Dear Charger Community,
I’m thrilled to welcome each of you to the Fall 2022 semester here at UAH. I hope you have enjoyed a happy and healthy Summer and are refreshed and ready to charge ahead into what promises to be a very exciting new Fall semester here at UAH!
First, please join me in helping to welcome our new Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. David A. Puleo. Dr. Puleo’s extensive administrative, academic and technical experience, as well as his stellar research expertise, make him a wonderful fit for our mission here. And, I’d like to thank Dr. Bob Lindquist and Dr. John Christy for their outstanding service in their interim roles during the period of transition. They have returned full-time to their positions of Vice President for Research and Economic Development, and Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science/Director of the Earth System Science Center, respectively.
Speaking of welcomes, I hope you have been enjoying our Week of Welcome activities. UAH Student Life has an amazing lineup of events this week for both new and returning students. This is a great way to make new connections as we begin the academic year.
As I’ve spent time with many with you around campus my first eight months here, it makes me realize every day just what a special place this is. I have been so impressed with all that you have accomplished, and I want to thank each of you for your efforts. Let’s keep that momentum going! Here are just a few of the many accomplishments announced at UAH this summer.
- The Space Hardware Club sent a payload to space for the first time in almost a decade to collect and analyze flight monitoring data. Three mostly freshmen SHC teams placed first, second and third in the nation at an international CanSat competition. And, the SHC robotic rover team finished third among U.S. teams and sixth overall in its first University Rover Challenge.
- UAH was the only institute of higher learning in the nation to be chosen winner of the 2022 Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency James S. Cogswell Outstanding Industrial Security Achievement Award.
- UAH is leading an alliance of universities partnering on a $20 million, five-year effort to develop transformative technologies in plasma science and engineering funded by the National Science Foundation. Dr. Gary Zank, director of UAH's Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research, is the principal investigator.
- The College of Nursing was selected by the National League of Nursing as a Center of Excellence in Nursing Education. The UAH CON is being recognized in particular for “creating environments that promote the pedagogical expertise of faculty.”
Finally, as you return to campus, I want to encourage each of you to continue to work hard and stay safe. Everyone should take great pride in what is happening here at this university. At least once a week I think, my goodness, we do that? You are truly amazing.
Here’s to a great semester!
Sincerely,
Charles L. Karr
Interim President
