To all Northwest Wolverines

To my fellow Wolverines of the Pacific Northwest,

As the president of the University of Michigan Club of Seattle for 2009-2010, I’d just like to introduce myself and say a few words about our club.

My wife Pauline and I moved to Seattle in 2006. I’ve had the privilege of serving on our club’s Board of Directors since 2007, and it’s been a great pleasure for me to have a chance to connect with so many U-M grads in the area. Our son Stephen has just finished his four years at this great institution, and his attendance has helped to further enrich my ties to the Maize and Blue and the Ann Arbor campus.

We have over 6,000 Michigan Alumni in the state of Washington, and I’ve met enough of you to appreciate the immense diversity represented within this number: recent grads and retirees; aerospace engineers, lawyers, and computer scientists; those who live and die with Michigan football and those who wonder if Charles Woodson is someone they should have heard of; Washington state natives and recent transplants; and in general people whose varied interests and occupations accurately reflect the rich collegiate heritage we all share.

We’re entering the new year with a great Board of Directors containing both proven seniors and promising freshmen, and I know that together the board members will have a lot of fun — and get to meet a lot of you — through the varied set of services we provide, including:

• Sports watching parties;
• Cultural and educational events, such as book-signings, concerts and plays;
• Social and recreational get-togethers;
• Special welcome events for recent grads and alumni relocating to the area;
• Community service;
• Sporting events, such as Detroit Tigers and Lions games;
• Professional networking and career development;
• Recruiting promising local high school students to attend the University of Michigan, through the Alumni Student Recruiting program, manning booths at college fairs, and hosting receptions for admitted students and their parents;
• Support for current Michigan students from the Seattle area, including student send-offs, care packages and our Roby M. Burley scholarship;
• Connecting and communicating through our Web site, through e-mail, through club meetings, and through social networking sites such as Facebook and InCircle.

We’re always looking for new ways to connect, engage and serve our local alumni, so please drop me a note if you have an interest in volunteering, if there is some sort of event or service you would like to see or make happen, or if you know of some Michigan-related resource or personality that local alumni would find of interest.

One last point: our Seattle organization is an official club of the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan, and our operations are primarily funded through a percentage of the membership dues paid to the AAUM by local alumni. If you are a member of the Alumni Association, and you live in the state of Washington, then the good news is that you are already an official member of our club. If you are not currently a member, then I encourage you to join, not just for the many benefits offered by club membership, but also as another way to connect and support the almost half a million of us who are proud to call ourselves graduates of the University of Michigan.

Go Blue!

Herb Bowie
President
University of Michigan Club of Seattle