The meeting was called to order by President Joyce Hunter followed by Jody Tull leading us in our patriotic song, ‘My Country ‘Tis of Thee’.
The inspirational message, offered by Ben Bolen, began with a moment of silence for all veterans who gave their lives in sacrifice, during this week of Veteran’s Day observances. As both an Army veteran and a Rotarian, Ben reminded us of the similarities between the two communities including these: forming bonds, having a foundation of values, honoring the fallen, finding a home and community and personal sacrifice and commitment. Very inspiring, indeed!
With a nod to our UM speaker today, Marlena Studer led us in a rousing rendition of Hail to the Victors! Go Blue!
We had quite a few guests today: family members, 10+ visitors from Links, the Director of the Hikone Community Center and potential member, a visitor from Rotary A2 North and also a District Governor nominee. Two birthdays were announced and no anniversaries.
President Joyce offered thanks to all of today’s helpers: Rob Shiff, Don Duquette, Ben Bolen, Bill McPherson, Emily Olson, Dennis Burke, Kate VanHorn, Meghan Armstrong, Pattie Katcher.
Other announcements – The upcoming Send Hunger Packing event had such a high volunteer response that they closed the website for sign-ups. We continue to hold Strategic Planning meetings to gather input from members. Next week’s meeting will be at Zingerman’s Roadhouse, and our own Marlena Studer will be performing at the Blue Llama on December 8th.
Roy More provided an update on this year’s GPO (Golf & Pickleball Outing) which included a lovely slideshow of the many smiling faces of Rotarians at the event. We had over 80 golfers and 16 pickleball players. We exceeded our goal for fundraising so thank you to all the many volunteers and helpers for this event!
Kathy Waugh presented the Slate of Officers for the 2025-26 Rotary year:
- President – Dawn Johnson
- Past-President – Joyce Hunter
- President-Elect – TBA
- Treasurer – Bill McPherson
- Secretary – Kathy Waugh
- Director of Community Service – Susan Shipman
- Director of Club Service – Larry Gray
- Director of Youth Development – Barbara Dawes
- Director of Club Development – Leo Shedden
- Director of Club Outreach – Sam Kottamasu
- Director of Public Image – Dan Romanchik.
UM Alumni Association serves more than 100,000 members
John White introduced today’s speaker, Ayanna McConnell – CEO of UM’s Alumni Association (AA), who is the 12th President/CEO of the Alumni Association. Ms. McConnell began her presentation by introducing her executive team who were at our meeting today. The Association is affiliated with, but not structurally within the organizational chart of the University. The AA is tasked with keeping alumni connected to and engaged with the University.
Ayanna presented many interesting stats such as, the graduating class of 1845 started an alumni club; the oversight of the AA is managed by a 22 member Board of Directors and she reports to this Board. There are currently 682,353 living alumni and 105,107 of those are members of the AA. Some demographics of those members: the top states where they live are Michigan, California, Illinois, New York and Florida; top countries are US, China, India, Canada, S. Korea; the age group of most members is 31-50 years and there are 89 active UM Clubs around the world!
The AA offers quite a slate of programming including Career/Education, Student Programs, Camp Michigania, LEAD Scholars and Travel/Athletic Tours (like those offered last year for the National Championship football games). They’ve recently launched a fundraising campaign to raise $100 million over the next 10 years to support current initiatives and new projects.
The AA motto: For those who leave Michigan, but for whom Michigan never leaves!
Our meeting ended with us reciting the 4-Way Test:
Of the things we think, say or do…
- Is it the truth?
- Is it fair to all concerned?
- Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
- Is it Beneficial to all concerned?
