9:32 a.m., Jan. 20, 2009----The University of Delaware and W.L. Gore & Associates share a long-standing association. Many UD grads go on to work for the manufacturing company. A building on campus was donated by the family of the company's founder. Still, the two entities want to get even closer.

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That idea led to a gathering of approximately 100 on Wednesday night, Jan. 14, at the company's Barksdale Road facility in Newark.

Alumni who are now Gore employees, University representatives including President Patrick Harker, and others gathered to mix and mingle.

Many alumni also took the opportunity to sign up for UDConnection.com, the University of Delaware's online alumni community. The event is the first of UD's corporate rollout events, intended to strengthen ties to the private sector.

W.L. Gore & Associates Chief Executive Officer Terri Kelly, herself a University of Delaware graduate, deemed the event a great success, with excellent turnout.

“What I didn't anticipate is we had a lot of other associates who are non-alumni, who live in the community,” she said. “They have a child who either goes to the University or is thinking about it, or they live near the college campus.”

Niki Frangakis, '06 EG, started her relationship with Gore when the company sponsored a project in her mechanical engineering senior design class. She now works as a process engineer for the company.

“I was interested in President Harker's view on the connections between Gore and the University,” she said.

“Here's just one indication of how intertwined UD and Gore are,” Harker told those attending. “If you search for the word Gore on the University's Web site, it comes up with 4,220 hits.”

Harker commended the existing bond as a “model for all corporate relationships.”

“A lot of you here are involved with the University through class presentations and talks to students, internships, and exchange with faculty members,” he said.

Edwin Dauber, '81 BE, '81 AS, works in new business development at Gore. He envisions shared research.

“There could be ways for Gore to work maybe closer to get some experimentation done at the University,” he said. “It would be a good opportunity to interact with the students.”

Kelly says some connections are quite strong, like those with the College of Engineering. But, she notes, those are pockets. They need to be reinforced and expanded.

One idea she plans to implement is better communication, by posting information about University of Delaware events on the company's intranet.

“That I think would be a good way to just make a better connection with our alumni, to just make them aware of things that are happening in the community,” Kelly said. “That's certainly a great starting place.”

Article by Andrea Boyle
Photos by Kevin Quinlan