Executive Director's Column

            It has been an eventful summer for Michigan State University alumni around the world.  Our alumni clubs have been very active this summer, hosting golf outings, corn roasts, pig roasts, picnics, luncheons, and myriad other events.  I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to attend many of these events:  Berrien County’s Steak and Suds picnic (the largest alumni club event in the world this year), Steve Smith’s golf outings sponsored by our Mid-Michigan and West Michigan clubs, and a luncheon with President Simon sponsored by our West Metro Detroit Club in Dearborn.  And with all of that, the summer is far from over.

            Several threads bind all of these events together.  Of course, we’re all connected by our affection for Michigan State University and the role that it has played in our lives.  But beyond the University as an institution, it is also the people we have met at and through Michigan State that bind us together. 

            Reflecting on my personal experience, the relationships I have established through Michigan State are among the most important in my life.  I’ve met wonderful, life long friends through the MSU Alumni Club of Mid-Michigan and the MSU Alumni Association’s National Board of Directors.  Some of my dearest friends are the men and women I met during the two years I lived on Six North in Case Hall, including my wife, Cindy.  This summer most of those Case Hall friends turned 40.  We marked the occasion with a small reunion of sorts, captured in the adjoining photo. 

            I mention these relationships that are important to me because I suspect that you, too, have similar friendships and memories created by your time on campus.  While we boast that Michigan State has over 400,000 living alumni, it is the personal ties that bind us 400,000 together.  So I encourage you to take a few minutes sometime soon to reconnect with your Spartan friends.  Pick up the phone or send a quick email.  The important thing is that we collectively keep the Spartan Spirit alive.

            Oh, by the way, if they aren’t members of our great alumni association, please send them my way.  They can join online at www.msualum.com or by calling (877) MSU-ALUM.

            As for me, I’m off to call my old roommate, Pat, who wasn’t able to make the reunion.