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On the road again.

That’s the title of the song that ran through my head as we planned our tour across Minnesota, visiting 13 Rotary and Kiwanis clubs in 12 weeks. We asked the alumni and friends we met on the road to carry a message to their legislators who were in session at the state capitol: The benefits of a strong, vibrant, world-class university are critical to all areas of the state, and Minnesota’s future depends upon support for the University of Minnesota.

We stopped at Rotary clubs in Virginia, Marshall, New Ulm, Grand Rapids, Willmar, Red Wing, St. Cloud, Waseca, and Stillwater and at Kiwanis clubs in Mankato and St. Cloud. (We didn’t ignore the Twin Cities either. U representatives visited alumni and friends at the Minneapolis and St. Paul Rotary Club meetings.)

Either Denny Schulstad, the alumni association’s national president, or I usually opened the program with an audience-participation activity that illustrated, better than facts and figures can, that the University is synonymous with the state of Minnesota. We asked participants to stand and remain standing if they or a family member attended or graduated from the U; attend sporting, arts, or cultural events at the U; have a doctor, nurse, dentist, pharmacist, veterinarian, or lawyer who graduated from the U; use a retractable seat belt, which was invented by a U faculty member; or eat Honeycrisp apples, which were developed at the U. Finally we’d ask, “How many of you pay taxes in Minnesota?” Good-hearted laughter always followed, and we knew the audience recognized that the U of M doesn’t just belong to those who have a diploma. The University is an asset that belongs to all 5 million Minnesotans.

Then we’d introduce the keynote speaker, a U faculty member or administrator at the center of some of the most pressing issues of the day. Bob Elde, dean of the College of Biological Sciences, spoke about bio-fuels in Grand Rapids, where local business people were captivated about the potential effects of prairie grass and corn production on alternative fuels. Patrick Lloyd, dean of the School of Dentistry, talked about a unique community partnership with Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar, through which dental students serve month-long internships in greater Minnesota. Deb Swackhamer, director of the U’s Institute on the Environment, spoke in Marshall, not far from fields where hundreds of wind turbines generate clean energy.

At every stop, we found people who could speak up for the University of Minnesota. Some are “family” because they don’t have a degree, such as Marge Frederickson, owner of the New Ulm radio station and married to state Senator Dennis Frederickson (B.S. ’61). Among the alumni who’ve attended the events, the gold star would certainly go to 97-year-old Wes Libbey (B.A.’31, M.S. ’33), a mortician in Grand Rapids who has been a life member of the alumni association since 1935. And he’s still making his alma mater proud, as the local chapter of the Izaak Walton League, a national conservation society, was recently renamed in his honor.

Rallying citizens to speak up for our great university is one of the most important roles of the alumni association. So, we’re going on the road again. We’ll be making road trips to service clubs throughout Minnesota year-round, putting the spotlight on world-class teachers and researchers at the U and the partnerships between the U and the state’s communities. If you would like us to consider a stop in your community, please contact Mary Kay Delvo, director of advocacy, at delvo003@umn.edu.