MIT Reports to the President 1999–2000

ASSOCIATION OF ALUMNI AND ALUMNAE OF MIT

This, my 20^th year as executive vice president of the MIT Alumni Association, is arguably the Association’s most successful. We have enjoyed the fifth consecutive record year for the Alumni Fund with total gifts of $32.6 million and a record participation in the Parents Fund. Our Technology Day program, "The Future of Atoms in an Age of Bits," received rave reviews from alumni who attended. Successful alumni programs on campus and around the world brought nearly 20,000 people into a closer relationship with MIT. Alumni continue to be keenly interested in academic developments at MIT and turned out in record numbers at events on campus and throughout the world to hear from the more than 100 faculty and senior officers who brought word of MIT. The Association staff continues to find ways to improve our ongoing programs, resulting in the involvement of more and more alumni in MIT related activities.

The Internet has become an increasingly important tool for the Association. Led by Maggy Bruzelius, Director of Alumni Network Services, during this year alumni participation in our email forwarding service increased by 40%; we now serve more than one in three alumni by forwarding more than 65,000 e-mails per day. We merged the five-year-old Association web site with the stand-alone Alumni Network Services (ANS) site creating an easy to use consolidated site. Using online services, alumni signed up for reunions and other Association events, made gifts to MIT, and created e-mail lists to share common interests. We developed online career services (ICAN) and worked with the MIT admissions office to offer online support for the Educational Council. We began negotiations with a vendor to provide online support for the more than ninety MIT clubs around the world.

Over the years, one of the hallmarks of the Association has been the leadership of its volunteer presidents and board members. Last year, I reported the extraordinary benefits of that partnership in the success of the Association. This year our volunteer leadership challenged the staff and other volunteers to examine the implications of becoming a web leveraged organization. This caused the staff and volunteers together to consider how effectively we are using web technology to develop alumni connections with MIT and among the alumni worldwide. In the coming year, as we continue to develop our web strategy, the Internet and the World Wide Web will play an increasingly important and central role in the programs of the Association.

During this past year MIT launched a capital campaign to which the Association has dedicated significant resources and energy. The impressive increase in Alumni Fund participation at every donor level above $100 is evidence that MIT alumni are ready to support this capital campaign commensurate with their capacity. Technology Review celebrated its 100^th anniversary with a gala celebration and the presentation of the TR100, recognition of the best young inventors and entrepreneurs around the world. During this year Tech Review continued to expand its circulation to 205,000 as the Association began to consider alternative models for encouraging the continued growth of the magazine. During this year, for the first time in my tenure, the Association president has served on an internal Institute committee. Brian Hughes ’77 has been a member of the Council on Educational Technology and members of the Association staff have supported the work of the Council.

ASSOCIATION ON THE INTERNET

During a year in which we have examined carefully the Association’s Internet strategy and involvement, I am pleased to report significant new activity using these technologies. In an effort that involved staff representatives from each Association staff unit, we merged the Alumni Association public web site and the secure Alumni Network Services (ANS) web site. This resulted in the creation of an information-rich, fast and easy-to-use consolidated site. Goals for this new site were to integrate the Association web presence targeted toward alumni, to involve alumni in the life of the Institute wherever possible, and to build community by facilitating alumni communications with the Institute and with each other. The staff designed prototype was tested with alumni from a diverse set of classes and range of Internet experiences. The new site is designed to make it easier for alumni to find the information they are looking for.

Another major web related initiative during this year has been investigating the services of commercial vendors to help provide online services to the more than 90 alumni clubs worldwide. We are testing the feasibility of buying a commercial product as opposed to the more common MIT practice of developing services in-house. A vendor has been selected and contract negotiations are underway.

In the fall of 1999, the Provost invited the president of the Alumni Association, Brian Hughes ’77, to serve as a member of the Council on Educational Technology (CET). This is especially notable since campus committees seldom include alumni volunteers among their members. Recommendations of this committee include the increased engagement of alumni volunteers in the educational experience of enrolled students. Significant Association staff time has also been allocated to the development of Council recommendations and their implementation.

