As you will read in this issue of UWyo, Kara has achieved much more since then. People, like Norm Morrow and Kara Calvert, are the true strength of any great university. Our challenge is to identify, recruit, and retain the most talented faculty and the most promising students that we can. This spring, Gov. Jim Geringer and the Wyoming legislature gave us an important tool to do just that. Each endowment created as a result of this program will remain in perpetuity, with the university spending only earnings from the private gift and its accompanying state match.
Higher education is a fiercely competitive enterprise.
With the pending nationwide retirement of a generation of faculty, America's universities are engaged in a spirited rivalry for the most accomplished professors. Universities and colleges nationwide also are engaged in a never-ending competition for the most promising students. The University Endowment Fund, enacted by overwhelming majorities in both houses of our state legislature and signed by the governor, provides us with an important opportunity to compete effectively for the best faculty and the best students. But this is an opportunity only, not a guarantee. The rest is up to us.