Our human environment has both local and statewide dimensions. Locally, the community takes possessive pride in Weber State as a physical, economic, and cultural asset. Since obvious respect for educators is rare in America today, it is a distinct pleasure to mingle with Ogdenites who not only wish us the best, but frequently back their sentiments with their substance. We try to return the favor both through small gestures, such as billing our summer musical theatre as Ogdens Gift to Utah, and through large commitments, as in creating customized training programs for local industries. At the state level a dominant ideology with conflicting imperatives historic devotion to education vs. current discomfort with public infrastructure complicates the inevitable struggle of any upstart, regional college to become valued alongside major universities. Yet statewide leaders demonstrate an ingrained civility and evident sympathy for our cause that make even economic scarcity and sectional rivalries surprisingly tolerable. The Utah State Board of Regents, unusual among public governing boards in its assertive way of assigning specific educational roles to different institutions, has encouraged the College to distinguish itself as the States exclusive agent in a variety of technical fields. This suggests focus for what has been since the Second World War an increasingly fuzzy sense of mission. In the absence of any other local community college we continue to occupy that niche, but our programs in engineering technology, health professions, and criminal justice have evolved far beyond the sophistication of a two-year college. Strong schools of business and education haveblossomed, lately sprouting our two advanced degree programs. Meanwhile, a solid corps of scholars in the liberal arts and sciences has assembled both to offer degrees in most of the traditional subjects and to serve up a general education feast in which all students partake. Add to the recipe all the various research activities, artistic endeavors, and service roles occupying our diverse faculty, and the result is an institution with many characteristics of a university. Balancing the claims of the arts and sciences with those of the professional and technical programs is a central test of administrative skill at Weber State. As a refugee from the liberal arts, I have found it invaluable to have at all times a chief lieutenant from the applied tradition. As evidence of our highwire prowess I need only note the frequency of assertions from both camps that, of course, the other really controls the Colleges destiny. Many of our policy debates revolve around another tightrope act adapting the traditional image of college education to the realities of todays diverse students. At one extreme of our clientele is the eager campus resident, typically young, naive, immersed in new experiences; at the other extreme is the commuter for whom education represents a break between the morning traffic jam and the afternoon job. As a blue-collar institution in the best tradition of American state colleges, we take both sets of needs seriously. Our programs extend to odd times and places for nontraditional students, who may be found gathered together evenings, weekends, even in the wee morning hours, anywhere from St.George and Blanding through Ogden and the northern Rockies to the Pacific Coast. On the other hand, our tuition schedule encourages full-time attendance by offering progressively lower rates for higher credit loads. Research having shown that the odds for effective education rise in proportion to the time students spend actively involved in college life, we have invested consciously and substantially in competent staff and unusually attractive living quarters to draw students to our residence halls. (Our most outstanding scholarship recipients get a free room for four years.) On the other hand, commuters confined to prime class hours on campus at least can take advantage of a weekly hour given over to enriching events and informal interaction. This simple device, the so-called Open Hour, has measurably stimulated participation in campus life and gained national recognition as a way to involve students more actively in their education. A human scale and a personal touch have characterized Weber throughout its history. Even with more than 25,000 students enrolled annually up to 12,000 at a time and a growing reliance upon automation, that value persists. Consultants and reviewers unanimously tell us they sense here the thorough commitment to student welfare that creates an atmosphere for learning more akin to a small, private college. Even the campus architecture contributes, never having provided for massive lecture halls. Relative closeness among participants, centrality of students, and widespread agreement on the Colleges primarily undergraduate focus are key values underlying our distinctive corporate culture. President Rodney Brady personified them through his omnipresence and frequent reminders to the campus community, reinforced by his trademark Presidential Citations. One striking manifestation of this culture is the unusual degree of influence student leaders exert on the life of the College. ASWSC is no mere fun-and-games diversion; much of the student activity fee income is directed back into academic pursuits. Regardless of administrative organization, we try to maintain a closely coordinated, complementary relationship between academic and student affairs. Granting students full participating membership in the inner circles of faculty and administrative governance is just the beginning. They often initiate major policy proposals. The tuition schedule and Open Hour mentioned earlier exist almost wholly because of persuasive student support. Students championed the annual Crystal Crest celebration, highlighting excellence on the part of all members of the College community faculty, staff, students, friends and alumni. Their offer to accept a surcharge on tuition challenged the State Legislature finally, after two decades of indifference, to expand the library collection to minimal undergraduate scope. Their subsequent, successful quest for legislative support matching a self-imposed fee surcharge was the stimulus for modernizing our computer facilities and integrating computing significantly into curricula throughout the College. Notably, the leaders behind such campaigns almost invariably emerge from the student LDS population. Their rise to office is undoubtedly a function of voting-bloc politics, but their performance testifies to their churchs effectiveness in developing leadership ability. Nor are their priorities narrowly focused: It was they who