YAM April 2003 - News from AYA

Worth Auxier '61, past president of his Yale club, raises goats in rural Florida.

Alumni Fellows Volunteer Service At the Highest Levels

The Yale Corporation, the principal governing body of the University, is composed of 19 individuals known as Fellows, who meet to set policies and goals for the University. Fellows serve on committees of the Corporation, meeting regularly with administrators to prepare recommendations for Corporation action. The administration calls on Fellows frequently for advice and counsel. Becoming a Fellow means taking on a major responsibility to the University; those who do so are among Yale's most devoted volunteers.

Six Alumni Fellows join ten Successor Fellows, the President of the University, and the governor and lieutenant governor of Connecticut (both ex officio) as members of the Yale Corporation. The Alumni Fellows serve staggered six-year terms so that each year alumni have the opportunity to choose a new Alumni Fellow from among the candidates nominated by the Standing Committee of the AYA for the Nomination of Alumni Fellows. The committee welcomes suggestions for future nominations from all alumni.

This year, three candidates are standing for election; all have served Yale faithfully as volunteers:
Jeffrey Powell Koplan '66, Atlanta, GA
Angela Barron McBride '64MSN, Indianapolis, IN
Pauline Ann Schneider '77JD, Washington, DC

Ballots with full biographies of the candidates were mailed in March. Exercise your right to select a Yale Corporation Alumni Fellow. The ballot box closes at noon on May 25, 2003.

News From the AYA
We Have to Try Harder

April 2003
by Worth Auxier '61

If you're a small club like the Yale Club of Gainesville, you have to be creative to get respectable turnouts for club events. You also have to be budget-conscious.

So, over the past five years, we have "themed" our twice-a-year, covered-dish events, hoping to offer enough variety to keep our members challenged, as well as looking for new recipes and "collectabilia." For example, we've done chili fests with prizes -- Yale mugs -- for the most creative, the least likely to disturb, the hottest, and the best overall. We have had "Brunch on the Lawn" with a kitchen paraphernalia contest and awarded prizes -- more mugs, always more mugs! -- for the oldest, most unique, most "moderne," and best in show.

Then there was the "Mad Hatters Brunch" with prizes for the largest, smallest, oldest, and most unique hats. We did "In Vino Veritas" and indulged our love of wine and cheese. "Sounds of Spring" was a brunch that featured a musical instrument contest and offered prizes for the oldest (grandad's violin), most unusual (a noise-maker crafted from goat-hooves), and most exotic (a bamboo, saxophone-like instrument called a xaphoon); at the gathering, we also awarded a prize for the best player.

We had a Creole Fest and Oktoberfest, both with mug and stein contests for the largest, smallest, oldest, and most unusual. At Oktoberfest, we splurged on the musical talents of "Angeline the Polka Queen" to resounding acclaim. Our "Compleat Tourist" theme brought travel memorabilia from all over the world. We recognized the oldest, funniest, most exotic, and most peculiar.

More recently, we held an outdoor Shrimp Fest with a collector plate contest. The oldest, most historical, most humorous, and most unusual plates were awarded, yes, mugs. And we enjoyed the strains of Scottish and Irish ballads performed by another local band. (The Cajun band was busy.)

All of our events are informal, inexpensive, and have been opportunities for our members to show off their "stuff" as well as their delightful peculiarities. While our club may be small, we enjoy our regular get-togethers. The Yale Club of Gainesville has a roster of just over 200, representing alumni in an eight-county area of North Central Florida. About 80 percent live in Alachua County, and most of those reside in Gainesville where the University of Florida is located. We have 35 dues-paying members, of whom 25 to 30 show up for our social events. Four of our members have courageously made their homes available for our events. We have yet to destroy any of them.

So if you live far from the major metropolitan areas and the larger Yale clubs, check with the AYA to see if there is a small club in your area. We may be just as entertaining and full of life as the larger Yale clubs. And if the small club in your area has not been very active due to lack of resources, I hope you can take away some ideas for inexpensive, yet fun, ways for alumni to come together.

AYA Contact: Information on the AYA and its programs is available by sending an e-mail to aya@yale.edu, writing to Rose Alumni House, Box 209010, New Haven, CT 06520-9010, or phoning (203) 432-2586.

This space is made available to the Association of Yale Alumni by the Yale Alumni Magazine.

Yale Alumni Magazine, PO Box 1905, New Haven, CT 06509-1905. USA.
yam@yale.edu