I just returned from a Board of Trustees meeting in Denver, Colorado. We were hosted by Trustee Fred Haynes and his wife, RoxAnn. Each January the Trustees go on retreat to a different part of our nation. These retreats focus on major issues confronting Norwich and help sort out a good course for our future. We also visit with alumni in that part of the country. I invited LTG Noonan, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army for Intelligence, to speak to the Trustees about the future. We were so impressed that we asked LTG Noonan to give a similar talk to our students, faculty, and staff at his convenience sometime this spring. I think you will find his lecture fascinating as he talks about the world you will shortly inherit.

The Trustees also dealt with some short-term issues, and I am delighted to tell you that the Trustees have allocated $100,000 from the proceeds of the sale of Vermont College to buy new weight room equipment. I have also raised an additional $100,000 for that project. We now have $200,000 to totally outfit all new equipment in the weight room. I have asked Tony Mariano, our Athletic Director, to work on a plan for the purchase and maintenance of this equipment and to acquire it as soon as possible. I have also asked for a plan on how best to deploy the present equipment to an alternate location, so we can still get benefit from that equipment as well.

The Trustees also allocated over $650,000 for the purchase of new student furniture. This will allow us to put back into service approximately 64 triple rooms. This will allow us to grow and insure that everyone on campus has a bed, since we will no longer be using overflow capacity at Vermont College. The Board spent considerable time discussing the issue of building new dormitories, and they will be discussing it again this coming May. It is clear, however, that we are going to have to prove that we can grow the student body before we would commit to any new dormitory expansion, --an exciting prospect, to be sure!

The Trustees also received a briefing on our Masters in Business Administration Online Program, which was begun this fall. I am very pleased to say we are above all the best projections and currently have 53 full-time students. I also discussed plans on how we might grow additional academic programs within the Military Graduate Program.

The Trustees are looking forward to coming back in May to hear more about these issues, to see the campus firsthand, and to talk with the faculty, staff and student body.

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