The University of Georgia hosted a series of events for alumni, students, parents and donors in California from July 12-17. The trip to the West Coast gave UGA President Jere W. Morehead, Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Kelly Kerner, and other administrators and alumni relations staff members an opportunity to connect with supporters who live and work in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas.
“I find that events like these-taking place more than 2,000 miles from the Athens campus-are a great reminder of just how far-reaching the network of Bulldog supporters has become,” said Morehead.
On July 12, the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication kicked off the weeklong series of events with a student-alumni mixer co-hosted by the Southern California Chapter of the UGA Alumni Association at Yamashiro Hollywood. Students participating in the Grady in LA program were invited to network with local alumni.
The following Tuesday, the university hosted a reception at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills. Approximately 175 people attended the reception, including Scott Wilson, an actor on AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” and Mike Mills, a founding member of R.E.M.
“Visiting with alumni and friends who live and work on the West Coast energized the university’s alumni relations team. Local graduates appreciated the time that UGA took to update them on the great things taking place at their alma mater,” said Meredith Gurley Johnson, executive director of alumni relations. “Each event reminded me how important it is, as a university, to spend time with alumni.”
On July 16, approximately 150 people gathered at the Fairmont San Francisco for a Bay-area reception. During the reception, Roger Hunter, a 1978 UGA alumnus and associate director for programs at the NASA Ames Research Center, presented Morehead with a medallion containing a piece of Apollo 11. The medallion was created to commemorate the launch of the Apollo 11 flight that landed the first humans on the moon and safely returned them to Earth in 1969. Hunter delivered the undergraduate commencement address at UGA in December 2014.
The UGA Alumni Association has five alumni chapters in California-Fresno, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles-that host events for local alumni throughout the year. To learn more, visit http://www.alumni.uga.edu/alumni/index.php/chapters/chapter_search.
The UGA Alumni Association
The UGA Alumni Association proudly supports the academic excellence, best interests and traditions of Georgia’s flagship university and its more than 288,000 alumni worldwide. For more information, see www.alumni.uga.edu.