Class of 1970 Alumni Rediscover Roots at McCombs
As the former ambassador, president of a major foundation,
corporate recruiter and several successful entrepreneurs
left the lunch table, they all agreed their former business
school dean would have been proud of them.
“George Kozmetsky
wasn’t exactly one of the easiest men to please,” Dave
Morris, MBA ’70, remembers.
Thirty-six years after
graduating, seven former McCombs MBA classmates gathered for
lunch in Houston to reconnect and discuss ways to strengthen
their relationship with the university. The trigger was
Christopher “Kit” Ashby, MBA ’70 and former U.S ambassador
to Uruguay.
“When I graduated, I left Texas to go to the
Marine Corps and didn’t return until 2001,” Ashby says.
“During that time I had no connections with the university
or my classmates.”
In July 2005, Ashby decided to attend an
alumni reception in Houston to open the doors of
communication again. In a conversation with Dean George Gau
and Jennie Loev, MBA ‘03 and director of MBA Alumni
Relations, Ashby learned the school wanted to see more
people of his generation attending alumni events and
interacting with the school.
Ashby took it upon himself to
reach out to the entire class of 1970 and invited all of
them to the 2006 alumni winter reception in Houston.
Although only three men came, Ashby was not discouraged. He
and Morris continued to contact alumni through e-mails and
phone calls. Their efforts boosted the attendance at the
next event to seven classmates.
While the number may seem
small, it is significant considering the majority of
initiatives to increase alumni participation appeal mostly
to recent graduates.
“One area we need to strengthen is the
network of alumni who graduated before 1995,” explains Loev,
adding that the cohort system, formed in 1995, creates a
strong connection among students even after graduation
because students take their classes with the same small
group of peers. In addition, McCombs’ formal MBA Alumni
Network did not exist in 1970, which made Ashby’s task of
contacting alumni even more difficult.
The group of 1970
alumni hopes several more of their classmates join them for
future lunches. In addition to regaining contact with the
school, the alumni say they’re also looking for professional
contacts—and new golf buddies.
“We’ve reached a point where
giving back to the university is very appealing,” Morris
says. “We know we are supposed to give back
financially—that’s a given—but we want to be more engaged in
a deeper way.” Whether it’s through helping out with the
mentoring program, giving lectures, or serving as contacts
for current and former students, these alumni know it’s the
right time to bring their expertise back to McCombs.
“History is what makes all of us prepared for the future,”
Morris says. While these seven alumni have histories that
have served them well in their professional lives, they hope
to use their history with McCombs to prepare today’s
business students for their promising futures.
—Andrea Ferdinand
