Budgeting and planning activities continued into this week. VP for Academic Affairs Terry McConathy and I met with each of the college deans to review and discuss their budgets. I also met with VP for University Advancement Corre Stegall to discuss development and fund-raising plans. Fund-raising will continue to be a priority of mine as I believe that significant growth in our private and corporate support is crucial for long-term advancement of the institution. On Tuesday, Melanie Peel invited me to visit with our Bridges to Bulldogs students who are just completing their summer term on campus as part of this pilot program. These are students who expressed strong interests in attending Tech and had strong qualifications, but did not fully meet our criteria for admission. The students were enrolled through Bossier Parish Community College for the summer, attended class and lived in the dorms on our campus, and received the support services of our student affairs division. I was impressed with these students when I met with them and am confident that many of them will be successful as they continue their studies at Tech this Fall.  I also commend Melanie and her team for planning and delivering an exceptional experience. On Wednesday, I made a couple of trips to Bossier City and Shreveport to meet with some of our colleagues and partners. The first meeting was with the Cyber Innovation Center where we continue to discuss a number of initiatives and plans for a stronger partnership between our organization. Later in the day, Kathy and I returned to Shreveport to have dinner with special friends Phillip and Melanie Parker. Their son and Tech accounting student, Brandon, and Centenary student Christina Langston, were performing at a local restaurant. We greatly enjoyed the evening.   On Thursday afternoon, I was pleased to host a visit from Nathan James, an education and workforce policy advisor for Governor Jindal. We provided him with an overview of some of our innovative academic, research and partnership programs, and also gave him a tour of the campus. As we passed through University Hall, we were able to see teachers from Lincoln and Ouachita Parish who were in the ‘Thingery’ for a training session on Maker Spaces. Congratulations to Dr. Don Schillinger and other faculty from the College of Education, College of Engineering and Science, and College of Business for collaborating on this project which will positively impact our local school systems.