Our web based online directory is now fully synchronized with the alumni database of record maintained by the Association. This will prove important for the continued development of online services as well as support of the CET initiatives. Procedures are in place to protect the privacy of sensitive information including gift data.

Online alumni services launched in prior years continue to attract new alumni users. E-mail forwarding for life (EFL), formally launched in February 1997, now has 32,000 subscribers for whom MIT forwards over 65,000 email messages each day. This represents a 40% increase over last year. During this year we have continued to refine and improve online directory services, our most popular online service.

ANS launched new services during this year. We created email list services for over 120 existing Association listservs so alumni can subscribe and unsubscribe at their own discretion at any time. Alumni also have the opportunity now to create their own lists with other alumni. This service has proven to be very popular; in only a few weeks alumni created more than 50 lists, ranging over topics that include career networking to living groups to logistics. With partial funding from an alumni gift, ANS created a web based video library featuring presentations from the Alumni Leadership Conference, Family Weekend, and Technology Day. The Association is also a partner in MITWorld with CAES and ILP, slated for launch in fall 2000.

Many other new online features were introduced. Online tracking services for the 1,600 members of the Educational Council were made available in the fall. This year the Institute Career Assistance Network (ICAN) went online and saw an increase in numbers of volunteer mentors to 2,400. We improved the search capacity of this program by adding SIC codes to make it easier to find appropriate mentors. The Alumni Externship Program was put online to allow alumni to submit externship opportunities more easily and for students to select situations for which they wish to apply. During this year we provided ANS guest accounts for administrators. These accounts allow administrators quickly and easily to search the online directory. Support for increased numbers of volunteer class and club webmasters includes the webmaster tool kit as well as telephone and email interactions with staff. Other online tools include club leadership tools and events calendars as well as tools for department services.

As the web has become more and more ubiquitous, the Association has begun to integrate the web and email into all services. Online event registration options have become routine; online giving is being promoted more often; e-mail is used to communicate with recent graduates, for soliciting class notes, and to notify alumni of regional events. With a vigorous agenda for becoming web leveraged, the Association expects to use the Internet more effectively in the coming year to build a worldwide community of engaged alumni.

ALUMNI FUND

Strong annual giving from MIT alumni set a record for the fifth time in as many years with the Alumni Fund reporting $32,567,000 from 29,619 alumni plus a number of other non-alumni donors. This 13% increase over fiscal year 1999 was achieved under the leadership of a new staff volunteer partnership which includes Paula Olsiewski CM’79, Alumni Fund chair; Gregory Moore ‘73, Fund Goals Committee chair; Elizabeth A. Garvin, Director of the Alumni Fund, and Rosemarie Resnik, Director of Alumni Activities. The Parents Fund, included in the Alumni Fund totals, turned in another participation record with gifts of $320,000 from 1,130 parents, a 10% increase in donors over fiscal year1999.

A major factor contributing to this remarkable result was the strong increase in gifts at every gift level over $100. For the first time, MIT has more than 100 donors with Fund credit of $100,000, an increase from 89 last year to 112 this year. During this year the Fund recognized for the first time donors of $10,000 or more as Killian Society Patrons. We reported a 13% increase in donors at this level and a 5% increase in other Killian Society donors at $5,000 to $9,900.

The chart below shows Fund results against goals as well as changes from the prior year. Graduate alumni participation numbers remain strong with gifts from 11,000. Gifts from graduate only alumni increased by $1.4 million to $11.5 million in the Fund. The decrease in overall participation is probably a result of undergraduate dissatisfaction with announced changes for housing students on campus as well as some negative impact of large campaign gifts on donors at lower levels. Not reported on this chart is the impact of strong matching gifts that showed a 15% increase in dollars and an 18% increase in the number of gifts.

