By Stephan Olsson '90
(sbolsson@mtu.edu)
Executive Director of Alumni Relations

At alumni events, and through every alumni and friend interaction I have, I am pretty unabashed in my asking alums and friends to be vocal and enthusiastic ambassadors for Michigan Tech. Our closest friends play a key role in promoting the university, and as we look to the future, it will be these friends that play the most significant role in supporting positioning Michigan Tech in the minds of those that should know us.

This is an important statement. I can't overstate its importance, or its significant implications: Those that know Michigan Tech best need to be vigilant in being vocal and demonstrative of their pride, enthusiasm and relationship with this great institution. It is from this platform many great things will happen.

In marketing, one of the toughest positions to be in is to have a great and noteworthy product that not enough of the market knows about.

Your role, as alumni and friends, is important in this regard. Through your relationships with those around you, we can begin to have more people recognize us!

I am continuously asking you to be that promoter, to wear your MTU shirt and hat, to hang your banner at your house or office, to talk to potential students about Tech, to recruit our great students at your company, etc.

We are encouraging others to talk about Michigan Tech much more aggressively than we ever have. We are also looking at marketing Michigan Tech in new and different ways. We are planning, we are investing, we are testing.

I also know, that no matter how much more public relations, advertising, awareness generation or promotion we do, it pales in comparison to the power of our constituency being out there helping us to market Michigan Tech. So, once again, I ask you to be that ambassador!

But, I also want to provide you some ammunition. In marketing, there is something termed the elevator speech. This is the short and to-the-point dialog that an individual might use to describe a business or product to someone they just met on an elevator. Someone who does not know the product. After presented, they should.

Our Michigan Tech elevator speech is below. I ask that you read it to yourself out loud. Craft some of the wording so that it sounds good to you. We have it on our web site for you to print out if you like. You can even hang it on your wall! (I am not kidding. It is hanging on mine.) This can help us all to understand what to say when we are sharing our Tech story with someone who says, "You went to Michigan Tech? I don't know the place, tell me about it."

Michigan Technological University, a nationally-ranked comprehensive university, is a recognized leader in engineering as well as our use of high technology and hands-on learning and research in all academic programs including business, the sciences, the arts, forestry and environmental sciences, and applied technology..

Michigan Tech students are noted for their interest in active learning and cutting-edge discovery. Faculty members are known for their dedication to teaching and research in innovative programs that involve students in these hands-on learning opportunities and entrepreneurship.

Through the work of all parties, Michigan Tech attracts and graduates bright, motivated and adventurous students that create the future for all of us.

Alumni from a number of classes, fraternities, sororities, and hockey teams will gather on campus during the 2005 Alumni Reunion, August 4-6.

Honored classes include 1955, 1965, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1995, and the Golden M Club (those who graduated at least 50 years ago).

Also on tap is an all-hockey reunion and the return of the always popular alumni hockey game. Computer science majors from all classes will also hold a reunion.

A number of Greek organizations will hold chapter reunions in conjunction with the alumni reunion. They include: Alpha Delta Alpha (25 years), Lambda Chi Alpha (25 years), Delta Zeta (30 years), Sigma Phi Epsilon (40 years), and Phi Lambda Beta.

For more information, e-mail mtu_alumni@mtu.edu or see www.mtu.edu/alumni/reunion.

The Alumni Association nominations committee is always looking for quality nominees for alumni awards, including the Outstanding Young Alumni, Distinguished Alumni, and Outstanding Service awards.

Award-winners are selected at the Winter Carnival meeting each year, with awards presented at the August Alumni Reunion. For more information on the awards and the nominating process, see www.mtu.edu/alumni.

The Alumni Association Board of Directors has created e-mail lists for each of its committees. If you have a question or suggestion, please use the appropriate address.

    executive committee: executive-L@mtu.edu
    marketing/communications: mktgcomm-L@mtu.edu
    resource development: resourcedev-L@mtu.edu
    student and alumni life: studalumlife-L@mtu.edu

Alumni Association Mission Statement:

The mission of the Michigan Tech Alumni Association is to provide a mutually beneficial link between Michigan Tech alumni and a) the university, b) other alumni, and c) MTU students (future alumni).

Alumni Association Vision:

To possess an environment and spirit in the MTU Alumni Association that results in a significant number of alumni forming life-long relationships with the University and other alumni.

Kimberly Klender, a 1988 graduate of Michigan Tech, has been named the University's first Alumni Outreach Coordinator. She will create and manage programming to involve alumni in the university's admissions process.

Klender earned a civil engineering degree in 1988 and worked as a staff engineer, construction supervisor and project manager until 2002. She returned to Michigan Tech and earned a secondary education certificate in 2004.

For more details, see: www.admin.mtu.edu/alumni/assn.html.

Homecoming: September 23-24, 2005, Michigan Tech vs. Ashland in football.

Great Lakes Invitational, December 29-30, 2005.

Winter Carnival, February 8-12, 2006.