Director's Message Archives
May 2006
A Message from Becky Mitchell, associate dean, Alumni Affairs and Development
New alumni team in place
Greetings from Ithaca, NY, where the forsythia and daffodils are blooming! We are pleased to bring you this issue of Sage Connections, our periodic alumni newsletter. I am especially excited about this issue since I am announcing that our alumni affairs team is finally fully staffed! After many months of searching for the right candidate, we have found an individual whom I believe can elevate our alumni outreach efforts to a new level.
Karrie Borgelt, a native of Upstate New York and graduate of Hartwick College in Oneonta, comes to the school from Drew University in Madison, NJ. There, she served as director of alumni and parent relations. With an extensive background in alumni and development, Karrie starts her new position on June 30; she will attend reunion, however, on June 8-11, and hopes to meet many of you there. We will give her a short time to settle in and then Karrie will hit the road, to meet with many of you across the globe, and help you strengthen your connections with the Johnson School.
I can also announce another new member of our alumni affairs team- Temre Steffensen. Love brought Temre to Ithaca, and the Johnson School benefits in more ways than one: Temre, who is engaged to a Johnson School MBA student, is our new alumni affairs coordinator. She helps manage Johnson School alumni clubs worldwide and serves as coordinator for external relations initiatives. Temre previously served as executive staff assistant for Cornell's Presidential Search Committee. She came to Ithaca in 2005, after a nine-year career in San Diego in various communications/project manager posts in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.
I also want to commend our assistant director of alumni affairs, Laura Armstrong, who has only been on the job since late November but has done an outstanding job in keeping our alumni program moving forward. Many of you have worked with Laura and can attest to her many talents. I am thrilled to have this team in place and know that we will be able to ramp up our program.
As our alumni affairs efforts enjoy new leadership, the Johnson School is entering a new transition as well. On April 19, Dean Bob Swieringa announced that in June 2007, at the close of his second term as dean and 10 years of service, he will step down and pass the leadership of the school to a new dean. Cornell University Provost Biddy Martin will manage the process of finding a successor. I will share more about the search, as information becomes available.
Meanwhile, Dean Swieringa and the school's management team are aggressively working to implement programs and progress outlined in the school's five-year plan. Our "Extend the School into the Marketplace," initiative leads with our commitment to strengthen ties to alumni and to enhance our large and dynamic network of alumni around the world.
Dean Swieringa wants to speak with all of you personally about what the school has accomplished in the past decade, and where our dedicated alumni feel we can improve in the next one. And so he intends to visit with our alumni around the globe in the coming year. All of you will get an opportunity to recognize the many accomplishments made during his tenure.
The Johnson School's International Scope is evident in our recent alums, who are heading abroad after graduation in May. Our 2006 MBAs will live and work in seven countries outside the United States, including Canada, China, Great Britain, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, and Thailand. Their positions cover consulting, investment banking, commodities trading, business development, and sustainability management.
The Dean and I look forward to seeing many of you in India, Europe, Asia, and the United States in the coming months. Until then, please visit the Johnson School's Web page for more information on our vibrant new alumni affairs team and on the year-long transition to new leadership of our great school.
Warm regards,
Becky Mitchell
Associate Dean, Development and Alumni Affairs
rhm33@cornell.edu
