New Directorate 2009 Highlights Alumni Up-Date
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routes Alumni Newsletter Edition 4 • November 2009 New directorate 2009 highlights A new alumni Alumni up-date relations director A reflection on the Page 3 year that was Find your old friends Page 7 around the world Pages 13 - 15 A word from the Alumni Directorate The establishment of a directorate for To avoid gaps in relationship building alumni relations is an indication of we will have to start the lifelong Alumni staff how much NMMU values alumni as a relationship process at recruitment and stakeholder group. maintain relationships with students Alumni represent the success stories while at NMMU. here our Student of the university not only as graduates Alumni Society will have to play a major but as global citizens making a role creating awareness of the role and difference in the various disciplines value of alumni to current students. and sectors. establishing national and interna- Your success is our success and our tional alumni chapters, establishing a combined successes increase the new Alumni Annual Fund, improving value of your qualification. alumni benefits, introducing Alumni We are excited about the opportu- Awards and building an Alumni nity to build mutually beneficial rela- house, are all part of the plan. tionships with The support of our our alumni Your success is our alumni is crucial in and friends. success and our realising all these Friends in- goals. Our Convo- clude parents of combined successes cation representa- students and gradu- increase the value of tives on Council, ates, donors, gover- your qualification. our Alumni ex- At your serviCe … Baakier Abrahams, University Shop Manager and nors, advisors, em- ecutive Committee Santosh Ramadu, Alumni Realtions Officer ,form part of the new Alumni Directorate geared to serve NMMU alumni. ployers, short course candidates and and individual alumni played a major community leaders. role in raising the profile of alumni. We also have a major task of en- Our VC, executive management, Alumni Consortium. The Consortium in- Alumni Relations Director and to play gaging with alumni from former Council and NMMU Trustees have all cludes all southern African higher edu- a role in alumni relations develop- UPe, Pe Technikon and the Pe cam- supported the establishment of the cation alumni practitioners who gather ment on a national level. pus of Vista University as well as Alumni Directorate. Your support is to share best practice. NMMU was re- We are here to serve and celebrate NMMU graduates. We have about even more important. elected to chair the Consortium – a sign our alumni and we all look forward 72 000 alumni on record with an aver- earlier this year, the newly-estab- of confidence in our leadership and vi- to an exciting experience in building age of 5000 graduates added to that lished NMMU Alumni Directorate sion for alumni relations nationally. great relationships and an even great- figure every year. hosted a successful Southern African I am honoured to be the first NMMU er NMMU. - Paul GG Geswindt • PO Box 77000 New Trust Contact us • Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University We want to hear from you! • Port Elizabeth • 6031 Tel: +27 (0) 41 504 3935 appointment Send your updated details to: Fax: +27 (0) 41 504 1965 Postal adress e-mail: [email protected] Prof Kotie Grové was appointed the • Alumni Relations Office Website: www.nmmu.ac.za/alumni new Legacy Programme Director on 1 September 2009, still fulfilling his role as NMMU Trust executive Director Ugandan chapter founded while the new executive director is appointed. New role… Prof Kotie Grové, was NMMU has forged stronger links with Uganda, with the establishment of its The Legacy Programme’s position appointed the new Legacy Programmes first alumni chapter in Africa. was created by the Trust to raise funds Director. The founding of the chapter in Kampala formalises a relationship that NMMU by means of soliciting and encouraging university since 1971 as lecturer and had with the East African country over the past five years. bequests and donations from selected professor in Greek and Latin. He was Close to 50 Ugandan students are presently studying at NMMU and many more alumni and other individuals on a also the first full-time Dean of Students are now interested in making NMMU their study institution of choice. national and international basis. from 1989 to 1993. The Trust is chaired by Dr Xolani Prof Grové has served in the capacity Mkhwanazi, chairman of BHP Billiton. of president and chairperson of the The Legacy Programme entails cricket club for more than 20 years and creating and encouraging friendships chairperson of the Executive Sports between alumni (older generation Committee for five years. He ranks his alumni) and the university. association with university sport as “The programme must ensure that one of the highlights of his career. these legacies benefit the university “I am in the fortunate position of in every possible way and the people knowing many students who studied involved receive the necessary here since the beginning of the uni- New ChAPter fouNded… From NMMU Dr Waswa, Dr Nico Jooste, Paul Geswindt, Dr Nsubugu, Prof Andrew Leitch and Dennis Sekiwu at the Uganda alumni chapter acknowledgement,” said Prof Grové, versity in 1965 and many of them are function. who has been involved with the indeed close friends,” said Prof Grové. 