Clark University - Clark News fall 2005
Spreading the Clark spirit in Asia (fall 2005)
Alumni in Asia share their enthusiasm for their alma mater while supporting Clark
By Judith Jaeger
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Members of the Taiwan
alumni community |
The Clark Alumni Association's Regional Alumni Communities initiative has spread far across the United States, with communities from coast to coast. Now, the initiative is going global. New and existing Regional Alumni Communities in Asia are bringing alumni together to share their enthusiasm and support for Clark and to help Clark attract students from the region.
In June, Provost David Angel, history professor Paul Ropp and Bill Bennett M.P.A. '97, Alumni Affairs director and major gifts officer, traveled to Korea, Thailand and Taiwan to attend Regional Alumni Community meetings and discuss alumni initiatives in the region. T heir first stop was Seoul, South Korea, home of Clark's first Regional Alumni Community in Asia. Hyun-Jin Cho '90 leads the initiative, which boasts a large group of active alumni. Over the coming year, they hope to encourage their fellow alumni in the region to become Jonas Clark Fellows, the University's leadership group of annual donors.
Moi Lee Low M.A. '89 met with Angel and Bennett in Thailand and was inspired to start an alumni community in Malaysia. She is contacting Clarkies in Malaysia to start to build an alumni group.
"Another task is to bring better visibility to Clark as an attractive option to prospective Malaysian college students seeking a quality American education," says Low, who earned a master's degree in international development at Clark. She credits her Clark education with having "an enormous influence on my life, affecting my career choices, my lifestyle and my world view."
Darwin Tu '79 and Tom Su M.B.A. '05 are involved wit h an active alumni community in Taiwan. Su explains that the alumni community was established to help Taiwanese alumni connect with Clark and to provide a way for alumni to stay in touch with each other and share their career, life, family or travel experiences. In recent years, the alumni community in Taiwan has hosted gatherings at restaurants for career networking and to help alumni who are taking CFA and CPA exams, Su adds. The group also helped the Clark Taiwanese Student Association host a preorientation for new M.B.A. and M.S.F. students.
"The final reason is to unite all Taiwanese alumni so that someday we will be able to return our thanks to Clark for the wonderful education we received," Su says.
In the coming years, Tu and Su hope to increase alumni activities in Taiwan.
"Asia is becoming strategically important to Clark, given that the University has succeeded in recruiting a good percentage of students from Asia," says Tu, who interviews prospective students in Taiwan for the Admissions Office. "We hope to host quarterly gatherings as a way to spread the Clark spirit, renew friendships and, above all, to promote the University among our very enthusiastic alumni."
That enthusiasm isn't hard to find.
"My curiosity, problem-solving skills, self-reliance for learning and passion for work comes from my broad liberal-arts background at Clark," Tu says.
"We are inspired to challenge convention and change our world," adds Su. "We greatly value our memories of Worcester and know that our friendships developed at Clark will last forever."
"I relished the intimacy of Clark as an intellectual and compassionate community that reached out to others," says Low. "Clark is a very special place, and I hope it will keep its character forever."
For more information about starting a Regional Alumni Community in your corner of the world and to view photos of recent community events, visit www.clarku.edu/alumnicommunity.
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