Ed Knecht ’59 – athlete, coach Jerry Kramer ’58 – football Len Lawr ’58 – swimming Orlando Lightfoot ’94 – basketball Sherriden May ’94 – football Ray McDonald ’67 – football Sam Merriman ’83 – football Don Monson ’55 – athlete, coach Alli Nieman ’00 – basketball Yo Murphy ’92 – football Jim Norton ’60 – football Doug Nussmeier ’94 – football Dan O’Brien ’93 – track and field Joachim Olsen ’98 – track and field Ryan Phillips ’97 – football Jim Prestel ’60 – football Barbara Probst ’79 – tennis Fred Quinn ’47 – basketball Mary Raese Martin ’87 – basketball Mindy Rice Madsen ’96 – volleyball, basketball Jeff Robinson ’93 – football

Patsy Sharples Schehrer ’84 – track and field Mark Schlereth ’89 – football Katja Schreiber ’01 – track and field Ken Schrom ’76 – baseball, football Dick Shepard ’57 – golf Gary Simmons ’58 – basketball Rolly Shumway ’37 – boxing Willis Smith ’34 – football, baseball Bill Stoneman ’66 – baseball Joel Thomas ’98 – football Karen Thompson Alsager ’92 – volleyball Chris Tormey ’78 – athlete, coach Ray Turner ’42 – basketball Karl Von Tagen ’64 – swimming Leonard Walker ’51 – boxing Wayne Walker ’58 – football Darwin Walters ’68 – tennis Marvin Washington ’88 – football, basketball John Webster ’40 – boxing Gary “Knute” Westergren ’57 – baseball Willette White ’81 – basketball Guy Wicks ’25 – baseball Nancy Wicks Dahlquist ’93 – volleyball Colleen Williams Cozzetto ’82 – track and field John Yarno ’77 – football Hall of Fame Teams Boxing – NCAA championship – 1940 Boxing – NCAA championship – 1941 Men’s basketball – NCAA Sweet 16 – 1982 Women’s basketball – NIT championship – 1986 Football – Humanitarian Bowl – 1998

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Univer sit y of Idaho | Financi al and Estate Pl anning News | fall 2007

Dear Friends of Idaho Another School Year Beckons

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Vandal Athletics Hall of Fame Committee The 10-person committee that determined the first inductees for the Vandal Athletics Hall of Fame: Rob Spear, director of athletics Becky Paull, assistant AD media relations Brad Rickel, men’s and women’s golf coach Bob Curtis, former “Voice of the Vandals” radio announcer Benny Blick, former Vandal Scholarship Fund president Ken Jones, chair and former Vandal Scholarship Fund president Kathy Clark, former assistant AD and senior woman administrator Maureen Taylor Regan, former studentathlete and current assistant AD and senior woman administrator Rick Darnell, executive director of Vandal Scholarship Fund Kevin Ketchie, manager signature events, president’s office Nick Popplewell, student intern, helped with research

Idaho Outlook

s we go to press, the campus is reawakening from its summer lull to the sounds of students returning for another year full of classes, tests, lab experiments, field trips, social gatherings, sporting events and all the other things that make for such life-changing and memorable times.

In keeping with the theme of memorable times, you will find articles in this issue of Idaho Outlook that highlight numerous donors and the ways they have remembered and supported their alma mater. We are once again featuring gifts made via the IRA Rollover provision of the federal law passed last year. Not least among these donors are Bob and Jan Cowan, who took full advantage of this special law due to expire December 31.

But you’ll also find articles about a couple of student-athletes who have benefited by the generosity of our private donors, a memorial tribute to a very special friend of the University of Idaho, a final review of how the IRA Rollover may be of benefit to you or someone you know, and finally our regular feature, “Ways to Give Through Your Estate Plan.”

If any of these articles pique your interest or raise questions, let us know. We welcome your feedback.

