Chicago Journal

Alumni board to focus on service
An alumni center tops the list of priorities for the 2002-03 U of C Alumni Board of Governors, according to physician and AIDS researcher Paul Volberding, AB'71, who began a two-year term as board president in July. The new center underscores the board's primary goal: "to provide real service to alumni," says Volberding, chief of medicine at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center and vice chair of medicine at the University of California-San Francisco.

Paul Volberding, AB'71 Photograph by George Draper

This year the board will work to develop the intellectual themes of alumni educational activities, reviewing current offerings and identifying gaps.

To build connections with soon-to-be alumni, the board will ask Chicago grads to participate in a pilot "externship" program, allowing students to spend several days during Spring Break shadowing them on the job. Another pilot program will invite visiting alumni to meet students informally for dinner and discuss careers and life after Chicago.

Vice presidents on the executive committee are Sharon Delman, AB'86, MBA'92, director of marketing education at Eastman Kodak Co.; Daniel Hertzberg, AB'68, deputy managing editor of the Wall Street Journal; Alan Levy, AB'63, JD'65, partner at Lindner and Marsak in Milwaukee; and Stephanie Rada-Zocco, AB'88, cofounder of the Geneva-U.S. Business Roundtable. New to the board are Leon Ellin, AB'65, Clifton, New Jersey; Mitchell Glass, AB'73, MD'77, Wilmington, Delaware; Gregory Gunn, AB'91, New York; Vincent Hillery, AB'81, JD'84, Chicago; Eva Lichtenberg, AB'52, AM'55, PhD'60, Chicago; and Walter Renwick, IMB'99, Los Angeles.

The 25-member board intends to continue the momentum started by Volberding's predecessor, Katharine L. Bensen, AB'80, who oversaw a two-year strategic plan with three overarching themes: build alumni connections, provide alumni support, and promote alumni service.
- Sharla A. Stewart