My holiday wish is that you and your loved ones will have safe travels during the season and return energized for a prosperous 2010.  I want to say a big “Thank You” to all of our nearly 30,000 Alumni Association members and hope more will consider joining this great group of graduates.

Special thanks to our Board of Directors.  Without their unselfish volunteer support and encouragement, this job would be nearly impossible.  I would be remiss if I didn’t thank the great Alumni team as well.  The Alumni Relations staffs in Athens and Atlanta are, without a doubt, the best and hardest workers for UGA.  Of course I’m biased, but this talented group works very hard to keep the Bulldog faithful engaged with its alma mater.

Please place on your calendar our inaugural Bulldog 100: Fastest Growing Bulldog Businesses event coming up Jan. 30.  I hope you will join us.  Click here for all the information.

Don’t forget to cheer on the Dogs as they travel to Shreveport to take on Texas A&M next Monday in the Independence Bowl.

Stay tuned to my daily blog to read about all the great things our alums are accomplishing.

Rep. David Ralston ‘80 has been elected by his legislative colleagues to be the new Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives.  The Blue Ridge Republican will replace current Speaker Glenn Richardson, who recently resigned after five years at the helm of the lawmaking body.  David received his law degree from UGA.  Congratulations!

Our Washington, DC Alumni Chapter -affectionately known as the DC Dawgs- sent us this cute picture of a snowman they made last week when the first winter storm of the season hit the nation’s capital.   This is a fun group led by Valerie Elston ‘04.  Enjoy the snow, but don’t get too cold!

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged UGA graduates to consider a career in service at last Friday’s fall commencement exercises.  The former Texas A&M President told the more than 1,000 undergrads and their families that “these uncertain and difficult times present singular opportunities to do the most good for our fellow Americans, to choose a life of service to your community and your country.”  We appreciate Dr. Gates visiting our campus and giving our graduates a special memory they won’t soon forget.  The Secretary’s speech has been posted to UGA’s YouTube Web site; click here to see it.

On behalf of the more than 250,000 UGA alumni, congratulations to the class of 2009.  We hope you will consider joining the Alumni Assocation.  It’s an excellent way to remain connected with your alma mater.

Dr. Arnett Mace, UGA’s Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, is stepping down from his post at the end of this month- seven years after taking over as the school’s chief academic officer.  Arnett is a true friend to the UGA Alumni Association and we will miss him.  Arnett came to UGA in 1991 as Dean of the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources and took over the Provost role in late 2002 after Karen Holbrook departed to become President of Ohio State.  UGA President Michael Adams hailed Dr. Mace for his unwavering committment to the University.  Professor Jere Morehead has been tapped to succeed Arnett as Provost and Senior Vice President.  Yesterday a retirement reception was held for Arnett and hundreds of people showed up to wish him well and say,  ”job well done, my friend.”  Here you see Jere (l) and Arnett at Thursday’s reception.

Some 2,200 students will be celebrating their graduation from UGA today.  About 1,700 undergrads are eligible to participate in commencement exercises at 9:30 this morning at Stegeman Coliseum.  They will hear from U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who also served as President of Texas A&M.

More than 500 graduate candidates will gather inside Stegeman this afternoon at 2:30.  Professor Dorinda Dallmeyer ‘73, ‘77, ‘84, former Associate Director of the Law School’s Dean Rusk Center, will speak.

Roger Hunter ’78 is helping NASA search the heavens for other life forms.  He is mission director for the space agency’s Kepler Discovery project, a one ton telescope launched last March that takes wide-field pictures every 30 minutes looking for possible life-sustaining planets.  Roger just informed me that NASA has transferred the management of the Kepler project to his home base of the Ames Research Center in Pasadena, Calif.  He says it’s the culmination of a lot of hard work by many gifted and dedicated people.  Read more about the news here.

Roger was nice enough to alert us that National Geographic magazine is featuring the Kepler project in its December issue.  Click here for fascinating reading about this interesting endeavor.  He also tells me that Kepler won this year’s Popular Science Grand Prize award for Best of What’s New for Aviation and Space.  Congratulations, Roger.

I was pleased that so many UGA alums attended Tuesday’s Terry College Economic Outlook luncheon in Atlanta.  Alumni Association Board Treasurer Tim Keadle’s accounting firm of Porter, Keadle & Moore was a key sponsor of the event.  He and former Association President Trey Paris ‘84, ‘85 were among the more than 1,000 business executives and government leaders who heard that Georgia’s economic recovery would be “slow and bumpy,” according to Terry College Dean Robert Sumichrast.

Delivering the national forecast was David Wyss, Chief Economist at Standard & Poor’s, who said the silver lining was that “rock bottom has come and gone.”  Click here for the 2010 economic outlook.

Cassandra Price ‘99 has been tapped to head the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities’ Division of Addictive Diseases.  She joins the leadership of the new agency after having served in many capacities with its predecessor, the Georgia Department of Human Resources.  Cassandra is a certified alcohol and drug counselor who previously worked at a facility in her hometown of Rome.  “Cassandra brings to this role all the skills of an innovative policy maker, an experienced clinician, and a nuts-and-bolts administrator,” noted agency Commissioner Frank Shelp in a news release.

Don’t forget to check out this year’s Bulldog Wishlist for that special Bulldog in your life.