Sincerely, Gift Planning Services

rl Kiilsgaard #48 Ted Diehl #11 and Ca emony. cer supporters at a 1949

present an I blanket to

Vandal

Ed McBride

Heidi Linehan

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Wayne Anderson ’53 – athlete, coach, administrator Dee Andros – coach Nancy Bechtholdt Koch ’82 – swimming Bill Belknap ’88 – administrator Julian Benoit ’38 – boxing Eirik Berggren ’57 – skiing Denise Brose Sparkman ’83 – basketball Frank Bruder ’97 – track and field Herb Carlson ’50 – boxing Reg Carolan ’62 – football, basketball Tawanda Chiwira ’00 – track and field Kathy Clark ’74 – athlete, coach, administrator Whaylon Coleman ’59 – basketball Bob Curtis ’56 – contributor, radio announcer Russell Davis Jr. ’81 – football Rick DeMulling ’01 – football Pat Dobratz ’86 – coach Kasey Dunn ’91 – football Franky Echevarria ’51 – boxing Clarence “Hec” Edmundson ’10 – athlete, coach Laune Erickson ’41 – boxing Rich Fox ’22 – football, basketball, baseball John Friesz ’90 – football Kelly Gibbons McDonald ’84 – volleyball Abe Goff ’24 – football Leon Green ’37 – athlete, administrator Chet Hall ’59 – swimming Randy Hall ’75 – football Alan Head ’75 – baseball, football Jerry Hendren ’70 – football Tom Hilbert ’97 – coach Ken Hobart ’84 – football Mike Hollis ’94 – football

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ou have to go a long way to find a couple as loyal, and as supportive, to the University of Idaho as are Bob ’57 and Jan ’57 Cowan. With more than $2.7 million in lifetime gifts going back nearly five decades, they exemplify the kind of alumni who have had a profound impact on the University’s ability to achieve ever-higher levels of excellence. While their gifts and their service have been felt in numerous ways across campus, they have been especially loyal to the athletic program.

But, the Cowan’s don’t stop there.

All three of their children, David ’82, Catherine (Swanson) ’83 and Roberta ’85 are Idaho graduates, and they currently have two grandchildren at the University: Alex Swanson, Jr. is majoring in engineering, and Marissa Cowan is a business administration major and a member of Delta Gamma sorority. Among other honors garnered the Cowans, in 2001, the Cowan Spectrum – the Vandal basketball pavilion in the KibbieASUI Activity Center – was dedicated, and in 2003, Bob was inducted into

Debbie Pederson: Volleyball After redshirting the 2005 season, Debbie Pederson made an immediate impact for the University of Idaho volleyball team last year. She was selected to the Western Athletic Conference’s all-freshman team while recording 189 kills and 88 total blocks in 106 games. Her attack average of .216 ranked second on the team and she was selected as Idaho’s Most Improved Player. Debbie also earned WAC allacademic honors in 2006.

Pederson is from Grangeville and was chosen as the 2004 Grangeville High School Most Valuable Player after leading the Bulldogs to their third consecutive appearance at the 2A state tournament. She was also the MVP her junior year and captured Rookie of the Year honors during her sophomore season. In addition to volleyball, Pederson competed in basketball and track and field for the Bulldogs and was a second-team all-state selection in her sophomore and junior seasons.

“I am fortunate to be receiving the University of Idaho Athletic Scholarship, the Idaho Lambda Chi Alpha Academic Excellence Endowed Scholarship and The Fred White Endowed Scholarship. These scholarships have enabled me to pursue my goals of going to college and participate in collegiate sports. It was a dream of mine to play in college, and I was excited when I got the opportunity to do so. Once I receive my college degree in Business Management from the University of Idaho, I will be able to pursue better job opportunities.”

— Debbie Pederson

Idaho Outlook • Financial and Estate Planning News

Seizing The Moment, Cowan-Style

are held by spouses in their respective individual names.

The PPA went into effect in August 2006 and is due to expire at the end of this year. The Cowans seized this prospect in a timely manner and as a result, the University has been further enriched by their continuing generosity.

Athletics has been a major beneficiary of the Cowans’ philanthropy. The two studentathletes featured on these pages, for example, have benefited from the Vandal Scholarship Fund to which a substantial portion of the Cowans’ IRA rollovers was designated.

Janice Hale Cowan has kept busy in her own right since her college days. With a degree in Education, she taught school for a number of years, but “retired” early to raise their family. That didn’t mean she didn’t keep busy in a number of social, cultural and philanthropic interests, including serving on the board of directors of the University of Idaho Foundation. Jan was instrumental in establishing the Vandalettes while a student at Idaho.

