Endnotes

2006 HOMECOMING and REUNIONS

There will be a Homecoming Mass and Reception in April 2005. The next scheduled Homecoming and Class Reunions will be in April 2006 as part of UIWs 125th anniversary celebration [1881-2006]. The university will continue to honor the 25th and 50th graduation classes at the commencement ceremony in December and May each year. Formal reunions will be by decades, as favored by a poll of IWC/UIW alumni.

NURSING HONOR SOCIETY UPDATE

Calling all UIW nursing honor society members, past and present: The UIW nursing honor society will become part of Sigma Theta Tau, the international nursing honor society, in April. If you are or know an honor society member, active or inactive, we need your current address. Invitations will be sent soon for the April induction ceremony. If you miss being inducted into STTI, there will be no grandfathering. Please notify Dr. Maureen Rauschhuber, R.N., of your address, at rauschhu@universe.uiwtx.edu. Her phone number is 210-829-3995.

ALUMNI GIVING-BACK NETWORK PROPOSED

Alumnus Michael T. Berger, MBA '97, and two other alumni have proposed an idea, which is, at the core, "what is good for our business can be good for UIW." Berger is in real estate with King Realtors; Ray Chacon, BA ''99, MBA ''00, is a financial planner; and Edward Leos, BA '93, is the CEO of Destination Marketing Group [public relations, Web design, etc.] What they propose is that if alumni and friends use the services of the alumni in the network, the men will donate a percentage of their commission to the university for operations, capital or endowment needs. Eventually the network would have a directory of participating alumni.

Alumni interested in joining the network to provide services within this framework should contact the Alumni Office or e-mail dickm@universe.uiwtx.edu.

IMPROVE OUR COMMUNICATION

Send us your e-mail address and keep up with the UIW Web site www.uiw.edu regularly. There is a new Alumni Calendar and many new folks on the Alumni Networking Network, plus a monthly e-mailed newsletter. Also, all of the details on Homecoming and the annual Scholarship Sweepstakes are available on the Web site or by contacting dickm@universe.uiwtx.edu or calling 1(800) 584-5322. If you have an e-mail address, send it to the alumni office, as many alumni mailings are now done by e-mail to save on paper and postage.

If you use Earthlink as a server and have "spam" protection, please know that you will not receive e-mail from UIW unless we are in your approved address book.

Credit Card $

Thanks to all who regularly use their MBNA UIW affinity credit card. As you know, UIW receives a percentage quarterly on all credit card use and it does not cost the alumni or the university anything extra. We now receive an annual revenue of $4,000 from MBNA, which goes directly to the Faculty Development Endowment to continue to improve the quality of classroom teaching. And, we can use that revenue for matching federal dollars. A win-win all the way.

MARS

The Executive Council of the University, in conjunction with the offices of Admissions, Public Relations, Alumni, and Financial Assistance, has established a new student scholarship program to be named the McCracken Alumni Referral Scholarship Program. The University of the Incarnate Word McCracken Alumni Referral Scholarship (MARS) was established with the goal of recognizing UIW alumni as an effective vehicle in the recruitment of new students, and passing on the legacy, while strengthening the connection of our graduates to the university.

UIW alumni will be involved in identifying prospective students who will benefit from an Incarnate Word education and uphold the mission of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. This scholarship is named in honor of Richard McCracken, long time dean of alumni, in recognition of his many years of service and loyalty to UIW and its graduates.

The Guidelines are as follows:

• Any UIW alumni may nominate one (only) student per academic year to receive the $1,000 voucher.
• Student must be a first-time, full-time undergraduate student.
• Voucher is good for first year only and is non-renewable.
• Nominated student must meet university admissions acceptance standards.
• It is preferred that the signed voucher accompanies completed admissions application, but can be forwarded to the Office of Admissions prior to or after official acceptance is issued to student.
• $20 admissions application fee will be waived if voucher accompanies paper application.
• Voucher should include applicant's name and signature of nominating alumnus/a
• Deadline for submission is August 1 for fall 2004.
• Nominated student must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
• UIW employees who are also graduates are eligible to disperse voucher, but not to spouse, son, or daughter receiving tuition benefit.

As a security precaution, the voucher form will be mailed directly to the address of record of the alumni.

UIW ALUMNI TRAVEL TOURS 2004

A random poll of alumni indicated an overwhelming interest in national and international tours. We had a plan, but the booking company went bankrupt and we have not to date been able to find a company to duplicate the schedule for 2004. We may be able to put together a program for the fall of 2004 and spring of 2005. As it happens, alumni will be notified by mail, e-mail and The Word.