Alumni Association Home > Minnesota Magazine > Past Issues > 2005 > November-December 2005	Print View

I haven’t forgotten where I came from. I’m a graduate of the University of Minnesota, of course. Yet like many of you, I feel a profoundly intimate connection with the colleges from which I earned my degrees—particularly the school from which I received my highest degree. As I noted in my introductory column last issue, I’m a proud product of the University’s law school. I think of it as my home within the nurturing and dynamic University community in which I came of age.

For many years, the law school maintained its own alumni association. In fact, it was the only collegiate unit that hadn’t partnered with the University of Minnesota Alumni Association. So it’s with tremendous satisfaction that I report that the Law Alumni Association (LAA) has decided to bring the school’s stellar reputation and rich history into the UMAA fold. It’s a mutually beneficial agreement. LAA members will enjoy an enhanced roster of benefits, including this outstanding magazine, use of M Alumni Online (a new directory of some 350,000 University graduates), and dozens of other rewards. The UMAA, meanwhile, will welcome to its ranks nearly 5,000 devoted, motivated, and highly energetic alumni who were members of the LAA.

Within the UMAA, the law school group will operate as collegiate society. With the addition of the law school, the UMAA sponsors 18 college-based alumni societies and four affiliate societies, which enable the association to provide the kind of targeted programming and services that would otherwise be impossible to deliver to an alumni population of our immense size. Collegiate societies plan and organize educational and professional programs; advise deans, faculty, and staff; assist in recruitment efforts; and help raise funds for scholarships and other essential programming.

Among the most powerful examples of the synergy between the UMAA and its collegiate societies is the Mentor Connection, which promotes and advocates student-mentor opportunities across the University community. Today, 16 mentor programs are up and running. These college- or department-specific programs engage anywhere from 40 or 50 student-mentor pairs to upwards of 200. All told, nearly 2,100 students currently benefit from the experience and guidance of about 2,035 mentors. The collegiate societies recruit mentors and help students target the mentor programs that best match their academic interests and professional aspirations. The UMAA, in turn, equips societies with the tools they need, including mentor handbooks and networking training for students.

In addition to providing mentorship opportunities, alumni societies have assumed more prominent roles in fund-raising and recruiting efforts. By planning and carrying out their own targeted initiatives, collegiate societies help ensure that the University will continue to be the school of choice for the best and brightest from Minnesota and beyond. Consider the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs alumni society, for example, which recently raised the funds necessary to provide a fellowship opportunity for a highly qualified graduate student.

Like any complex organization, the University is only as strong as the sum of its parts. I like to think of our newly fortified collection of collegiate societies as high-functioning local governments, which serve the specific needs of their constituencies and thereby enrich the University community as a whole. I encourage you all to “think globally, act locally.” Collegiate societies offer you a rare opportunity to play hands-on roles in the future of your school, college, or department—and the University as a whole.