Dear Wabash Friends:

As I prepare this Volunteer Honor Roll, I am thinking back over a very busy year, a sometimes frantic year, grateful for the opportunity to pause and say thanks to each and every individual who committed some of his, or her, time to Wabash.  More than 4,000 times last year, a Wabash alumnus, friend, or parent said “Yes, I’ll help.”  In some cases help was a crucial piece of information, a contact name perhaps, provided by a Wabash alumnus to Scott Crawford in the Schroeder Center for Career Development, opening a door for a student to spend a summer exploring a career option.  Sometimes help required a bigger commitment of time, a morning spent with young men in the top 10% of their classes, hearing about Wabash from alumni in their own communities – or a golf game played with a graduating senior who wanted to learn how to conduct “business” on the golf course.  And sometimes, it was an even bigger commitment, like that made by members of the National Association of Wabash men, returning to campus at their own expense three times each year, representing all alumni and finding ways to involve them in the lives of students and this institution.  (See links to volunteer lists at the bottom of this page.)

We know how important volunteers are to the Admissions effort; without your referrals, you representing us at College Fairs, your simple phone call to the family of a wavering prospect, making the match and closing the deal with prospective students would be much more difficult.  We know that Wabash men put together spectacular reunions; witness the enthusiasm Jim Millikin and his classmate volunteers brought to the job of bringing back members of the Class of 1968, resulting in a record 80 classmates attending their 40th reunion this year!  We’re grateful to men like Steve Goldsmith’68, Max Servies’58, Rick Gunderman ’83, and each of the other Big Bash Colloquium speakers for sharing their life stories and challenging us to think about issues important to them.

Sometimes the volunteers in our midst are nearly invisible – the scorekeepers and timers at the basketball games, the alumni who greet parents of new freshman on that first Saturday, the fraternity advisers who show up here in moments of crisis.  I am awed by the number of Wabash attorneys (and their attorney spouses!) who come here not just once, but several times, in the fall to tutor our Moot Court participants, again to judge them in preliminary rounds, and once more to fete them at the Awards dinner.  These are often the same individuals who return in the spring to attend the Peck Awards Dinner, honoring outstanding achievement by our pre-law students.  And these attorneys don’t even bill us!

While our 16% volunteer participation rate is quite good, there is always room for improvement.  Wabash students learn early that they stand on the shoulders of giants.  You are those giants. We trust that you will continue to mentor, inspire, support, and nurture Wabash students with your volunteer time.  They – and all of us on campus – are grateful!

Sincerely,

Nancy J. Doemel
Senior Advancement Officer and
Coordinator of Volunteer Services

National Association of Wabash Men
The National Association of Wabash Men (NAWM) is the alumni association of Wabash College to which all alumni, as defined by the College, are members. The NAWM Board of Directors is the Association’s governing body whose mission is to help facilitate integration of the College’s alumni, students, administration, parents, faculty, and friends in order to help the Association achieve its goals and ultimately help the College achieve its mission of “educating men to think critically, act responsibly, lead effectively, and live humanely.”

NAWM 2007-2008 Board of Directors

NAWM 2007-2008 Regional Associations

Volunteers of Time and Talent
Admissions

Career Services

Community

Fundraising

General Alumni Affairs

Lilly Quality of Life Grant

Lilly Opportunity for Educational Collaboration

Presidential Inaugurations

Sons of Wabash

Strategic Planning

Student Life

Teaching and Learning

Varsity Sports

Wabash Magazine Editorial Board

Wabash Magazine Volunteer Contributors

Board of Trustees