President's message, cont'd...

Hello, and welcome

This is my first letter to you as president of the Alumni Association. As you by now know, Marty Triano resigned from this position last fall because of the press of professional obligations. Marty contributed enthusiastically to the association and as president put us on a new course with a vision and mission for our future. We thank him for his dedication and service and look forward to his continued support and assistance as we move onward.

Many of you may know that I graduated in 1966 from the University when it was known as Harpur College. I completed my state university swing when I earned my law degree from University at Buffalo Law School. Having devoted most of my career to serving several governors in New York, I now am vice president, labor relations, for Amtrak, our national rail passenger corporation.

While under-going several name changes since 1966, Binghamton University has grown into a leading public university with a reputation that has increased geometrically since my years on campus. Our collective support is necessary now to guarantee both the continued academic recognition of Binghamton and its financial security into the future. I will be working with you and the association board to contribute to that effort.

I have the pleasure of announcing that, we have successfully recruited our top choice for the position of director of Alumni and Parent Relations. Allow me to introduce Richard Heck as our new director. He assumed his new duties Jan. 15.

Richard comes to us from Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., where he served as associate dean for strategic planning, management and research, administered an annual expense budget of $50 million and served as a member of the senior management team for the dean of the college. He has experience with alumni and parent research and has played an active role in Dartmouth's campaign planning and development team. He had been at Dartmouth College since 1995.

Before Dartmouth, Richard served as director of budget, institutional planning and research at Colgate University. He has fundraising experience and has played a key role in many capital campaigns and fund drives at both Dartmouth and Colgate.

Richard holds an AB in social psychology/pre-med from Cornell University, where he was a Cornell National Scholar and played football. Richard also has an MA in student personnel and administration in higher education from Colgate University.

We welcome him to our Binghamton family and look forward to an active and successful partnership with him in developing our alumni programs and implementing our vision for the integration of the Alumni Association into the building of Binghamton's future.

I intend to use my time during the remaining months of this term to ensure that the Alumni Association is a strong influence in the support of Binghamton and to strengthen its standing and financial support in these difficult economic times both nationally and in New York. I ask for your continued effort as well, to do those things you can to make sure that our collective voice is heard, to preserve the high standards of our University and to strengthen its reputation. -- Joe Bress '66

You may reach Joe by mail at Binghamton University, PO Box 6004, Binghamton, New York 13902-6004; by fax: 607-777-2654; by phone: 607-777-2431; or by e-mail: alumni@binghamton.edu.