The Cowans are justly proud of the education they received at Idaho, and are equally proud to have been able to give back over the years from the successes they have enjoyed. The PPA created a new means to give once again and take full advantage of an income tax benefit that will not last much longer.

fall 2007

Idaho Outlook Bob ’57 and Jan ’57 Cowan

the vaunted Hall of Fame – one of the Alumni Association’s highest awards for exceptional achievement and outstanding service. Also in 2003, the Cowans were honored with the Jim Lyle Award to recognize their long-term dedication and service to the University.

Bob began his career as a CPA with Touche, Ross, Bailey and Smart, one of the then “Big Eight” firms, assigned to food processor clientele.

Before long, he was working for Lamb-Weston, a food-processing concern based in Portland, Ore., where he rose through the ranks to the presidency in 1972. He was later president of The MartinBrower Companies, a Chicago-based consortium of food distribution entities, and rounded out his career running his own foodservice industry consulting firm, Robert Cowan and Associates.

When Bob learned of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA), and particularly the IRA rollover provision within that act, he went into action. He contacted the University’s Gift Planning Services to arrange a transfer. In late 2006 he directed his IRA administrator to transfer the maximum amount allowed by law – $100,000 – to the University. Right after the first of the year, he authorized a second $100,000 transfer. In addition, transfers were made from Jan’s separate IRA accounts, a move that is clearly allowed by the act when the accounts

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Athletic Scholarship Recipient

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Vandal football player Eddie Williams came to Idaho from San Mateo, Calif., where he was a first team all-county, all-league and all-metro player for Aragon High School. His team lost just two league games during his threeyear high school career. He also competed in basketball and was MVP of his track team.

Williams faces a position change as he enters his junior season with the Idaho Vandals football team, as he moves from tight end to starting wide receiver. As tight end he compiled 155 yards and two touchdowns on 17 receptions over the past two seasons. Williams grabbed 116 of those yards on seven catches in 2006 with a long of 46 yards.

As a student, Williams was disappointed in himself for what he considered a tough fall semester. He vowed he was going to do a better job spring semester and earn his way out of the “guided study” program – the University’s specific structured study time for academic “at-risk” studentathletes. He did exactly what he set out to do and had an outstanding spring GPA. Assuming he continues on that track, he could be a WAC All-Academic honoree on the next round. a student-athlete, I am honored to “As be receiving a University of Idaho Athletic Scholarship and a “Students Rising Above” Scholarship, representing the San Francisco Bay area. These scholarships have presented me with the opportunity to pursue my goal of a degree in Communication Studies with a minor in Political Science, meet new people and compete in Division I Athletics. I couldn’t ask for more and I’m thrilled to be a part of this special program!”

— Eddie Williams

This Opportunity Will End This Year One of the best features of the PPA, at least from a charitable giving perspective, is the IRA rollover. This allows eligible donors to transfer up to $100,000 tax free to the University of Idaho when done from their IRA. That’s the good news; the less-thangood news is that it expires at the end of this year. There has been little indication that it will be extended by Congress beyond 2007.

How It Works For people aged 70½ and older, there are some extraordinary provisions: • The gift can be distributed from a traditional or Roth IRA; • The transfer is wholly tax-free: you don’t have to declare the withdrawal as taxable income and you don’t take a charitable deduction; • As with any other gift to the University of Idaho, you can designate a specific program or fund as the beneficiary of your gift; • Such transfers can be applied toward your minimum required distribution under the plan.

Other Benefits As you may know, since retirement accounts were funded with before-tax dollars, they are subject to both income and estate tax upon the death of the holder. A way to minimize or eliminate this tax liability is to name a charity such as the University of Idaho as beneficiary of the IRA, and pass other, lowertaxed assets on to heirs.

The PPA offers an added incentive to make the charitable gift now instead of through your estate plan.

Not only is there no income tax consequence, but you, the donor, get to see the gift put into use while yet living.

The rollover can be for any amount up to $100,000. In the year since this has been available, the University of Idaho has had IRA rollover gifts for as little as $100, and for as much as the maximum $100,000.

Illustration Let’s look at how this works in actual application.

