Rensselaer Magazine, September 2002: Annual Report

Valued Service to Alumni

At the June 2002 annual meeting of the Rensselaer Alumni Association (RAA), President Leland Bishop ’60 reported on the RAA today, summarized activities of the past year, and outlined the RAA’s focus for the upcoming year.

The RAA Today

The RAA is made up of approximately 85,000 globally networked alumni. There are 30 geographically based chapters and five professionally oriented affinity groups. The RAA is run by a board of trustees, which operates through 12 board committees. We work closely with the Office of Alumni Relations, which provides integrated support of RAA activities; the campus community, including President Jackson, faculty, staff, and students (our future alumni); as well as you, Rensselaer’s alumni.

With a focus on the campus community, we continue to be a high-level advisory group to President Jackson, and meet with her on a regular basis. In partnership with alumni relations, we also promote the satisfied and sustained involvement of current and future alumni by providing practical, user-friendly, and valuable services.

We have built up the RAA fund balance to nearly $1 million (FY 02 ending balance, $825,533) through sound investments and income-generating programs such as the MBNA America MasterCard, our travel program, and a new insurance program (major medical, term life, disability, auto, and home ownership). These programs not only offer services to alumni, but also benefit the RAA by providing proceeds to support our activities. This income enables us to be a strategic supporter of both campus and alumni projects.

Alumni communications are a critical part of the RAA and alumni relations operations. There are many printed materials, including Rensselaer magazine, chapter/affinity newsletters, postcards, and event invitations to keep you informed. And, increasingly, alumni are taking advantage of the immediacy of electronic communications. AlumServ, the alumni Web site (www.alumni.rpi.edu), has information that is updated daily on events, activities, and the latest career/networking programs. There are interactive discussion boards on various topics, free E-mail for Life accounts, and RenSource, your online networking database, which includes yellow pages.

A monthly e-mail newsletter provides highlights of news items of particular interest to alumni. By clicking on a particular subject, you can link to news stories and key updates about Rensselaer. The e-mail newsletter currently has more than 28,000 subscribers.

If you would like to subscribe, go to www.alumni.rpi.edu and click on “Keep in Touch” (you can easily opt out if it is not to your liking).

2001-2002 Rensselaer Alumni Association Board of Trustees

Executive Committee President
Leland B. Bishop ’60

Past President
Jan S. Pirrong ’69

Vice Presidents
John A. Cococcia ’94
AnneMarie Ferraro ’90
Douglas C. Hasbrouck ’57
Brian E. McManus ’61
Dennis W. Powers ’63
Mary K. Skevington ’79
William C. Stitt ’63
Jay J. Webb ’61
Raymond A. Weisner ’75

Vice President/Treasurer
Charles F. Rancourt ’70

Vice President Emeritus
David M. Diltz ’38

Institute Trustee Designate
Cornelius J. Barton ’58

Executive Director
David J. Bohan ’82

Board Members
Denise Angwin ’85
William C. Blanchfield ’60
Richard O. Bollam ’66
Christine S. DeCarlo ’87
Robert S. Forman, Jr. ’61
William A. Harbour ’64
Richard M. Hartt ’70
Stephen W. Levy ’74
Philip M. Lurie ’74
Andrew M. Morrison ’87
Sandeep K. Nandy ’94
Shelly A. Petronis ’89
Michelle A. Prego ’94
Enrique Sales ’85
Marc D. Schechter ’75
Laura A. Somers ’92
Patrick M. Swoboda ’91

Faculty Representative
Prabhat Hajela

Graduate Student Representative
Mitchell Gold

Undergraduate Student Representative
Gil Valadez ’02

Red & White Representative
Cosmo D. Marfione ’00

Last Year’s Highlights

Development, approval, and implementation of the RAA’s Strategic Plan were key activities of the RAA Board of Trustees this past year. Focusing on the alumni aspects of the Rensselaer Plan, we identified 14 specific actions for the next five years. To ensure that Strategic Plan objectives are met, a plan with metrics will be developed for each of the five years. We have also aligned the timing of our plan development with that of Institute performance and budget planning, in order to coordinate possible collaborative actions.

A major focus during the past year has been the integration of Rensselaer at Hartford alumni with the RAA. At year end, we had completed much of that task, with Hartford alumni integrated into the alumni database and now receiving Rensselaer magazine. We have one task left to complete — integrating the Rensselaer at Hartford Alumni Association with the RAA Hartford alumni chapter. This is to be completed in fall 2002.

Tribute was paid to the top volunteers and chapters with the RAA Awards. This year’s Distinguished Service Award was presented to Alex Young ’58 for his dedicated service to the RAA and the Institute. Young has been a board member and past president of the RAA, as well as a member of the Institute Board of Trustees. The Chapter of the Year Award went to Boston and the Phonathon Award to Syracuse and Westchester. Visit AlumServ at www.alumni.rpi.edu for a list of all of the awards presented over the course of the year, including the RAA Fellows Awards, Albert Fox Demers Medal, Alumni Key Award, Teaching Award, and the Rensselaer at Hartford Alumni Award.

Next Year’s Focus

In fiscal year 2003, while we focus on the 14 actions of our Strategic Plan, particular emphasis will be placed on:

Expanding the e-mail address database to over 30,000 alumni.
Aligning the RAA FY2004 goals development process with the Institute FY2004 performance planning process.
Working with geographic alumni regions to expand the chapter and affinity alumni leadership base.
Completing the integration of Hartford area alumni groups.

As always, part of next year’s activities will be to help alumni become involved, whether it is with the RAA or in other areas that support the Institute. If you would like to become involved, an easy first step is to learn what is happening within the RAA — nationally, locally in your region, and on campus. The e-mail news update service mentioned earlier is a simple way to receive monthly summaries of stories that are relevant and interesting to you.

There are numerous ways for you to get involved to benefit yourself and your alma mater. If you want to provide some of your time, the Volunteer Relations Program matches interest and volunteer needs on a case-by-case basis. You can find out more by visiting AlumServ (www.alumni.rpi.edu) or by calling the Office of Alumni Relations at (518) 276-6205.

Being a Rensselaer volunteer has been rewarding for me. I have seen other alumni benefit from their connection to Rensselaer and, in turn, I have seen the Institute benefit from the support and the involvement of our fantastic alumni.

Leland Bishop ’60
RAA President

Rensselaer Magazine: September 2002
President's View	Your Mail	From the Archives	Hawk Talk	Class Notes Features

Front Page	At Rensselaer	Milestones
In Memoriam	Making a Difference	Staying Connected

Rensselaer Home Page | RPInfo | AlumServ Home Page

Rensselaer (ISSN 0898-1442) is published in March, June, September, and December by the Office of Marketing and Media Relations.	Opinions expressed in these pages do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or the policies of the Institute.
© 2002 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. All rights reserved worldwide.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), 110 8th St., Troy, NY 12180. (518) 276-6000 Web site design by the Rensselaer Office of Communications. Contact Jane Van Ryan, Assistant Vice President, Office of Communications. Please direct technical questions regarding this site to rpinfo-support@rpi.edu.