From coast to coast Rediscovering UD

Alumni around the country are reconnecting with their alma mater at a series of get-togethers with President Patrick Harker, who is urging them to get involved in the University’s future and to brag about its strengths.

“We are much, much better, much stronger than the world knows about,” Harker told more than 330 alumni who joined him at the first event, held in New York City’s Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Plaza in the fall. “I think we are humble by nature. We need to stop doing that. We need to start talking about the strength of this institution. You need to start talking about the strength of the institution because you are the ultimate brand ambassadors for this University, as you are the most important ‘product’ of the University of Delaware.”

Harker has repeated that call at gatherings in locations including Atlanta, south Florida, Delaware, North Carolina, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston and Phoenix, as he shares his hopes and expectations and encourages alumni to add their voices to the conversation about the University’s future.

“We need your energy. We need your ideas. We need your heart and soul,” Harker tells alumni, most of whom are meeting him for the first time since he became president in July. “That’s what this institution needs to go to the next level, and that is our goal: We want to be viewed as one of the elite public institutions of higher education in America and in the world.

“When somebody says, ‘UD,’ that ought to be synonymous with excellence in American higher education.” Harker highlights some of the University’s recent accomplishments and its assets, such as its undergraduate research and study-abroad programs, business and technology partnerships and its cadre of successful and loyal alumni. He also discusses goals he would like UD to accomplish in the near future, including continuing to build national and international ties with other universities.

In Fort Lauderdale, James Murray, AS ’80, a resident of Boca Raton, Fla., said he attended the event because of his ongoing interest in UD, including that fact that he has four alumni and a current student in his immediate family.

“I think it’s very obvious that Dr. Harker has brought with him a whole new energy, and his message is pretty clear, which is that he wants to reach out to alumni and invite everyone back to get involved and stay in touch,” Murray said at the get-together. “His message also is that there are lots of things for him to do, but he can’t do them alone.”

Closer to home, Harker told southern Delaware alumni at a Rehoboth Beach gathering that as a key player in the regional economy, the University will continue doing its part to nurture partnerships with local industries, government and other educational institutions to explore ideas and think creatively about the opportunities for collaboration.

The meetings have attracted a range of guests, in addition to traditional alumni hoping to learn more about UD’s present and future and to, perhaps, meet up with old friends.

On an uncommonly snowy evening in Atlanta, for example, Harker opened his speech by recognizing Paul R. Jones in the audience. An Atlanta resident, Jones was awarded an honorary doctoral degree in 2004 from the University for his generous gift in 2001 of the Paul R. Jones Collection of African American Art, one of the nation’s oldest, largest and most complete collections of works by African American artists.

Among those attending the Charlotte, N.C., event in February was Beverly Gilman, AS ’66, daughter of the late J. Robert King, who founded the UD Marching Band. She said that she and others in her family are loyal alumni: “The University is in our DNA.”

In late January, meeting places in south Florida included Fort Lauderdale—where Head Coach K.C. Keeler spoke briefly to the assembled group about the important role of football at UD, before turning the microphone over to Harker—and Naples, where former University President (from 1968-87 and 1988-90) E.A. Trabant and his wife, Jerry, CHEP ’80M, were in the audience.

“The people who attended set quite a positive tone,” Jerry Trabant said. “I was attending as someone who has a great respect—you might even say love—for the University.”

Many other alumni have said that they came to the various events because they continue to feel part of the University and that they left the gatherings feeling even more connected to UD and more eager to be part of its future.

“I want to feel reconnected and see if I’ll meet my classmates here or make new friends,” said Maggie Zhang, AS ’03, a marketing researcher and consultant in New York. “No matter what, we are connected, even if we were years apart. Once people are connected that way, it does not change.”

For Scott Koplowitz, BE ’99, being part of the New York City Alumni Club has been a positive experience, reinforced by the meeting with Harker and other UD administrators.

“You all belong to the community, which will always be Delaware, regardless of where you work or move to,” he said. “My experience in Delaware lives on in me.”