Joe and Jane Vandal, both in their mid-70s, are retired. They have numerous sources of income, one of which is from their IRA that they so frugally funded over their working years. Ever since they ‘had’ to start making withdrawals upon reaching 70½, they find they have no particular need for the extra income, and end up paying considerably more in income tax.

For 2007 Joe and Jane are making their charitable gifts directly from their IRA. They merely advise the IRA administrator of the amount they want transferred, which can be more or less than their minimum required distribution (MRD) amount – or exactly the same if they wish.

While they don’t get a tax deduction, the trade-off is that they don’t have to declare this as taxable income.

Additional Details To help facilitate these transfers, two template letters have been created at the University of Idaho, one to your IRA administrator and the other to our Trust & Investment Office. By using these you have a paper trail of the transaction, your administrator knows exactly where to send the check, and we have an exact record of what programs you want to benefit from your gift.

While we’re happy to discuss this special tax law with you, we encourage you to check with your own tax and legal counsel, as well as your IRA administrator to make sure you’re doing what’s best for you. Everyone’s circumstances are different, and state as well as federal tax laws may affect your plans.

James R. Pilcher ’70

Time Is Running Out

As you are probably aware, the ability to make a charitable contribution directly from an IRA account is set to expire at the end of 2007. This provision of the tax code allows individuals over age 70½ to make a direct contribution of up to $100,000 to a charitable organization without any income tax consequences.

Under normal circumstances, a withdrawal from an IRA account is taxable, and potentially offset by a charitable deduction for a contribution of the same amount. However, not all individuals can offset 100 percent of the charitable deduction (50 percent rule) and some individuals may suffer a negative tax consequence when the additional income affects the inclusion of Social Security benefits in taxable income.

Please consult your tax adviser to determine if this is a desirable method for you to meet your charitable giving goals.

—James R. Pilcher ’70, CPA Hayden & Ross, Principal

Idaho Outlook • Financial and Estate Planning News

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s we have reported in previous issues of Idaho Outlook and other places, the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) makes numerous changes to the laws relating to retirement accounts.

Some special features you need to know about: • The distribution must be directly from the trustee/administrator of the IRA to the charity; • Distributions are for outright gifts only (e.g., not to fund life income plans such as charitable remainder trusts, nor to a donor advised fund or supporting organization); • Distributions can be made only from IRAs (not other plans such as §401(k), 403(b), Keogh, etc.); • However, you may be able to roll over one of these other accounts into an IRA and then make the transfer; • There can be no personal benefits flowing back to the donor by reason of the gift; • Not all state tax laws will necessarily follow the federal one, so it’s important to check this out in your state.

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Idaho Outlook

One Final Time On The Charitable IRA

Eddie Williams: Football

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The Kleffner Legacy The name Kleffner is virtually synonymous with Alumni in University of Idaho circles. From 1980-97 Flip ’55 was director of Alumni relations. Wife Jo ’56 was ever present at countless Alumni and other University events. Having established their own IRA over the years, they opted to make a tax-free transfer in 2006 to one of their favorite University events, the Idaho Repertory Theatre.

Over the years the Kleffner’s loyalty to Idaho has remained steadfast. Their decision to make an IRA rollover gift was an easy one for them, not only to make, but to actually complete.

The Sweeneys’ Kappa Kappa Gamma Scholarship In 2005 Bruce ’54 and Marilyn ’54 Sweeney of Lewiston established The Marilyn Evans Sweeney Kappa Kappa Gamma Scholarship Endowment, providing scholarships to members of Marilyn’s sorority. Their plan was to fully fund the scholarship over several years’ time. The passage of the IRA rollover provision gave them an opportunity to do so with some of their required minimum distribution, paying no tax on the money transferred. They readily

seized the opportunity to use this taxadvantaged means of fulfilling their philanthropic intentions.

These are just a few examples of the many ways smart donors have made use of the IRA rollover. While it has served as a wonderful means for generous folks over the age of 70½ to make charitable donations tax-free, regrettably it is set to expire at the end of this year. There is still time and if this sounds intriguing to you, feel free to contact us (see our contact information on page 8 of this Idaho Outlook), or talk to your IRA administrator.

Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority is a focus of Bruce ’54 and Marilyn ’54 Sweeney’s support.

