[justify]Holos UTEPers, citizens of the East and fellow NSers,[/justify]
[justify]As it has been announced for some time, 1st November is the day of my departure from the UTEP (Supreme) Chancellorship, as it was of my appointment in such position a year ago. From this day, I leave the leadership of this institution in the hands of Aivintis, who already has several ideas and has started today to execute them.[/justify]
[justify]The University of The East Pacific has a long history of several years, concepts, ups and downs. In a conversation I had about NS universities in the Inter-Regional Chat, I heard from MadJack, TNP’s University leader by the time, that “NS universities are hard to do”, and from our former delegate Xoriet that “trying to sustain NS universities is exceptionally difficult” but that people able to do it have her admiration. Those are three quotes I fully agree on, and former UTEP Chancellors will agree with me too. So when Serge and Wonderess rescued UTEP from its burial and brought it back to life with a new project, we could have just seen it die again. But it did not, and a year later UTEP is a strong part of the innermost core of TEP.[/justify]
[justify]I was part of the reconstruction project from the very beginning, as Dean with Bobberino and Jutomi. The target was to build a place for RL and NS academical discussion and dissemination that could involve TEP’s citizenry as a whole. To accomplish that, questions were asked in the Discord server, articles were submitted and our first agora held. The task was tough and ideas were not taking shape quickly, hence, when my appointment as Chancellor happened, there was one specific target: to make those ideas have actual shapes, so UTEP could definitely be brought into life. And from the very first day of November I started to work on it.[/justify]
[justify]A policy I took from the very first day was to create reaction roles, so people interested on a question or topic about a specific area of knowledge could be notified of an incoming debate. I asked for articles to certify by UTEP, and I received several and, specifically, a whole collection of cards articles by several expert people on it, both from TEAPOT and from other regions and entities, which is publicly available on our forums and I am sure it will be of great use for a long time. In a similar path, Which allignment in raiding/defending is the most convenient for a region? Is it better to not be alligned at all? - The East Pacific - Tapatalk took place, about such an important topic as raiding/defending: key concepts of the matter were discussed and its importance for knowledge on the topic, even in a NS scale, is immense. Also soon after my own arrival to the Chancellorship, I appointed a newcomer to the Dean position, and from these beginnings he would keep on rising until he became an Arbiter and the Minister of Publishing: I’m talking about Nociav/Nuswaree. He was my second hand in this hard job, and he helped me with an infinitude of tasks for several months, earning my gratitude and admiration. Before the end of the year, our first four Professors were appointed: SirShadow, Atlae, Art and Aivintis, rewarding their contributions to the University.[/justify]
[justify]These tasks might seem simple, but engaging a whole region in some weeks and even creating a whole sub-community inside TEP dedicated to knowledge and debate is definitely complex. UTEP’s achievements were an integral reason for my inclusion in the Order of the Golden Ocelot: even when it was awarded to myself, I would like to share what refers to UTEP in that OGO with all the team that worked greatly on a mission we accomplished.[/justify]
[justify]Shortly before Zuk’s delegacy arrived, another challenge came with it: to move from the original UTEP server to the new Executive + FA + UTEP one. Once again, with the help of both UTEP and the Cabinet, I kept the server structure of departments and pingable roles almost intact. Zuk’s term was one of consolidation, of keeping a strong structure working, and once again, we did. We held our first agora outside of TEP, in the Late Night Festival, which was another success and a continuation of our projection into NS, and we adopted the definitive structure of Chancellor-Dean-Professor, which has proven to work great in the time to come. That reform made it so Professors could select more than one area of knowledge and feel free to work in several at once, again with great results. Soon after this, the now Chancellor Aivintis was appointed as Dean, thanks to his enormous help in this complex reform.[/justify]
[justify]I am not quite a fan of third terms, but the perspective of a long summer of four months and that one vote which granted Atlae the Delegacy over myself brought me more inspiration to keep on leading UTEP. Patch and Canadian Technocrats, who had been incredibly active in only a few weeks in UTEP, were appointed as Deans, at the same time as Nuswa and Jutomi left the position. Patch in fact was in charge of the first agora not moderated by the Chancellor. Aiv proposed the Five Step Plan, which has been accomplished in a great part but has yet to continue and will surely shape his term in the leadership. Additionally, Aiv and I have been working as advisors on the creation of a university for our friends in the FNR, following the success of UTEP’s project. The last event I’m hosting, an agora about the concept itself of a nation-state, looks very promising as well. In general, my focus for the last four months has been to decentralize progressively UTEP’s leadership so my departure could be smooth and the institution would not depend on me, as it has done for a long time. To make UTEP function by itself, and not under oneself. In this way, I told Aiv about my departure right when Atlae’s term started, and he accepted it. Now he’s taking the position, and I’m sure he will do as great as he has done and as I and the whole UTEP have done in the past year.[/justify]
[justify]To depart has not been an easy decision: I’ve been told that people identify me as Chancellor of UTEP when asked of how they view myself, with EM even naming the UTEP archive as “Sammy Leganes Memorial Hall”. I feel I have been an active part of something very big inside TEP: I have watched UTEP’s (re)birth, I have guided it through its childhood, its growth, have helped it establish, and now that it can live by itself, it’s my moral duty to let it fly and continue to write its own story. A story I am sure will continue for a long time.[/justify]
[justify]I leave with an enormous feeling of satisfaction, and of gratitude to all those that have gone with me on the road. Quoting Impelanta III, one of my characters on Urth’s RP, I hope I have built UTEP from its ashes, and signed its name on TEP’s eternity. May it continue spreading light from the east.[/justify]
[justify]Love from Sammy, Chancellor Emeritus of UTEP.[/justify]
[justify]Salve.[/justify]