A Message From President Kupchella

[The Sicatoka]

Got this in the old email inbox today:

Vol. 1, No. 1

January 2006

I hope your holiday season was joyous and fun. With the new year, I am taking this opportunity to begin communicating regularly with you via e-mail. I will send you an update roughly six times a year to keep you informed about some of the exciting projects we have going at UND. Our history of excellence and achievement dates back more than 120 years, and there are many sources of pride.

For this first issue, I have included just a few UND "brag points." Obviously, there are many more. As I travel around the country talking to UND alumni and friends, many comment that they want to hear more campus news, and they also want to see how the campus looks today. Here are two QuickTime video clips about recent announcements that we are proud of: NASA's DC-8 project and the National Suborbital Education and Research Center at UND http://www.universityrelations.UND.edu/mul...ons_dc8_web.MPG and the new Nursing Building http://www.universityrelations.UND.edu/mul...ng_research.MPG.

These clips will give you a great sense of pride in the leading-edge projects in which our world-class faculty and researchers are involved.

Best wishes for a healthy and prosperous 2006!

Charles E. Kupchella

President

University of North Dakota

Did You Know?

• The University of North Dakota is the state's most comprehensive research university and the primary center for professional education and training. In the past five years, UND has brought in more than $353 million for sponsored programs from internal and external sources. In fiscal year 2005, $81 million was received for projects in such areas as neuroscience, groundwater cleanup, spacesuit technology, high-tech coatings, and alternative fuels.
  
• UND is one of only 46 public universities in the country with both accredited law and medical schools.
  
• According to a recent study, UND's economic impact on the state and region is nearly $1 billion a year.
  
• U.S. News & World Report ranks the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences third in the nation for its commitment to rural medicine. U.S. News & World Report lists UND among the Top 200 Best National Universities in the country. This places UND among the top 5% of the 4,000+ universities in the country.
  
• Princeton Review/Forbes.com ranks UND 14th among the "Top 25 Most Entrepreneurial Undergraduate Campuses in the Country."
  
• Consumers Digest (May/June 2004) listed UND as one of the top 15 "best public university values" in the country.
  
• Nearly half of the doctors in North Dakota were trained at UND. About 20 percent of the American Indians (enrolled in federally recognized tribes) who are doctors in the United States trained at UND through the Indians Into Medicine (INMED) program.
  
• UND has an internationally renowned space studies master's degree program including the M.S. in Space Studies distance education degree for working aerospace professionals and others who wish to enter this exciting field. This is a fully accredited program using the latest distance learning techniques.
  
• The Energy & Environmental Research Center is a world leader developing and commercializing technologies in energy efficiency, alternative fuels, conservation, and the protection of natural resources.
  
• UND's Division of Continuing Education offers a unique internationally accredited Distance Engineering Degree Program that includes four bachelor of science engineering degrees-chemical, civil, electrical, and mechanical-for adult learners working full time or for people otherwise unable to attend traditional on-campus courses.
  
• UND's John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences has 124 flight training units--including several dozen single- and twin-engine airplanes and flight simulators, seven helicopters, two aerobatic aircraft, a float plane, and a Level 6 CRJ regional jet simulator.
  
• UND recently secured a five-year contract to manage the use of a McDonnell Douglas DC-8 that serves as the premier "airborne laboratory" of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This "lab" recently participated in the return of NASA's Stardust comet exploration spacecraft, flying from the Ames Research Center in California to photograph the probe coming through the atmosphere. The DC-8 now is preparing for a three-month air pollution research mission that will take it to Texas, Hawaii, and Alaska.
  
• UND's Departments of Electrical Engineering and Space Studies collaborated with the University's Upper Midwest Aerospace Consortium to design and build AgCam, an infrared camera capable of returning real-time images of crop development, to be mounted in the International Space Station.
  
• The Department of Family Medicine is one of only two in the United States to be designated as a National Center of Excellence in Women's Health Demonstration Project.
  
• UND's award-winning, student-produced television news show, Studio One, is available by cable to more than 2 million viewers in three states and one Canadian province.
  
• UND's athletic teams finished fourth in the nation (Division II) in the Sears Cup standings for the 2004-05 season, and they have consistently placed in the top ranks of this prestigious college team award for performance in national post-season competition.
  
• More than 60 Fighting Sioux hockey players have landed coveted positions in the National Hockey League over the years, including four Fighting Sioux players picked up by NHL teams this season. More than 300 Fighting Sioux hockey players have played in major- and minor-league professional hockey here and abroad. Seventeen UND hockey players have also represented their countries in the Winter Olympics.
  
• Fighting Sioux athletic teams have had a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better for 15 of the last 16 semesters.
  

This e-mail is brought to you courtesy of the University of North Dakota Alumni Association.

(Note: You will need the QuickTime Player or Windows Media Player to view videos.)