Robert T. Sumichrast
Dean and Simon S. Selig, Jr. Chair for Economic Growth

Published: November 3, 2010 | Vol. 3, Issue 5

Homecoming is a particularly nostalgic time of year, and we’ve had a number of great occasions for Terry College alumni, students and faculty to gather together for special events in Athens and elsewhere around the country.

The Alumni Board and Young Alumni Board met on Oct. 8, and our most senior advisory board, the Terry Dean’s Advisory Council, met on campus a week later. Both events set aside time to network with students.

Away from Athens, the college has hosted alumni networking events in Atlanta, Washington, Charlotte, and Jacksonville. We are headed to Nashville this month and New York in December.

On Oct. 14, the college held a reunion of Athens alumni for the first time in recent memory. More than 100 people attended. We’ll be sure to repeat this for our Athens-area alumni on a more regular schedule. Two days later, about 800 folks made the pilgrimage to the front of Brooks Hall for our annual Homecoming Tailgate. They enjoyed good food, great company, resplendent weather and a 43-0 victory over Vanderbilt.

We’ve started bringing together a panel of four or five alumni once a month during the school year to talk to students about topics in their career areas. These Terry Alumni Panels have proven to be great exchanges between students and alumni, and we’re now making them available as podcasts. Career fairs are still a mainstay of the job search for many students, and the Master of Marketing Research program and the Tull School of Accounting have already held theirs this fall.

I feel it’s important to include students as a prominent part of the special events we host, and not just in the things we do educationally. After the Dean’s Advisory Council reception, an MBA student remarked that he’d done more networking in that one evening than he had in his entire life.

The Terry College has a vast alumni network. It numbers almost 55,000 now, and it’s one of the biggest alumni communities of any business school anywhere. Because of that, it’s a major element of the value statement that we represent to current and prospective students. When the time is right for you, I would encourage you to take the opportunity to come back and talk about your profession, help with internships, promote the hiring of Terry graduates within your company, or be a mentor. I honestly believe you’ll be glad you did.

Robert T. Sumichrast, Dean
Terry College of Business

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