Young Alumni United		Lisk Serves Second Term as Alumni President
Cortada Captures Community Life in Canvases		Knox Receives Butler Service Award
Miami magazine Hits the World Wide Web

Program's Message: Stay Involved Young Alumni United hen the Office of Alumni Relations set out to target young alumni for a new program they were developing, they knew they had a difficult task on their hands. For years, the Alumni Relations staff had been successful in garnering program support from older alumni, but many of the newer graduates-up to ten years out-had been slipping through the cracks. "We weren't doing a good job in identifying young alumni leaders. They are the hardest people to bring into the loop because they are so transient," says Donna Arbide, associate director of alumni relations. In response to this problem, Alumni Relations created the Young Alumni Program, a program designed to identify, introduce, educate, and cultivate young graduates in hopes that they will form a life-long relationship with the University. The program strives to promote young alumni participation in the University and develop a strong young alumni base by creating a tradition of annual giving and reunion among this group. The project also helps identify, recruit, and cultivate future alumni leaders, while simultaneously strengthening membership in the University of Miami Alumni Association and National Alumni Clubs. Young alumni are encouraged to stay involved with the University of Miami, even after graduation, by volunteering for a class reunion committee, getting involved in a local alumni club, or serving as an alumni leader on one of the association's many leadership boards and committees. "The idea is not to build separate groups but to enhance the national club program by identifying and recruiting young alumni leaders," says Irwin Raij (B.B.A. '92), a young alumni leader in Washington, D.C. To accomplish these goals, the program targets four areas in the United States where large populations of young alumni live. It then identifies and recruits recent graduates in these areas to reach out to University seniors. "Instead of sitting back and waiting for young alumni to join, we are being very proactive in seeking their membership," says Arbide. Certain components of the project will be implemented within the next two years to ensure that the program's objectives are met, notes Arbide. In addition, a Welcome Outreach Program is being created that will provide alumni who have recently moved to a new city with useful information, such as a list of where to find inexpensive housing, information on top companies in the area, as well as an updated list of regional alumni contacts and Young Alumni Program contacts throughout the country. The Welcome Packets Program will serve as an introduction/welcome to young alumni and recent graduates from the Office of Alumni Relations, the University of Miami Alumni Association, and the respective National Club of the particular city. Besides providing recent alumni with housing and contact information, the welcome packet will also include a letter from the National Alumni Association president, an alumni benefits brochure, young alumni brochure, information on the alumni club of that area, as well as regional information and a change of address card. So far, the largest and most active young alumni club outside of the Miami area is located in New York City and is serving as a model for the development of future groups, says Arbide. "We're letting these alumni know that we are here to help by providing them with information that should be helpful after graduation. From there we hope that they will join the clubs and stay active," says Richard Cowell (B.B.A. '94), a young alumni leader in New York.

Lisk Serves Second Term as Alumni President ohn Lisk (B.A. '74, J.D. '77) must be doing something right. As the first person in the University's history to serve a second term as president of the Alumni Association, Lisk takes great pride in his work with alumni, and it shows. "I love to meet alumni, to shake their hands, to hear about their time at the University," says Lisk. But his position requires much more than keen public relations skills. It also takes a strong business sense. Fundraising, in fact, remains the alumni association's main task. Not surprisingly, increasing the percentage of alumni giving remains one of Lisk's top priorities. During his second term, however, this goal will be accomplished by establishing and chartering strong regional alumni clubs throughout the country, especially where strong alumni leadership has been identified. Developing regional clubs will also help the association find alumni that previously were not being identified. This will be achieved by contacting alumni the association already knows exist, bringing them into the fold, and then having these alumni help find their friends who also graduated from UM, Lisk says. This effort is paying off. Since the initiative became a top priority, the association has already chartered a club (with 200 paid members) in the New York area and has newly chartered regional clubs in Chicago and Atlanta, which are thriving. Another priority for Lisk's second term is to raise the amount of scholarship dollars by encouraging clubs to fund at least one scholarship event every year. As an incentive, the National Alumni Association will match scholarship dollars (up to $1,000) that each club raises. Perhaps Lisk's hardest task will be to find a successor for his position. Yet, according to Lisk, having President Foote's full support in this area has made the search much easier. In fact, the two have already handpicked Betty Amos, who owns more Fuddruckers restaurants than any other woman in the country, to serve as Lisk's president-elect this year. Amos will then succeed Lisk and serve the next two-year term. "We want to be sure that we have the right people lined up to keep this thing moving so that it becomes a significant benefit to the University," Lisk says.

