Message from the President
Dear Cornell Engineering Alumni Association Members,
Welcome! Since the Board of Directors of Cornell Engineering Alumni Association (CEAA) voted to eliminate dues as a requirement for membership in the CEAA, the response from our alumni has been positive and many have inquired as to how they can find new ways to connect and contribute to the College of Engineering. As one Lifetime Member expressed it, “our group has more power and vitality with a wide and inclusive base of diverse members”, and we need to find a way to tap into that power.
At our December Board meeting we discussed program ideas to increase alumni participation and agreed to concentrate on these areas:
- CEAA Awards Program
- Co-op Student Mentoring
- Alumni Organization Best Practices
CEAA Awards Program - The CEAA awards are made possible by an endowment created with the CEAA lifetime membership dues. I would like to express a special thank you to past paying members, especially lifetime members who have made the CEAA Awards Program possible. These awards are given each spring at the CEAA Engineering Conference, and we are looking at ways to expand the program. Ideas under consideration include adding more awards, especially to recognize our students, and increasing the size of the awards.
Co-Op Student Mentoring - For this academic year the college has 95 Engineering co-op program students who were employed in the Fall 2007 semester in 12 states, who will be returning to these jobs this summer. The majority of the students worked in New York, California, and Pennsylvania. We would like to develop a systematic way of connecting alumni with co-op students. One idea is to coordinate a social event for this summer or fall to bring the students together with alumni in their areas, along with past co-op participants.
Alumni Organization Best Practices - The College of Engineering has always maintained good relationships with its alumni, but we can always benefit from the experience of others. The CEAA Board is looking at other Cornell alumni associations as well some outside the university to see what “best practices” they have that might benefit our members.
And lastly, this year's 25th Annual CEAA Conference on March 28-29 was a huge success. The topic presented was Sustainable Energy Systems: Investing In Our Future. Conference Chair Augustus Y. Noojin III '69 and the Alumni Affairs and Development team was hard at work putting together a dynamic program, which attracted a record number of attendees. For more highlights, please visit the conference website.
Respectfully,
Jaclyn A. Spear ’74 EE
President, CEAA
25th Annual CEAA Conference
Sustainable Energy Systems:
Investing In Our Future
March 28-29, 2008
