Welcome to the 2008 edition of the website of the Western Mountain Region Council. The Western Mountain Region continues to work very hard to ensure that communications within our far-flung region are as effective and informative as possible. This website, our annual calendar, our leadership list, and our various efforts at timely contact are all important components of this initiative to ensure that you have the information you need when you need it. Regional leadership will be further served by being linked to the WMR sites on Sharepoint, the AIA’s discussion and archiving site.

As usual, this website will provide you with information about regional events and programs, links to regional components and leadership, and links to your Regional Directors and the WMR Executive Committee. In addition, you will find copies of current Directors’ reports and Regional Meeting reports as well as an archive of these reports for your on-going reference. For 2008, we will continue to use this website as the repository of agendas, meeting reports of past meetings, and component reports as preparatory information for our Regional Meetings at AIA Grassroots (Washington, D.C.), The National Convention (Boston), and the WMR Regional Conference (Santa Fe). Only limited copies of this information will be provided at the meetings themselves so please feel free to read, download, and print out this information as you desire.

For our general membership, the general public and allied professionals visiting this site and its related links, we hope that you will find them to be valuable resources of information about WMR and Component activities and events, and a great link to the architectural professionals in your area. My Co-Regional Director, John A. Padilla, AIA, and I hope that you will make an opportunity to explore the website and to take full advantage of its resources.

John and I have the privilege and the pleasure of representing more than 3,000 AIA Architect members in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming on the AIA National Board of Directors. As we close out our celebration of the Institute’s Sesquicentennial Year, we look forward to our own celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Western Mountain Region next year. Once again, the New Year finds us energized and excited by the future prospects of our Institute and our Region and look forward to working with you in the coming year.

As always, effective communications is a two-way proposition, and we invite your comments, suggestions, and questions about our efforts.

Stephen K. Loos, AIA WMR Senior Director