Kathy and I played road warriors this week, and we enjoyed the opportunity to get out and see everyone getting ready for the holiday season ahead. On Monday after a few hours in the office, we traveled to Dallas to meet with some of our alumni. Kathy and I took the opportunity to have dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in the Dallas Market Center area, Eddie V’s. We called this our wedding anniversary dinner (a couple of weeks late).  Kathy also enjoyed some shopping time while we were in Dallas at stores that were packed with Christmas shoppers and decorations. I came back home fairly well unscathed.   On Tuesday morning, I met up with our new VP for University Advancement Brooks Hull to visit with our most recent member of the Hall of Distinguished Alumni, Mr. Ray Wallace, who is the retired CEO of Trinity Industries. This was a special visit for us as we were able to present Mr. Wallace with his Tower Medallion. We had recognized him during our Fall Commencement exercise which he was not able to attend because of his health. It was wonderful to hear more stories about Mr. Wallace’s experiences as a professional and also as a student at Tech in the 1940s. He gave me some sage advice too! Wednesday morning, I was pleased to have President Emeritus Dan Reneau stop by the office for a visit. After that visit, Kathy and I met some of our Tech TV students at the house to shoot our Christmas video. We are so blessed to have talented students who use their creative skills to produce these videos for us.  I hope you enjoy this one. Late Wednesday afternoon, I headed down to Baton Rouge for meetings with the Board of Regents and University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors. The initial part of the Regents meeting included a joint session with BESE. We were able to get a lot of good information in this full day of meetings, and we were able to get all of our agenda items approved by the various committees. I was also most pleased to see the Board of Supervisors name Dan Reneau as interim president of the UL System while a search for the permanent president continues. I am most appreciative of the work done by ULS President Sandy Woodley who has guided us through a challenging three years of difficult budgets and changes in institutional leaderships. I appreciate Dan Reneau’s willingness to come out of retirement and help the system and state during this major time of transition, and I know that he will provide excellent leadership. On Friday, I met with the President of our University Senate, a Tech Talk reporter, an eminent scholar chair in biomedical engineering, and a prospective eminent scholar chair in technical writing. Kathy and I were pleased to host some friends for a Christmas Party on Friday evening. Kathy, Ryan Richard and I have also been spending a lot of time this week making plans for many activities surrounding the New Orleans Bowl game. We congratulate the Bulldogs for their second consecutive bowl game and look forward to them bringing home a championship trophy.