Table 1. Goals And Measurements

FY1999 FY1999—2000 FY2000 FY2000

Results Goals Goals FINAL

RESULTS

Total Alumni Fund $28.8M +1.2M $30M 32.6M

Undergraduate

# Donors to Fund 19,123 +477 19,600 18,625

# Donors > $500 3,237 +88 3,325 3,510

% Donors > $500 16.9% +.1% 17% 19%

# First-time Donors 647 +103 750 705

Graduate Students Exclusively

# Donors to Fund 11,243 +157 11,400 10,994

# Donors > $500 1,101 +49 1,150 1,276

% Donors > $500 9.8% +.3% 10.1% 11.8%

# First-time Donors 828 +22 850 1,006

TOTAL

# Donors to Fund 30,366 +634 31,000 29,619

# First-time Donors 1,475 +125 1,600 1,711

Total Giving > $2,000

# Donors > $2,000 1,196 +104 1,300 1,386

% Donors > $2,000 3.9% +.3% 4.2% 4.8%

Parents Fund

Total $’s $431,000 ($31,000) $400,000 $320,000

# Donors 1,034 +166 1,200 1,130

Reunion giving continues to be one of the cornerstones of the Alumni Fund solicitation program. The reunion class gifts for this year reached over $34.5 million, with much of those gifts going towards the core needs of the Institute such as scholarship aid, faculty support, the UROP program and facilities development. The year-end numbers for reunion classes, reported below, include record results turned in by the 25^th and 30^th classes. The senior class gift doubled participation over last year, due largely to the Fibonacci Challenge issued by Association president, Brian Hughes ’77. The Alumni Fund staff worked hard this year to position programs so that more alumni would be solicited for increased gifts, including working with the Tech Caller program to fill in for gaps in volunteer efforts. For example, one student caller’s solicitation of a 30^th reunion class alumnus resulted in a $1.25 million gift!

Table 2. Reunion Giving

*five-year campaigns

The Alumni Fund phonathon program continues to account for about one-third of all alumni donors to the Fund. The Tech Caller Program this year broke records for total gifts, pledges, credit card gifts, dollars per caller and total alumni contacted.

The Alumni Fund staff assumed management of the Katharine Dexter McCormick ’02 Society, which gained over 100 new members, for an increase of about 20%.

Capital Campaign

The Alumni Association, particularly through the Alumni Fund, worked in close collaboration and cooperation with Resource Development staff in preparation for the launch of the capital campaign. In this first public year of the campaign, the Association sent the first campaign notice for most alumni with an emphasis on the continuing importance of annual giving and the value of every gift to the success of this campaign. The centennial issue of Technology Review was also sent to all alumni. New initiatives and enhanced programming for the campaign includes an increased emphasis on reunion giving and young alumni participation. We launched a Young Alumni Campaign Committee chaired by Sang Han ’93 and Annalisa Weigel ’94. Staffing for the Parents Program has been increased to add a major donor prospect program and we have developed a program for increasing graduate alumni giving at Alumni Fund gift recognition levels. Annual fund solicitations have been focused more directly on campaign priorities. New initiatives in direct mail, phonathons and online solicitations reflect a movement toward more targeted marketing of the Alumni Fund.

VOLUNTEER PARTNERSHIPS

The success of the Alumni Association depends in large measure on the effective partnership among MIT’s more than 4,000 volunteers and the Association staff. Brian G. R. Hughes’77, the president of the Association, has most ably represented these volunteers this year. During this year Hughes visited with fifty-one clubs in Asia, Europe and many US cities. Hughes was appointed by Provost Robert Brown to serve as a member of the Council on Educational Technology. This is the second time in two years that alumni volunteers have been recruited to serve on what are primarily Institute internal committees. This kind of volunteer involvement in the Institute is most welcomed by the Association.

Under Hughes’ leadership, the Association’s volunteer Board of Directors undertook an in-depth review of four key program areas: career services, club programs, lifelong learning, and online alumni services. The outcome of these deliberations was an assignment for staff to develop a plan for becoming a web-leveraged organization over the next 12—24 months. In another key initiative the Board agreed to the restructuring of Technology Review.

During this year more than 120 alumni served as members of Association national boards and committees. These committees have been led by the following volunteers: Paula J. Olsiewski CM’79, Alumni Fund Board; Gregory E. Moore ’73, Alumni Fund Goals Committee; James A. Lash ’66, Alumni Network Services Advisory Council; Gary Schweikhardt GM’73, Awards Committee; Steven G. Finn ’68 Committee on Nominations for Corporation Visiting Committees; Peter S. Miller ’64, Enterprise Forum Board; Robert A. Muh ’59, National Selection Committee; Joost P. Bonsen ’90, Technology Day Committee; DuWayne J. Peterson ’55, Technology Review Board.

