Message from the Alumni Society President

Joseph P. Dillon ’62
March 2013

It has been and continues to be an exciting time at the College... the office of admissions is in the midst of recruiting a new class of Jaspers who will graduate in 2017; construction has begun on the new Raymond W. Kelly ’63 Student Commons on the Waldo Parking Lot; the recently introduced branding and marketing campaign has been implemented and we’re seeing how our special brand of Lasallian education is affecting all aspects of College life; and we as alumni should be particularly proud of alma mater as we prepare to celebrate the 160th anniversary of the College’s founding. 

At the midpoint of my three year term as Alumni Society President, I’m happy to report on some of the progress made with regard to various initiatives. This year, our focus has been in three principal areas:

1. To continue to develop alumni affinity and interest groups. Progress is being made with regard to both regional clubs and interest/professional group activities. The New York City Alumni Club held an extremely popular reception in the fall with alum-author Michael Ledwidge ’92.  Regional activities have also included traditional gatherings like those found in Long Island, California and Georgia, but also featured new programs in Texas (Dallas, Austin, and Houston), and AZ (Phoenix and Tucson).  Plans for a spring reception of the Financial Services Advisory Council are well underway and will feature Thomas Curry ’78, comptroller of the currency for the U.S. Department of the Treasurer. To continue the expansion of professional-affiliated groups, committees are being established for alumni in law, medicine/health, entertainment and media, and more.  Culturally, our Latino alumni club is working with campus partners to host a spring reception and our black alumni club is focusing efforts on building social rapport.  It’s exciting to see the growth and change in all of our respective groups and there’s much more to come!

2. To develop activities and programs specifically supporting young alumni (graduates of 2000 and later). Since the fall of 2012, we have had several events geared toward our younger Jaspers. While primarily social in context, a committee has een formed to provide input in the planning and implementation of events with an expanded focus toward professional networking.  In general, these gatherings will be increased in frequency and to take place in other locations in the metro-NY area where our concentrations are highest. We are considering initiating a mentor program for alumni within five years of graduation with other young alumni serving as mentors. One goal of this effort will be to assist young alumni who are unemployed or underemployed in identifying an appropriate career path. An engaged young alumni group is critical to the future of the success of our Alumni Society. 

3. To position the Alumni Society as a support organization for the various alumni activities and groups already in place. The key to active and successful alumni activities is volunteers! The Alumni Society, through the alumni relations office, is in constant need of representatives for their classes and to serve on various committees and clubs. If your passion is athletics, admissions recruitment, on-campus activities, academics, or social, we can find an area for you to help. We want to ensure that each group is active, successful, and meeting the needs of our thousands of alumni throughout the country. Looking ahead to future generations, we will also be engaging our students – our soon-to-be-alumni – earlier on and will be welcoming a new class of graduates at a “senior sendoff” event later this semester.

The important message to all alumni is to get involved! I promise you it is both fun and rewarding to the benefit of the College and its students. To find out more, contact Tom McCarthy at thomas.mccarthy@manhattan.edu or Joe Dillon at joe.dillon@verizon.net. We look forward to hearing from you and seeing much more of you at our events!

Joseph P. Dillon ’62
Alumni Society President