Director's Letter

Over the summer, the George Mason University Alumni Association has been busy working to develop new Alumni Association groups in order to meet the growing demand for opportunities where Mason graduates can come together. The association has the following four goals:

• To foster communication and interaction between alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends of the university
• To assist the university in recruiting new students and providing scholarship and mentoring opportunities
• To engage alumni in support of the university's fund-raising activities
• To act as an advocate for the university

In addition to dozens of alumni newsletters, the association has added an additional issue of the Mason Spirit magazine. It is now published three times each year and mailed to all Mason graduates. The magazine is also available online, along with other alumni information, at www.gmu.edu/alumni. The association, via alumni volunteers, helps in the recruiting process each year when hundreds of potential new students are interviewed prior to acceptance at Mason. This past year, 12 volunteers interviewed 217 future Mason students. At the annual Celebration of Distinction, alumni scholarships were awarded to students. During the past school year, a George Mason University alumna initiated an endowment in excess of $100,000 through a charitable remainder unitrust. Every time you tell someone you are proud of your Mason degree, you are serving as an advocate for the university. We need you! The association is grateful for every opportunity that our graduates take in support of their alma mater.

The goals set by the association are ambitious for a young university, but we are making progress on each of them, one graduate at a time. With your support, we can mobilize to meet the challenges of the future, and our accomplishments today can serve as our platform.

E. Michael Eastman,
Director