The Association is responsible for the selection of fifteen members of the MIT Corporation. The National Selection Committee selects and recruits these alumni. In addition, many other Corporation members are alumni, with the result that more than 80% of current Corporation members are MIT alumni. The Association also selects six alumni members for each of the 26 Corporation Visiting Committees, with the result that nearly 300 alumni served on these committees this year.

The National Selection Committee named the following alumni to MIT and Association governance positions, beginning on July 1, 2000 for fiscal year 2001.

MIT Corporation for five-year terms:

Brian G. R. Hughes ’77

Linda C. Sharpe ’69

James A. Lash ’66

Association president-select to serve as president fiscal year 2001:

Paul Rudovsky ’66

Association vice presidents for two-year terms:

Gregory K. Arenson ’70

M. William Dix ’67

Association district directors for two-year terms:

Bonny S. Kellermann ’72

Sze-Wen Kuo ’73

Peter A. Klock ’65

Dale Schain Krouse ’71

Richard I. Bergman ’55

Monica S. Alcabin ’83

Association young alumni representative for two-year term:

Dora L. Gallo CP’92

Each fall, the Association invites MIT leadership to join in the celebration and recognition of the significant alumni volunteer contributions to the welfare of the Institute. This year the annual Alumni Leadership Conference (ALC), held October 1—3, 1999, featured our very successful MIT on the Road program with presentations from three representative faculty members: Dr. Nancy Hopkins, "The Genetic Age;" Dr. Simon Johnson EC’89, "The World Financial Crisis 1997—98: Who was to blame and what should we do about it?" and Prof. Samuel Jay Keyser HM, "The Language of Poetry/The Poetry of Language."

During the business session, alumni welcomed Ray Stata ’57, chair of the Campaign Steering Committee, who gave volunteers a preview of the upcoming capital campaign. Pre-ALC activities included a general volunteer briefing, a report by Erin Hester ’82 who served as a member of the Institute Residence Redesign Steering Committee, and workshops for class and club officers, reunion volunteers, Sloan alumni volunteers, Enterprise Forum leaders, the Alumni Interfraternity Council, and members of the Educational Council.

An annual feature at the luncheon during the ALC is the presentation of the Association awards for outstanding volunteer leadership and performance. Honorary membership was presented at the Technology Day luncheon on June 5, 1999. Awards presented at the ALC luncheon were as follows:

Bronze Beaver Award for distinguished service to MIT, the highest Association recognition honor:

Robert L. Blumberg ’64

Gerald J. Burnett ’64

George F. Clifford ’48

Jorge E. Rodriguez ’60

Linda C. Sharpe ’69

Harold E. Lobdell ’17 Distinguished Service Award for sustained alumni relations service of special depth:

Hubert I. Flomenhoft AA’47

Henry H. Houh ’89

Ernest H. Knight ’28

Frederick J. Kolb ’38

James A. Lash ’66

Cynthia Helsel Skier ’74

J. Thomas Toohy ’49

G. Mead Wyman ’62

George B. Morgan ’20 Award for excellence in service to the Educational Council:

Richard Collarini ’71

Ninamarie Maragioglio ’77

Henry N. McCarl ’62

Jerome Schooler ’59

Henry B. Kane ’24 Award for exceptional fundraising service and accomplishment:

Henry B. Barg GM’73

Herbert E. Grier ’33

Martin N. Rosen ’62

John H. Wills ’26,

Albert O. Wilson ’38

Presidential Citation Award given to alumni volunteer groups for distinguished service:

Building 20 Event

MIT Club of Puget Sound

Class of 1978 20^th Reunion Committee,

Association of MIT Alumnae — 125 Years of Women at MIT

Class of 1983 15^th Reunion and Reunion Gift Committees

Honorary Membership:

