Admissions, Alumni, and More

Last weekend, the CCOM Alumni Association Board of Governors came to our Downers Grove Campus for their annual business meeting. The Alumni Board consists of 16 governors, who represent different geographic regions based on the population of alumni residing in each geographic district. During their meeting, they participated in several functions with current CCOM students, including a lunchtime presentation on campus, the Bridging Ceremony for second-year students, and the Preparing for the Profession event for third- and fourth-year students. CCOM alumni are truly advocates for the students and are interested in finding meaningful ways to connect with students and mentor them in the osteopathic profession.

A few weeks ago, my staff in the Offices of Admissions, Development & Alumni Relations, and Communications & Marketing from both campuses met at our Glendale Campus to discuss our future strategies. We heard presentations from experts in the realms of public relations, campus tours, and alumni relations. We also discussed how we can best update our web site.

Today's guest blog comes from Barb Grassy, the Manager of Special Events at the Glendale Campus. Barb is responsible for managing such events as our golf outing, graduation ceremony, Bright Lights gala, holiday celebrations, and faculty/staff recognition dinner. Last month she helped to coordinate a very unique event, Air Force Medical Day.

As part of the family of higher education, the thoughts and prayers of the Midwestern University community have been with our colleagues at Virginia Tech this week. We watched in horror as the news of the day unfolded and as we learned details of the tragedy. We mourn the loss of 32 innocent students and faculty and celebrate their lives as we learn more about them. It is difficult to understand how this could happen in a place where we expect to be safe. It is an issue our nation will continue to grapple with in the weeks and months ahead. For now, we send our condolences to the families who lost loved ones and our sincere wishes for the recovery and healing of the entire academic community.

The new Recreation & Wellness Center has been open on the Downers Grove Campus for about 6 weeks now. I finally had a chance to walk through it last week. So far, the reviews are very positive.