2 Connected to you R1 billion endowment needed by 2020 Meet the Funding vital to new Alumni Relations NMMU growth Director R1 billion. That’s what NMMU wants as an endow- SeRVING and engaging with over 72 000 ment by 2020, and with Vice-Chancellor Prof Derrick NMMU alumni forms part of Paul Geswindt’s Swartz at the helm there’s every chance it will have mandate as newly appointed Alumni Relations secured this capital funding to support the univer- Director. sity’s future growth needs, long before then. According to Paul, alumni represent the In the 18 short months since his arrival, Prof Swartz success stories of an institution. “They are the has triggered a number of strategic shifts at NMMU, best brand ambassadors because their sphere including finalisation of Vision 2020, a project articu- of influence has global reach. Alumni must be lating what kind of university we want to be. As a result, part of this growth cycle by contributing to and the new vision and mission means there has to be a benefitting from the process,” he said. sustained period of investment in staff, student sup- In 1990 he graduated with a BCom(Ed) port, laboratories, modernisation of current buildings and in 2005, with a Postgraduate Diploma in and the building of new infrastructure. Educational Management from UPE. He also “Without a robust revenue model and cost has postgraduate qualifications in Business and structure, this vision cannot be realised,” Prof Swartz Marketing Management. shared with Routes. He started working at the former UPE in 1998 To do this, NMMU is being revamped to increase as marketing manager and was promoted its fundraising capacity to reach new markets with to deputy director of Communication and the central purpose of building a R1 billion strong Marketing Services in 2002. He served as deputy endowment. In this context, the alumni function has director of Marketing and Alumni Relations been moved from Marketing and Corporate Relations from 2005 to 2009 at NMMU. to the NMMU Trust. His previous positions include teacher and “The alumni function, because of its critical nexus subject head at Paterson High School in Port with 72 000-plus alumni, has a crucial role to play Elizabeth and deputy chief education specialist visioNAry … Vice-Chancellor Prof Derrick Swartz in the advancement mandate of the Trust. For this in the Department of Education (Eastern Cape). envisions alumni contributing directly to the reason, as is the practice in North America and welfare of its alma mater. He is passionate about community service elsewhere, these two functions must work very and serves on a number of community trusts. closely together.” His personal motto is “Be the Change”. As part of the step-up campaign, NMMU has also huge financial dividends,” he says, referring to the Paul also served on the UPE Council as a staff raised the platform of the alumni function to a new extraordinary success of Barack Obama’s electoral representative and was President of the UPE directorate (see page 2). campaign in which thousands of average to poor Alumni Association. He is currently NMMU “Within five years, this office will be three times income-earning Americans gave small monthly President of Convocation, Chairperson of the bigger, with wide-ranging networks linking our contributions to the fundraising campaign. Southern African Alumni Consortium and is a alumni from all over the “Our alumni are extremely member of the Association of Commonwealth world into NMMU’s Our alumni are important to us. They are Universities’ Marketing and PR Steering advancement drive. Every extremely important ambassadors who can do work Committee. single alumnus counts in that we can never do in all parts “The new Alumni Relations Directorate is this campaign.” to us. They are of the world. evidence of how important NMMU views its And Prof Swartz, for one, can’t ambassadors who can “We want them to share – and alumni and their role in making NMMU even wait for it to get going. do work that we can be a part of – the exciting changes greater,” said Paul. “I feel like Usain Bolt in the never do in all parts of that still lie ahead for NMMU.” starting blocks.” the world. And as a man deeply committed In outlining his vision of the to serving society, Prof Swartz future role of alumni, Prof Swartz is confident alumni who give indicated that the “associational” link between their own money will enjoy a deeper “emotional NMMU and its former students would always be a connection to a dream that they helped to build, that central part of what the university does.