Barbara J. A. Gordon

ASSOCIATION PROGRAMS AT MIT

Central to the mission of the Association is fostering connections among alumni as well as between alumni and the Institute. Our objectives during this past year have been to build a stronger alumni connection by offering each alumnus opportunity for substantive engagement with the Institute and its community. Tech Reunions is the Association activity that engages more alumni and friends than any other single event. Again in June 2000, Association volunteers and staff offered dozens of events attended by nearly 3,000 alumni and their guests. The 50^th reunion class of 1950 had a record attendance of more than 460 and enthusiastically posted close to 200 photographs on the class developed web site immediately after the reunion. This year the staff has endeavored to add "more MITness" to our programs. Examples include scheduling more MIT related tours and more Camp Tech children’s activities on campus.

The second annual Great Court Gala, bigger and better than last year, was a resounding success among the alumni, graduating students, their parents, MIT faculty, administrators, and their guests. They all celebrated the MIT community in the tent on Killian Court, in the piano bar in the Bush Room, and in the disco down in Lobby 13. It is hard to describe the strong sense of community and celebration represented by this event. Perhaps the parade of the 50^th reunion class into the tent and the video of MIT reunions through the years give an indication of the wonder of this event.

The Technology Day program provided the traditional drink from the MIT firehose. This year’s program, "The Future of Atoms in an Age of Bits," asked, "In an increasingly networked world, how will our physical environment and our role in it evolve?" The committee asserted that the program "will explore the impact of this technological transformation [the Internet] on our physical world." Introduced by William J. Mitchell, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning, the program included presentations by Josef Sheffi CE’78, professor Course I and director of the Center for Transportation Studies; Rodney A. Brooks, professor Course VI and director of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory; and Rosalind W. Picard EE’91, associate professor in Media Arts and Sciences. Dean Mitchell moderated a lively question period following the presentations.

Well attended afternoon sessions were presented on three topics: "The New Neighborhood: Living and Working in Virtual Communities" moderated by Judith S. Donath AR’87, assistant professor, Media Arts and Sciences; "Clicks and Mortar: the Future of the Physical U." moderated by David Warsh, columnist with The Boston Globe; and "Emerging Innovations and Entrepreneurship" moderated by John W. Poduska ’59, chairman of Advanced Visual Systems. This year’s program enjoyed high attendance and high praise from all alumni participants. Other highlights of Tech Reunions and Tech Day included the Welcome Reception in the tent on Kresge Oval, the traditional MIT Night at Pops, the alumni memorial service in the MIT Chapel, the Reunion Row won by the class of 1965, and the Alumni Challenge games also won by the class of 1965.

Through its support of Senior Week activities, the Association offered a transition from student status to alumni status. The Alumni Activities Expo, held in Lobby 10 in May, also provided an opportunity for graduating students to learn about the benefits available to alumni. Another vehicle for students to glimpse the world of alumni is the Student Ambassadors program which this year involved 31 students in 31 alumni events for a total of 272 placements, an average of nine students per event. Annual Senior Dinners brought seniors and alumni together on seven nights in February with the Vests at the Presidents House.

The Alumni Association manages the Parents Program for the Institute. In addition to the Parents Fund mentioned above, the Parents Program hosts Family Weekend, held this year on October 15—17. A record 500 families, many of whom come each year, attended this popular program. The program this year featured a panel discussion "Looking to the Future" moderated by President Vest with the deans of MIT’s five schools or their representatives. Keeping to this theme, ten faculty members, at least one from each school, gave presentations on their work in two concurrent sessions. Dozens of activities filled the three day event, illustrating the best of MIT through lab tours, athletic events, panel discussions, and performances.

Another feature of the Parents Program is the Parent Connectors volunteer group, which has grown by 80 new parent volunteers for a total of 165 parents who have agreed to be contacted by parents of newly admitted students.

Anniversary celebrations, planned and executed with assistance from Association staff, added interesting events to the Association’s campus programs this year. During the Alumni Leadership Conference in October, 1999, the Association of MIT Alumnae (AMITA) held a 100^th anniversary party with recollections from Emily V. (Paddy) Wade ’45, Shirley Jackson ’68, Beth Marcus ’79, Cady Coleman ’83 and Bhuvana Kulkarni ’00. On the same night alumni celebrated the rededication of Alvar Aalto’s Baker House which had been restored and renovated on the occasion of its 50^th anniversary. On March 21—22, 2000, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering celebrated its 100^th anniversary with the dedication of a professorship in honor of Martha and Donald Harlemann CE ’50. The Center for Real Estate celebrated its 15^th anniversary with support from the Association on September 30— October 1, 1999.

ASSOCIATION SERVICES WORLDWIDE

The centerpiece of the Association’s activities for alumni around the world is our vigorous MIT clubs program in 93 locations. During this year 733 alumni served as officers in these clubs working in partnership with association staff to provide connections to MIT for thousands of alumni. Three clubs celebrated anniversaries this year: Washington, DC (100^th), Great Britain (50^th), Princeton, NJ (25^th). In addition, the Association supports the 55 alumni who serve as officers in affinity groups: Association of MIT Alumnae (AMITA), Black Alumni of MIT (BAMIT), Chinese Alumni of MIT (CAMIT), Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Alumni (BGALA), and the Arab Alumni Association of MIT (AAAMIT).

Among the most popular club programs is the Alumni Seminars, an Association service that makes it possible for MIT faculty and administrators to bring a flavor of today’s MIT to alumni. This service, in high demand once again this year, conducted 88 alumni seminar programs with 57 faculty and senior administrators participating. Sixty events were sponsored by US clubs and 28 by non-US clubs.

Begun in January 1998, the MIT on the Road (MOTR) program continues to be popular among alumni as well as among the faculty who are asked to make presentations. This year nearly 300 alumni and guests attended MOTR seminars in Seattle, Houston and the Delaware Valley. Among the twelve faculty presenters this year, nine were making alumni presentations for the first time.

To serve alumni volunteers in Europe, we hosted in September 1999 the third European Club Officers Workshop in Brussels. The first Middle Eastern conference was held in March 2000 in Cairo, Egypt with more than 150 people in attendance.

Nearly 625 MIT travelers went on one of thirty-two trips offered by the Alumni Travel Program. Trips this year featured twelve MIT faculty and meetings with local alumni in places like Saudi Arabia, China, and South Africa. An innovative research based trip to Venice was planned with Professor Donald Harlemann who arranged meetings with local authorities on the Venice flood; this special MIT feature was very popular and we plan similar partnerships with other faculty. Also new this year was a family trip to Alaska, which sold out almost immediately, as so many of our trips do. Two of the three family trips planned for fiscal year 2001 were already sold out at year-end. This new market for alumni travel seems quite promising.

For over twenty years, the MIT Enterprise Forum has been helping entrepreneurs start and grow successful technology-based businesses. During the year the Forum increased its chapters to 23 with the addition of Atlanta, Austin, Japan, and Switzerland. The centerpiece of the Forum programming from MIT is the Satellite Broadcast Series, which produces three programs each year. The programs are broadcast before a live audience on campus to remote sites around North America. The first program on October 6, 1999, featured John Dean as panel moderator for, "What Private Equity Investors Are Looking For." On January 20, 2000, Joe Hadzima ’73 was moderator for "Structuring Venture Capital Deals." The final program held on May 31, 2000 as part of Tech Reunions, presented Howard Anderson as moderator for "Building Value through Entrepreneurship." These programs reached a typical audience of 2,000 people in more than 20 separate venues in addition to those attending on campus. Establishment of many receiving sites involved the cooperative efforts of a Forum chapter, an alumni club and, in several instances a Sloan Club, with some sites signing on for all three presentations.

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

The year 1999 marked the 100^th anniversary of Technology Review, celebrated with a well-attended TR100 event that included a symposium and a gala award celebration on November 4, 1999. To celebrate Technology Review’s 100 years of continuous publishing, the magazine selected 100 young innovators under age 35 by recognizing their potential as future leaders in their fields. Many of those selected have since been given other prestigious awards. Several were named Howard Hughes Medical Institution investigators; three have gone on to receive McArthur Foundation "genius" awards. Over 500 key influencers, founders of companies, Fortune 500 CEOs, entrepreneurs, alumni, and the media attended these events. Hosted by noted journalists Bill Moyers and Lesley Stahl, the TR100 symposium was sponsored by Dupont, Motorola, Lucent Technologies, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, and Credit Suisse First Boston. Press coverage included live television and radio coverage by CNBC and NPR.

In "year two" of the new Technology Review, the magazine continued to enjoy increasing success, capped by significant revenue increases from approximately $5.5 million in fiscal year 1999 to $9.5 million this year. Circulation grew to a record high of 205,000 with a total audience of 750,000. Editorial highlights for the past year include the special "TR100" issue in November/December, and the May/June "Beyond Silicon" issue which coincided with a national conference of the same name convened by Technology Review in June at the Kennedy Library in Boston.

In fiscal year 2000, the magazine made a significant investment in its fledgling conference and event division, Tech Review Live! Under its auspices, more than 15 executive briefing events were held in cities across the country before an aggregate audience of more than 1,100 people and two major conferences were held. MITNews was the proud winner of a Silver Medal for General Excellence from CASE and Technology Review’s marketing team won the coveted Izzy Direct Marketing award.

Although Technology Review has long been a vital part of the Alumni Association’s services to MIT alumni, the continued success of the magazine as an MIT service to a broader public has led the Association to propose a new management structure for the magazine. Much energy during this year has been devoted to examining options that will enable the continued growth of the magazine.

SUPPORTING FUNCTIONS

At the end of fiscal year 1999, there was a major staff reorganization and reassignment of management responsibilities, creating a senior management team. A good deal of effort and a great deal of time during much of the year was dedicated to building this team. Working closely with the personnel and financial officers as well as the information systems staff we began to make the transition. Reallocation of staff and operating budgets was accomplished early in the year and the new leadership team ably handled operations in support of staff in five locations across campus. Genevieve Hammond, personnel officer for many years, resigned and we were pleased to welcome Jacquie Granville, personnel and operations administrator, to the team.

Taking a fresh look at operations and support functions resulted in the creation of an operations and support services unit, headed by Joseph Recchio, that includes the personnel function, networking support, information systems (including data entry), mail services, and a variety of other liaison functions with MIT administrative offices. During the year the information systems group recorded 51,000 gifts and made nearly 30,000 changes in directory information in addition to those changes made online directly by alumni themselves. The Operations Working Group and the Technical Strategy Group, made up of staff representatives from across the Association, worked with staff in this new unit to accomplish all necessary functions during the year. Major unit resources were dedicated to collaboration with the ANS staff and other MIT-IT/IS staff in supporting the development and maintenance of online services for alumni.

The areas of information services, personnel, financial services, and operations are essential to the effective functioning of the organization. Staff in these areas work in the background and provide strong support to the many activities of the Association, including Technology Review. During this year continued training on the new alumni records database and on the Institute’s new financial system was also handled by this staff. Working with the Audit and Budget Committee of the Association Board of Directors, the financial officer continued to refine financial reporting tools to meet Board and management needs.

Staffing issues continue to require attention with many staff changes occurring during this year. Forty-one new staff members joined the Association (TR, 13; other AA, 28); thirty people left the staff (TR, 8; other AA 22); and nine people were recognized for exceptional performance.

Alumni surveys have become increasingly important at MIT. Evaluating alumni experience and learning about alumni opinions and needs is relevant to Institute planning for curriculum innovation as well as for strategic decisions. This year Association staff worked on alumni surveys with six departments and student groups. Working with other Institute offices, we participated for the first time in the CoFHE (The Council on the Financing of Higher Education) survey with 65 other institutions nationwide. The Association also cooperated with McKinsey Consulting which conducted a survey among electrical and computer science engineering graduates in nine major engineering schools across the country. The Council on Educational Technology conducted focus groups among alumni in Boston and San Francisco with assistance from Association staff.

More information about the Association and its activities can be found on the World Wide Web at http://web.mit.edu/alum/ and http://www.techreview.com/.

William J. Hecht '61

MIT Reports to the President 1999–2000