Alumni association: 18th general meeting takes stock of an active year
Our 18th general meeting on 22 November – yes, it was a routine, obligatory event. But that’s far from the whole story. Because what can be taken for granted about our growing membership over the past several years, now totalling 4,239 members? And what a wonderful routine it is, that every year with over 20,000 euros our association reliably supports alumni work in Uni Bremen faculties, the Deutschlandstipendium and projects like B-Human, the perennial world champions in robot football. For the alumni association it’s been a lively year, which our chairman Dr Tim Nesemann recapped for the 35 or so members who were present. And there was a farewell to announce: the end of a symbol that for many members had become a cherished standard.
The farewell was to our old alumni association logo, with the three-lined U and “bacon flag”, which we’ve replaced with the new, more contemporary university logo. But that was the only downer (and a quite bearable one) in our annual review, which from various perspectives (including the financial) reflected the image of a highly vigorous network.
A few highlights from the past year: our well-attended pagoda at Open Campus in June, where we attracted several new members; our summer party in Stiftungsdorf Ellener Hof with our corporate member Bremer Heimstiftung; the very informative visits and discussion events at Radio Bremen and in the Bremen Parliament at the beginning of the year; and the ceremonies for the outstanding doctoral supervision award (donated by us) and the Campus Award: Research for a sustainable future (co-sponsored by us). At an international level, the alumni association was particularly active with our India chapter, organising two trail-blazing online panel discussions on women in science.
In the coming year, the association will offer exciting networking events, resume our popular online Alumni Talks, and bring expertise to the Europe Weeks civil society dialogues in May. And as Dr Nesemann emphasised at the general meeting: “We also want to use the new year to raise the profile of our association and work with the university on a joint strategic alignment.” To that end, talks are already planned with the Uni Bremen International Office and the Rectorate.