Idaho Outlook • Financial and Estate Planning News

Student-athletes in the College of Science benefit from the generosity of Skip ’53 and Bee Pierce.

The Idaho Repertory Theatre is one of Flip ’55 and Jo ’56 Kleffner’s favorite campus events.

Lawrence M. Lineberger ’38 of Homedale, died May 26, 2007, at the age of 91 following a short bout with cancer.

Lawrence was featured in the Fall 2006 issue of Idaho Outlook, in which his lifelong loyalty to the University of Idaho as well as his exceptional achievements as a man of the soil were highlighted. A humble, even self-deprecating person, Lawrence parlayed a modest farming and ranching enterprise into an estate of more than $1 million, the bulk of which will come to his alma mater. He directed that the entire bequest be endowed and the net income made available for athletic scholarships. Over the years from his college days on, Lawrence enjoyed being a fan of Vandal sporting events. He was quite particular in that he did not want to specify a particular sport, but that the money be used where the greatest needs are.

The University of Idaho, particularly the Vandal athletic program, is indebted to the vision and foresight of Lawrence Lineberger. His bequest will not only enhance the Vandal scholarship offerings, and with it, the program’s competitiveness, but also will carry his name in perpetuity as one of its largest benefactors.

The University also owes a debt of gratitude to William F. Gigray Jr. ’40, of Caldwell, who was Lawrence’s personal and business attorney as well as a friend and confidant. When Lawrence was contemplating what to do with his estate following the death of his wife, Bea, Bill suggested he consider the University. As Bill put it, “Lawrence always loved the University of Idaho, and so do I.”

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Idaho Outlook • Financial and Estate Planning News IDAHO

The Pierces and Athletes in Science In 2005 Skip ’53 and Bee Pierce of Boise established The Skip and Bee Pierce Athletes in Science Endowment, to provide scholarships specifically for student-athletes enrolled in the College of Science. The Pierces planned to fund this with annual contributions over 5 years. When

Congress enacted the PPA with its IRA Rollover provision, the Pierces recognized a good thing when they saw it. Accessing IRA assets, they The Operation Education Scholarship Program has gained the support of Bob Cochrane ’62. fully funded the endowment. It was virtually painless: they used funds they didn’t Operation Education – have a personal need for; they paid Bob Cochrane no income tax on the withdrawal and Bob Cochrane ’62 of Beaverton, transfer; and they were able to ramp Ore., is retired after a successful 39up their philanthropic plans by several year career in the wood products years. A win-win for all concerned. industry, the last 19 with Pope & Talbott in sales. Two things caught his eye at almost the same time: (1) he became aware of the IRA rollover that the University’s gift planning services has been publicizing, and (2) he had been reading about Operation Education, the University’s innovative program to provide full-ride scholarships to returning veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts with permanent injuries.

Bob opted to help fund OpEd with a rollover gift from his IRA. Not only could Bob make a straightforward gift with minimal effort, but his transfer could be applied directly to his minimum required distribution amount.

Micki Panttaja

Idaho Outlook

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he IRA Rollover provision of the Pension Protection Act has opened the way for many smart donors (of course they’re smart – they are University of Idaho alumni and friends!) to make a virtually painless gift to the University.

TRIBUTE TO LAWRENCE LINEBERGER

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Idaho Outlook

Ways to Give Through Your Estate Plan There are many ways you can support the University of Idaho in addition to an outright gift. Below is a brief listing of how you can participate in this vital component of the University of Idaho’s mission.

What are the tax benefits?

What are some other benefits?

Bequest in Will or Revocable Living Trust

A gift you make by naming the University of Idaho in your will for a certain dollar amount, percentage or the residuary.

Reduces size of taxable estate.

Gives you flexibility in providing for family needs first. You become a member of our Heritage Society.

Charitable Gift Annuity

A contract in which the Foundation agrees to pay you back a percentage of your gift annually for your lifetime.

Immediate income tax deduction for part of gift’s value, capital gains spread out over life expectancy, a portion of the income is tax-exempt.

Gives you and/or another beneficiary a set income for life. Heritage Society membership.

Life Insurance Gift

A gift of an existing or new policy with the Foundation named as beneficiary and owner.

