[SEDS Alumni Board] SEDS alumni board kickoff

[Kirk Kittell]

Hello all.  I've spent a good amount of time plotting an alumni network for 
SEDS, contacting the group of you, and thinking of ways to proceed before 
jumping in.  Finally, here goes...

Right now, there are 7 people on this list, and Peter and Bob are plugged in as 
well.  This group is intended to be a development board for a coordinated SEDS 
alumni network.  By having a small group of us take the reins, I believe that we 
can create a product that a few more people will want to join and take a 
leadership role in.  Some of you, I know, have had a hand in previous iterations 
of an alumni association and your experience will be greatly appreciated.


...Upcoming opportunities...
* International Space Development Conference, http://isdc.nss.org/2005
   - May 19-22, Washington, DC
   - Space/time available for holding meetings
   - Opportunity to meet new crop of SEDS members who will be massing at ISDC
* SEDS National Conference, http://www.space2005.org
   - November 10-13, University of Illinois (essentially... my house)
   - Majority of Thursday, Nov 10 blocked off for alumni development meeting 
that Peter suggested as a means of developing the endowment fund
   - Saturday night, Nov 12, awards banquet

...Resources available to us...
* http://www.spacealumni.com (join this if you haven't already, it's a great 
network)
* access to help from NASA Academy and ISU alumni leadership
* http://alumni.seds.org, a proto-web site for the group
* seds-alumni at seds.org email list; if you're not on that list now, you can join 
from the alumni.seds.org web page
* new, nifty, online registration system on seds.org (where I can add each of 
you to the SEDS membership database, even if your chapters don't exist anymore)

...Purpose...
***To further promote the exploration and development of space after graduating 
from SEDS by providing motivated students with the resources needed to 
accomplish their goals.
1) provide SEDS with financial resources for activities, travel, and scholarships
2) develop mentoring relationships with current students
3) maintain a network of former SEDS members and develop active groups after 
graduation
4) maintain an institutional history of SEDS

...Goals...
* Develop funds for scholarships/awards at 2005 SEDS Conference (briefly talked 
to Loretta about a Todd Hawley award that SpaceGen would also like to give)
* Develop SEDS Endowment Fund
* Develop a service (or relationship with other services) to provide email, an 
alumni directory, career service, periodic publication, and community in 
exchange for an annual fee


...ACTION...
* Continuous: contact old SEDS friends and encourage them to sign up for email 
list at http://www.seds.org/mailman/seds-alumni
* Personally ensure that there is some regular chatter on the email list 
(stagnant lists can become dead lists quickly)
* Prepare for meeting at ISDC
* Prepare for workshop at SEDS Conference (also, prepare to attend the conference)
* Develop alumni.seds.org web site


I hope that this is enough information and motivation to begin a discussion. 
Please add your comments and throw in new ideas.  I will be away from email 
until Sunday night, so I hope to see some interesting messages when I return. 
Thanks for your time, and I look forward to working with you.


(This email has been modified and polished in my draft folder for quite some 
time; it feels good to finally hit the "send" button :)

kirk

-- 
Kirk Kittell

Graduate Student, Aerospace Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
309-338-5380, kittell at uiuc.edu

2005 SEDS-USA National Conference, http://www.space2005.org