2 Presidential Conversation
This is always the time of year when we count our blessings and thank those who
make our lives more enjoyable and fulhlling. The same is true for the University of
P, Kentucky. We are certainly thankful to our alumni members across the globe that
if a help support and proudly represent their alma mater each and every day.
  It is also a time when we start focusing on the upcoming calendar year. And as we
I ¥T:{ _ enter the new year, our sights are squarely focused on the 2008 legislative session.
if i_   * The university’s top priority next year is the same as it was during the last legisla-
»   tive session. We will ask the Governor and General Assembly to continue funding
g S. our Top 20 Business Plan. Such an investment will allow us to continue to improve
the educational experience here at UK. It will help us to continue to add to our
‘ world-class faculty and lower class sizes. It also will help us improve our retention
  and graduation rates, making sure the students who choose to come to UK will be
’ able to walk out of here in four years with a degree in hand.
" L) r We will go to the legislature this coming session and ask for additional classroom
Y .; . far space through the construction of a new Gatton College of Business and Econom-
i ics. This building represents a double shot of energy to campus. First, it will help us
produce more business leaders and entrepreneurs — people who will help us create new economic opportunities across
the Commonwealth. At the very same time, the new building will free up the existing Gatton College, supplying UK
with signihcant classroom space in the heart ofthe campus that can be used by students and faculty, as we move for-
ward in our Top 20 push.
We will also ask our leaders to consider building an additional research building on the site of our “Medical Campus
of the Future.” This building, like our existing Biological/ Biomedical Sciences Research Building, will be home to lab-
oratories designed to conduct advanced research into the most complex health care and science issues. As a high-tech
research factory, it will create hundred of high-paying jobs. The new research building will help us discover new ideas
and innovations that will be key in our quest to diversify and modernize Kentucky’s economy.
I certainly hope that you will support our 2008 legislative agenda. I think it represents something that we, as
alumni members, can be supportive of: an unflinching desire to make UK one ofthe 20 best public research
universities in the nation.
Sincerely,
President Lee T. Todd, ]r.
www.uka|umni.net 5 ((