Vision, Mission & Value Overview of Activities Conducted at the Electrical Engineering Department in 2008      A) Highlights of Academic Activities   1- Providing various educational services and plans for 638 undergraduate, and 717 graduate students.   2- Allocation of a two billion rials budget for educational infrastructure upgrade.   3- Approval for starting a new field of study, Nanoptronics.   4- The national "Outstanding and Distinguished Professors" awards were granted to the EE department faculty.   5- The Protection of Electrical Power Networks graduate program successfully completed its second year.   6- 227 graduate defense sessions were held, and 212 Master's and 15 PhD students graduated.   7- Ph.D. admission exams were administered, and 36 PhD candidates are completing their degrees.   8- EE faculty have received a 15 percent raise in promotion and status.   9- The implementation of four new educational regulations and standards for upgrading the quality of educational programs.   10- Defining the scientific process and criteria for selection of outstanding faculties, and appreciating their efforts in education and research.   11- New regulations for honor student admissions without the need of graduate admissions examination.     B) Highlights of Research Activities   1- Allocation of an 8 billion rials budget for upgrading research infrastructures (including research grants).   2- A 35% increase and upgrade in the EE department's research activities, including scientific publications (papers, books) and productions.   3- Three large research & industrial project contracts and thirty medium project contracts with the collaboration and cooperation of graduate students.   4- 50 research grants and contracts.   5- 5 signed agreements towards expanding collaborations with national universities and organizations.   6- New activities have been published in the International Journal of Electronics & Electrical Engineering (IJEEE). This journal is about to appear in the list of ISI journals.   7- The "Fuel Cell" national conference event was held in 2008.   8- The "Relays and Protection" national conference was held 2008 in the EE department.   9- The "Iranian Conference on Electrical Engineering", the largest global conference in this field was held 2008 in the EE department.   10- A 50-percent expansion in the collaborations with international and national universities.   11- The holding of 22 meetings with IUST's scientific and advisory board members, and four general consultative meetings.   12- The EE website upgrade - new and improved features have been added to make the website more efficient.   13- A 10% improvement in the capacity and duality of the library .   14- Supporting the publication of five faculty authored books.     C) Highlights of Cultural, Management and Student Support Activities   1- Endorsement and adoption of the 5 year college roadmap, Horizon 2014; according to this road map it is expected that the department can stand first place among public and private Iran universities, and will be recognized internationally among top universities.   2- An upgrade in the management and safety level of the 2nd EE department building.   3- Optimization of staff services, organization of assistants and student support administration section.   4- Upgrade in the quality of services in buildings No. 1 & 2 of the department.   5- Donation of more than 1500 departmental books to Iranian and Afghan universities.   6- Close cooperation with the University Management Office of the Construction Projects for construction of the new EE building .    7- About 100% upgrade in the management and servicing of the computer site; the computer site of the department has been equipped with advanced hardware systems. Software has been updated, and the quality of networking services have improved.   8- Scientific, cultural and social activities have increased, and several student associations and groups have been formed.   9- Active cooperation with the university advisory board is underway.