Parents Doing Great Work

Your UA Parents & Family Association Advisory Board and committees met on Friday October 19 as part of Family Weekend 2007.  The Advisory Board formally approved Marcy Albert as Co-Chair of the Campaign Committee, Barbara Peck as Member-at-Large, and Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll as an Honorary Board member.  Your Advisory Board also awarded over $60,000 in grants to improve student safety and security.  Over $100,000 in additional grant applications were not selected due to lack of funds.  If you can, please give generously to the UA Parents & Family Association so that we can fund all the worthy projects for our students.  Visit www.uafamily.arizona.edu and click on GIVE to donate now.

Here are updates from your Parents & Family Association Committees.

Campaign Committee
Guillermo Uribe, Angelica Villarruel, and Marcy Albert, Co-Chairpersons

Between May and October 2007, The Campaign Committee agreed to grant more than $120,000 to different programs that directly benefit our students at the UA.  Safe Ride, Safe Walk, security cameras for the library, enhancements to Career Services are few of the programs that got awards.  We can help our students more now because we care and we give.   We will be looking for your continuous support in the future; we are thinking of new, fun ways to raise funds, including a silent auction for next year’s Family Weekend.  Any comments, advice, and, of course, direct gifts are very much welcomed.  Thank you so much for your support. Please feel free to contact us at angelica2@comcast.net or uafamily@email.arizona.edu.

Public Affairs Committee
Beatrice Perry, Chairperson
In spite of being a public university, did you know that under 30% of the UA’s budget comes from the State of Arizona? This percentage has decreased over the years, while the percent funded by research grants and tuition have increased.

The purpose of the Public Affairs Committee is to support the UA’s State Relations department’s efforts by educating parents who are voters in Arizona, asking them to contact their elected representatives by email, phone and at appropriate events on issues identified by UA State Relations.  You can find your district number and names of representatives by visiting the following websites: 
http://uagrad.org/advocats/home.php  or www.vote-smart.org

The key initiatives for this year are: 1) to safeguard the university’s budget, as there is a $600 million shortfall in revenue projected for the State of Arizona 2) focus on faculty retention, as there is a competitive salary request component in the budget, to minimize the loss of key faculty to other universities and 3) obtain State support for funding the planned growth of the Phoenix Biomedical Campus in Phoenix. Since the Legislature is likely to change after next session, including the loss of key legislators who are term-limited, this year’s lobbying efforts are especially important.

As UA parents and Arizona residents, we have a vested interest in supporting these efforts! All it takes is an email or phone call on your part when necessary or please consider joining the Public Affairs Committee to help us reach out more effectively.  You can help students, faculty and administration through your involvement. The louder our collective voice, the more impact we can have!

For those parents who have an interest in helping, please email your district number and legislators’ and senator’s names to  Beatrice Perry, UA Parent and Chair of the Public Affairs Committee by email ( beaperry@aol.com)  

Student Recruitment & Retention Committee
Jacque & Albert Siqueiros and Liz & Hunter Richardson, Co-Chairpersons

Student Recruitment & Retention Committee’s new Co-Chairs Liz and Hunter Richardson, of Great Falls, VA were introduced to parents and University Staff in attendance.  An overview of the committee’s history was presented by Jacque and Albert Siqueiros.  Kasey Urquidez and Eddie Arteaga from the Admissions Office provided and enrollment update and  highlighted the University’s ongoing mission to recruit minority and out-of-state students through various college fairs, counselor contact, on-line chats, high school visits, etc.  Liz and Hunter continued the discussion with a Q & A for parents about their student’s most positive and challenging experience at the University.  Several parents offered assistance in recruitment efforts in their home regions.   The names and emails of those in attendance were taken for future dialogue and activities to encourage parent involvement.  The development of a parent website directory was suggested as a communications tool for parents to contact one another and share experiences at the University. This was considered a priority amongst those parents in at the meeting.

To join any of these exciting committees, please email uafamily@email.arizona.edu  All are welcome!