1:33 p.m., Feb. 15, 2008--UD alumni, parents and several snowbird retirees came out to mingle, reconnect with classmates and meet UD President Patrick Harker last month during alumni events held in both Fort Lauderdale and Naples, Fla.
For many living in the Sunshine State, the events offered the first opportunity to meet Harker and hear his plans for the University through the newly implemented strategic planning program.
The first event, held on the evening of Monday, Jan. 28, in the revolving Pier Top Lounge on the 17th floor of the Hyatt Regency Pier Sixty-Six in Fort Lauderdale, was opened with remarks by Cynthia (Cyndy) Houck, BE '77, the regional club coordinator for the South Florida area and a resident of Fort Lauderdale. Houck welcomed all present and introduced Harker and K.C. Keeler, head football coach at UD, who attended the event and preceded Harker to the microphone, where he gave a brief speech on the important role of football at UD.
James Murray, AS '80, a resident of Boca Raton, said he attended the event because of his ongoing interest in UD (he has four alumni and a current student in his immediate family) and because he wanted to meet Harker and hear about some of his plans.
“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. “His message also is that there are lots of things for him to do, but he can't do them alone.”
Murray said that Keeler's visit to the event lent a nice touch, as well, to the gathering of about 55 alumni and parents. “The football program is very important to UD and has been for many years,” Murray said. “In that regard, I think that Dr. Harker not only has a vision and direction for academics and the institution, but for the athletic program at UD, as well. I think he's going to move everything up a notch and modernize and get the University out in the forefront.”
At both events, Harker highlighted some recent key accomplishments at the University, along with goals he would like to accomplish in the near future, including working on continuing to build national and international ties with other universities.
“The people who attended set quite a positive tone,” she said. “I was attending as someone who has a great respect--you might even say love--for the University, so it was nice to see it held in such a lovely setting, and it was, I thought, well-attended.
“I thought the speech that Dr. Harker made was really quite appropriate. It was informal, but it was very informative. He introduced things that were going on at the University and said he hoped that other people had ideas to offer,” Jerry Trabant said. “It was really a first-rate affair, and I hope the other events are as successful.”
Books raffled off at the Naples alumni event included:
- University of Delaware: A Celebration, photographed by Richard Dunoff;
- Rebel with a Conscience, by Russ Peterson;
- Taste of Class: Recipes from Vita Nova;
- Town House: Architecture and Material Life in the Early American City, 1788-1830, by Bernard L. Herman, Rosenberg Professor of Art History;
- On Land and on Sea: A Century of Women in the Rosenfeld Collection, by Margaret L. Andersen Rosenfeld, Rosenberg Professor of Sociology; and
- The Power of Pride: Stylemakers and Rulebreakers of the Harlem Renaissance, by Carole Marks, professor of sociology, and Diana Edkins.
Article by Becca Hutchinson
Photographs by Vanessa Rogers in Naples and Eliot J. Schecter in Fort Lauderdale