Immediate income tax deduction for gift’s value, plus possible estate tax savings.

Provides a way to make a significant gift with minimal capital outlay. Heritage Society membership.

Retirement Plan Gift

A gift made by naming the Foundation as remainder beneficiary after your death.

Heirs avoid income tax and possible estate tax.

Preserves 100 percent of plan’s value and allows you to leave heirs other, less costly bequests. Heritage Society membership.

Retained Life Estate

Charitable Remainder Trust IDAHO Idaho Outlook • Financial and Estate Planning News

What is it?

Charitable Lead Trust

A donation of your home or farm, but with the right to remain there.

Immediate income tax deduction for the charitable value of the gift, plus no capital gains tax due.

Allows you to live in your home or farm and still receive charitable deduction; assures immediate passage of title on your death. Heritage Society membership.

A trust that pays a set or variable income to you or those you name before the University receives remainder.

Income tax savings from deduction, no capital gains tax liability, possible estate tax savings.

Provides guaranteed annual income that could increase if trust value increases. Heritage Society membership.

A trust that pays the University an income for a period of years before you or heirs receive the trust remainder.

Gift or estate tax savings for value of payments made to a charity.

Allows you to pass assets to heirs intact at reduced or even no estate or gift tax. Heritage Society membership.

Life insurance for your Wealth Replacement heirs to replace the asset funding your Trust charitable gift.

When properly established through a trust, the insurance passes to heirs estate-tax free.

Tax savings and cash flow from a life income plan may be enough to pay the premiums. Heritage Society membership.

Please let us know if you have remembered the University of Idaho in your estate plans.

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Office of Development Gift Planning Services PO Box 443201 Moscow, ID 83844-3201 Phone: (208) 885-7069 Toll Free: (866) 671-7041 Fax: (208) 885-4483

Edward J. McBride E-mail: mcbride@uidaho.edu Cell: (509) 336-9368

August

september

october

november

August 20 Fall semester begins

Sept. 7 Vandal Athletics Hall of Fame banquet and induction ceremony

Oct. 4-6 Vandal Pride Days in northern California

Nov. 10 Magic Valley and Canyon County alumni wine tasting event, Glenns Ferry

August 23 Northern Idaho Vandal Celebration, Coeur d’Alene Aug. 29-Sept. 1 Vandal Pride Days in Southern California

Heidi C. Linehan E-mail: hlinehan@uidaho.edu Cell: (208) 310-6425

Sept. 15-16 Kappa Delta 10th anniversary reunion Sept. 21-23 Dads’ Weekend Sept. 28-29 Ag Days Sept. 28-30 Kappa Sigma classes of 1967-87 reunion

Oct. 7-13 Homecoming Week Oct. 11-14 Forest Products Reunion Oct. 12-14 FarmHouse 50th anniversary reunion Oct. 24 Forest Resources Department alumni reception, Portland, Ore. Oct. 25-27 Vandal Pride Days in Reno, Nev.

Nov. 14-17 Vandal Pride Days in Boise

december Dec. 7 Alumni Awards for Excellence banquet Dec. 8 December commencement

2008 Plan for: April 7 Moscow Silver and Gold April 18-20 Moms’ Weekend

www.uidaho.edu/givetoidaho

April 25-27 Alpha Gamma Delta 50th anniversary reunion For more information on alumni events, go to www.supportui.uidaho.edu on the Web.

fall 2007

Type

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w w w . V a n d a l G a m e D a y . c o m 2007 University of Idaho Football Game/Event Schedule

September

October

November

1 @ Southern California

6 @ San Jose State

3 Louisiana Tech

Vandal Pride Days in Southern California

8 Cal Poly

Athletic Hall of Fame Weekend

Vandal Pride Days in Northern California

13 Fresno State

Homecoming

15 @ Washington State

20 @ New Mexico State

22 Northern Illinois

Pre-Game at Martin Stadium

Dads’ Weekend

Military Appreciation Day

17 @ Boise State

Vandal Pride Days in Boise

24 Utah State

Senior Day

27 @ Nevada

Vandal Pride Days in Reno

29 Hawaii

Ag Days

Non-Profit Org.

Moscow, ID 83844-3232

IDAHO

Change Service Requested

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