This week has been a hot one in Ruston for sure! Even those contractors roofing our Business Building’s new wing have had to change their schedules to work 7 pm to 7 am to avoid the hot mid-day temps. Progress on multiple other campus projects has continued despite the heat and everyone is pushing hard to get the campus ready for our students’ arrival in early September. Regardless, we will be seeing quite a bit of construction on our campus over the next 3 years particularly with a new set of residential facilities in the south central part of our campus and other facilities in the Enterprise Campus as well as many parking improvements. More on these projects later. Late Monday, Kathy and I were pleased to host an appreciation buffet for our admissions staff and Orientation Student Leaders who have done an amazing job this year in recruiting what we anticipate being an outstanding 2016 freshman class.           On Tuesday, I spent some time visiting students and parents at our final transfer orientation session of the summer. I have been impressed with the quality of the transfer students who are joining us. Tuesday morning, I stopped by Tech Pointe to visit with Dave Guerin and our communications and marketing staff who were in a retreat to review and discuss standards, policies and strategies for enhancing the Tech brand and messaging. This is a very talented team spanning all areas of our campus community. Throughout the week, I had numerous meetings with my administrative team to discuss progress and make plans for various projects and initiatives.  I also had a prospective student from McKinney, Texas come by for a visit. One of our biggest events of the year, The Happening, was held Thursday evening at the Monroe Civic Center. This year, the theme was Blue Bayou and our alumni staff did a fantastic job in preparing the venue, food and entertainment for the 750+ attendees. We had numerous legislators and elected officials, business and community leaders, alumni and friends as well as faculty, staff and students in attendance. The program featured three of our leading industry partners – CenturyLink, Fenway Group, and CSRA – who were organized in a panel led by Davy Norris. We also featured Dean Don Schillinger and two of our UTeach students who told their inspiring stories about learning to be teachers while pursing their technical majors. And, Skip Holtz wrapped up the evening with an overview of the upcoming football season. It was a most enjoyable evening! I hope you enjoy a few of my favorite pictures from this week: