Get connected, spring 2006

From M, spring 2006

A supreme speaker

Sandra Day O'Connor headlines the 102nd UMAA Annual Celebration in May.
One of the most powerful women in the world, retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor will be the keynote speaker at the University of Minnesota Alumni Association's Annual Celebration on Tuesday, May 23. The first woman ever confirmed to the nation's highest court, in 1981, O'Connor was often the moderate "swing vote" on an increasingly polarized court. She once wrote, in a dissenting opinion: "If indeed the choice is between adopting a balanced case-by-case approach...and adopting a rigid rule that destroys everything in its path, I will choose the former." Among her votes were denying holding U.S. citizens indefinitely as enemy combatants, halting the 2000 presidential vote recount in Florida, and upholding both capital punishment and key abortion rights. Prior to joining the judiciary, O'Connor was majority leader of the Arizona Senate and a moderate Republican. The event begins with a reception and dinner on Northrop Mall followed by a short annual meeting and the keynote presentation in Northrop Auditorium. For ticket information, call the U of M Arts Ticket Office at 612-624-2345 or visit www.umn.edu/umato. For more details, visit www.alumni.umn.edu.

Free access to magazines online for UMAA members

Access to premium content on 4,200 publication Web sites is now available to UMAA members through the University Libraries. Members can read full text and archives of Fortune, Time, Health, Popular Science, Entrepreneur, Sports Illustrated, and other popular titles--as well as hundreds of trade and scholarly publications--all for the cost of a UMAA membership ($40 per year for a single membership and $45 for a joint membership). UMAA membership is open to all alumni, friends, and supporters of the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus. To access the libraries' database, UMAA members must have their member number available. For more information on the library benefit and how to join, visit www.alumni.umn.edu.

New connections through new groups

"I went to the University and it's made all the difference in my life," says Wokie Daboh (B.A. '04), who helped found the new University of Minnesota Black Alumni Association (UMBAA). "It definitely was the road less traveled for me, and for a lot of African American people in Minnesota and from other places. We hope to cultivate more interest in the University of Minnesota among young African American people. We're focusing on starting them here and getting them to finish here, and bridging the gap between the young people at the U and the alumni, administration, and faculty." The UMBAA is one of two new alumni interest groups, the other being the Sport Clubs and Recreational Sports Network. That network was created for alumni who have past or present interest in any of the Department of Recreational Sports' programs, including aquatics, climbing, fitness, intramural sports, and youth programs. Unlike collegiate societies and geographic chapters, which unite alumni with similar academic backgrounds or area codes, alumni interest groups enable graduates to maintain connections based on common interests and activities. The UMAA now has 10 such interest groups, including the Finnish Connection and the Minnesota Daily Alumni Association. For more information on UMAA interest groups, visit www.alumni.umn.edu/interestgroups or call 612-624-2323 or 800-862-5867.

Read Minnesota magazine

Minnesota, the bimonthly magazine of the University of Minnesota Alumni Association, is mailed to 57,000 members of the UMAA. The March-April issue features the winning entry in our seventh-annual fiction contest, an article on a new wine grape bred at the University, and a historical profile of the 1916 U grad whose geologic work led to the discovery of oil in the Persian Gulf and Saudi Arabia. Join the University of Minnesota Alumni Association and receive every issue of Minnesota. Call 612-624-2323, visit www.alumni.umn.edu, or fill out the envelope attached to the front of this issue of M.

See the world

The art and architecture of Krakow, Poland, is emerging from decades behind the Iron Curtain. An Alumni Campus Abroad tour gives travelers an enriching educational experience in addition to seeing fascinating sites. The UMAA travel program offers dozens of trips, most with an educational component. For more information, visit www.alumni.umn.edu/travel.