Cortada Captures Community Life in Canvases rmed with little more than a paint brush, Xavier Cortada (B.A. '83, J.D. '91, M.P.A., '91) is an artist with a cause. His colorful, larger-than-life collaborative murals-the artform that has become his trademark-is the ideal medium for the artist to convey powerful community messages. And it's an artform he excels at. Not only does the Cuban-American painter have an innate artistic ability, the energetic and outspoken Cortada has a natural way of drumming up support for his mural projects from a seemingly unlikely group-disadvantaged youth. "I think art is the perfect vehicle of expression," says Cortada. "It's a new language that everybody has to work with." Cortada has touched many teenagers' lives through his mural painting. He's taken his artform to street kids in Bolivia, painted alongside Puerto Rican gang members in Philadelphia, and worked with immigrant children at a Colorado school. Yet for Cortada, these colorful collages are not just about making art. By giving these teenagers the opportunity to participate in such a collaborative effort, he hopes that they will become better integrated into the community and take pride in themselves. Cortada attributes much of the way he uses art as a contemporary form of social commentary to the University of Miami. The three-time University alumnus was an adjunct assistant professor of psychiatry at the School of Medicine from 1993 to 1996. In fact, it was here that Cortada learned about various community development strategies, which he has incorporated into his mural work. Work is going so well, that Cortada was recently commissioned by Nike to produce two, 24-foot tall glass mosaic murals for the new Niketown building at the Shops at Sunset Place in South Miami.

Knox Receives Butler Service Award eorge Knox (J.D. '73), an attorney and shareholder in the law firm of Adorno and Zeder, is a shining example of volunteerism. A longstanding community leader, he recently received the University of Miami Alumni Association's William R. Butler Community Service Award. As one of the two co-chairs of the successful 1997-98 United Way fundraising campaign, Knox was considered a natural shoo-in for the award. "I was very pleased not only to win the award, but to be able to talk about how generous and community-spirited everyone at the University of Miami is," says Knox. Named in recognition of retired University vice president William R. Butler, the award honors distinguished University of Miami alumni who have demonstrated unparalleled dedication to volunteerism. Other alumni honored included Gary Fry (B.M. '76), who was awarded the Henry King Stanford Award. The award recognizes alumni for continued exemplary service to their alma mater. Fry has demonstrated a lifetime commitment to the University by recruiting students in the Chicago area, producing a recruitment video, and establishing an endowed scholarship at the School of Music. He is a member of Iron Arrow, ODK, and the Visiting Committee of the School of Music. He is also a founding member of the President's Council and a Grand Founder of the University. Also recognized were Ed Strongin (B.B.A. '72), who was presented the Orange: Outstanding Service Award; Maureen McDermott (B.S.C. '90), who received the Green: Outstanding Fundraiser Award; Thaddeus Cromwell (B.B.A. '81), who was bestowed the White: Outstanding Affiliate Group Award; former vice president for University Advancement Roy Nirschel (M.P.A. '96, Ph.D. '97), who received the Inside-Out Award; and Francisco Arbide (B.B.A. '87), who earned the Outstanding Young Alumnus award.

Miami magazine Hits the World Wide Web ogged on to the University of Miami's web site lately? Internet users can now access Miami magazine, the award-winning alumni magazine, on-line at www.miami.edu/miami-magazine. But don't expect to find hard-to-read text and unappealing graphics on this site. Internet users will find just the opposite here. "We wanted the on-line version of the magazine to be more than just the text of the printed version dumped into an electronic file. Anyone can do that," explains Jerry Lewis, executive director of university communication. "We designed the web site to be every bit as informative, entertaining, and visually stimulating as the printed magazine." The on-line version of the magazine will allow the publication to reach an even larger audience. Miami magazine is currently mailed to alumni and friends of the University who live in the United States. Due to the high cost of mailing internationally, it has been cost-prohibitive to mail the magazine to the estimated 5,000 international alumni. By having an on-line version of the magazine, the publication's reach is extended to everyone around the globe who has access to the World Wide Web. Alumni and friends of the University of Miami can now readily access other publications on the Internet as well. An on-line version of the monthly faculty and staff newsletter, Veritas (www.miami.edu/veritas), covers the entire University. Another valuable site alumni will want to browse is the Alumni Relations web site (www.miami.edu/alumni), which provides information on alumni association news, alumni services and benefits, alumni giving, reunions, and special events.

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