Board Bulletin

RIT Alumni Network

The editors of The University Magazine sat down with Ken Reed ’71, chairman of the Alumni Network Board of Directors. to get the inside story on this dynamic group.

We’ve been hearing about them for awhile now, but wanted to know who they are and what they are up to. Here’s what we learned:

Ken Reed ’71

The University Magazine: What is the Alumni Network Board of Directors?

Ken Reed: The Board of Directors serves as the advisory body of the RIT Alumni Network. Our primary responsibility is to provide volunteer leadership for the Office of Alumni Relations. We’re the ones who help think up the fun, exciting and educational alumni programs and activities – everything from Finger Lakes wine tours to how to create your own Web page.

TUM: Sounds great, Ken. How many of you are there?

Ken: There are about 30 of us and we’re growing – fast! We come from a wide spectrum of graduation years, geographic areas and interests, and we represent the voices of 90,000 RIT alumni. Imagine that, 90,000 people – it’s an entire city, or two!

TUM: You do what, exactly?

Ken: Board members commit talent, time and resources to RIT. These can come in the form of professional expertise – for instance, we have members from the communications and marketing fields. We provide advice from the perspective of the group of alumni we’re representing – I personally can provide feedback from the science field and from the ’70s era – long live disco! (I didn’t really say that, did I?)

We also provide financial support. We can donate to anything we would like to and sometimes we provide some hands-on assistance with fundraising for special projects or student scholarships. Whatever we’d like!

TUM: And that helps the Alumni Network how?

Ken: We help the Alumni Relations Office identify programming or benefits and services that we think the alumni will appreciate. Sometimes it’s social chapter programming and sometimes it’s home insurance coverage and sometimes it’s involvement in RIT’s admission, co-op and career service, community service, and fundraising programs.

Bottom line? Alumni Board membership means commitment to RIT – our alma mater – and that takes many ways, shapes and forms.

TUM: What if our readers are interested in joining the board?

Ken: We’d love to have them! They can nominate themselves or a fellow classmate by contacting the Alumni Relations Office at ritalum@rit.edu or by checking out the Web pages online at www.rit.edu/alumni and clicking on “volunteers.” There is a ton of information on the board there – including past meeting minutes and time expectations.

TUM: I’m sure the alumni population would be interested in who their representatives are, right?

Ken: Lucky for you I know them all off the top of my head and in alphabetical order! Current members are:
Paul Brown ’82, ’84 (GAP)
George Crompton Jr. ’58 (GAP)
Victor Del Rosso ’51 (ME)
Danyelle Dockstader ‘98, ’01 (CAST)
Thomas Dougherty ’70 (COB)
Nancy Fein ’76 (COS)
Tracy Gamble ’98 (COLA)
Cynthia Gray ’88, ’90, ’91 (CCE)
William Hard ’74 (COE)
James Janicki ’93 (CAST)
Amy Johnson Hall ’92 (FAA)
David Lincoln ’84 (COS)
Tara Lo Castro ’96 (CCE), ’98 (COB)
Douglas Matchett ’83 (NTID), ’89 (CAST)
Gary Meyer ’78 (NTID)
Donald Naylor ’61 (COB)
Brian O’Shaughnessy ’81, ’84 (COS)
Kenneth Reed ’71 (COS)
Mary Jo Savino ’90 (CAST)
Jacqueline Schertz ’83 (COLA), ’97 (CAST)
Robert Schott ’81 (CIAS)
Keith Shugerts ’95 (CAST)
Lynn Siverd ’88 (COB)
Robert Snyder ’56 (COS)
John Sturge ’61 (GAP)
John ‘Jack’ Whitney ’68 (COB)
Thomas Williams ’68 (CIAS)
Michael Woods ’92 (COB)
Andrew Zach ’03 (COE)

TUM: Wow! So how do we keep up with what you alums are up to?

Ken: Might be helpful if you provided some space in RIT The University Magazine, don’t you think?

TUM: Great idea! We’ll make sure to save some space in every issue. We’ll call it the “Board Bulletin” column!