Alumni Association Annual Meeting
September 22, 2007
Unity Centre for the Performing Arts
6:30 – 9:00 pm
In attendance: President Mitch Thomashow, Cindy Thomashow, Alumni Association President Neil Ward, Treasurer Monica Murphy, Secretary Kate Grenier, Linda Adams, Donna Bancroft, Jennifer DeFreitas , Jim Dehner, Mike Duni, Seth Fowles, Joseph Freire, Rob Grahn, Richard McCorkle, Carolyn Jo Meserve, John Meserve, Tim Peabody, Tom Phillips, Craig Segar, Gloria Sosa, Tess Woods, Professor Emeritus Dave Purdy, Professor Emeritus Dot Quimby
Due to a lack of active alumni quorum, all voting portions of the meeting were postponed.
1. Welcome from President Mitch Thomashow
Mitch welcomed everyone to Alumni Weekend and expressed how excited he was to have alumni back on campus. He is thrilled to be at Unity at this juncture due to several key points:
• Unity has stability.
• Unity’s programs now have stability and program quality is ever increasing.
• Unity broadens the constituency for conservation
• The Board of Trustees is now diverse and includes conservationists and preservationists
• Unity is not limited to special people
• Unity practices frugal real time sustainability.
• Unity is a model for frugal sustainability.
• Unity lives sustainability through the food, living spaces, and wellness
• Unity serves the underserved with a variety of projects
• Unity is field-based and oriented.
• Unity is on the way to becoming a center for environmental thinking
• Unity received the centre for the performing arts and is on the way to become a center for the arts
• Unity is on the verge of national recognition.
However, tuition can’t make ends meet. We need other ways for the college to raise money. Alumni need to give back to their college. Alumni participation is essential. By donating, alumni let everyone (outside large donors) know about this heartfelt wonderful college. By letting the outside world know about us, anyone with a Unity College degree benefits from increased exposure and stature. Alumni need to donate to the college so other larger donors see that alumni support their college and will then donate large gifts.
Alumni can contribute to today’s youth by donating to Unity. Unity gives direction, promotes environmental awareness, teaches students to think and gets students outdoors. It will take a culture shift, but Unity depends on alumni donations. Consider giving that gift, consider getting involved. Let us know when you come to campus!
2. Welcome from Alumni Association President Neil Ward
Neil welcomed alumni to Alumni Weekend and was extremely grateful to Monica Murphy for providing the banquet. Neil echoes President Thomashow’s message and hopes alumni become involved and re-engaged with Unity College. When he is on campus, Neil walks through the building halls and recalls with great fondness his time at Unity. While some people, buildings and programs have changed, the atmosphere of Unity remains. The memories of the time spent here never fades, and Neil hopes alumni will return to campus to experience the wonderful memories.
3. Elections
Due to a lack of quorum of active members, voting for officers will take place online through the new online alumni community. The group put forth a ballot of officers:
Senior Vice President: Matthew Shejen
Vice President for Campus Events: Craig Segar
Vice President of Development/Treasurer: Monica Murphy
Secretary: Kate Grenier.
Officer elections will take place online in the near future. Please watch for further information.
4. Alumni Association Awards
At the 2007 commencement, two alumni association awards were given. Keith Crowley received the Alumni Association Service Award for his community service projects throughout his time at Unity. Travis Wagner received the Alumni Association Professional Achievement Award for his environmental efforts at the University of Southern Maine.
The Dot Quimby Excellence award was created in 2001 when Dot retired and has been given to several recipients. This year’s recipient is Gloria Sosa.