A L U M N I N U M B C E L E B R A T I N G ... - Mines Magazine

ByRUSSELL H. VOLK. "26Chairman, Membership CommiHeeThe Alumni Council can hest beexplained that it is a super governingbody for the school and its Alumni.It covers the entire field of the ColoradoSchool of Mines. Its membershipis composed of the members ofthe Board of Trustees, President,Dean and representatives from theFaculty of the School; the Presidentof the Student Body of the School;the officers, members of the ExecutiveCommittee and Chairmen of theStanding Committees of the AlumniAssociation. The deliberation anddiscussion of this body affords anopportunity for representatives ofthose four vitally interested parties,the Trustees, tbe Faculty, the StudentBody and the Alurani, to exchangeideas, viewpoints and opinionsin order to determine policies. TheTrustees represent the viewpoint ofthe State and its citizens; the Facultypresents ideas tinged with tbe intellectual,cultural and idealogical backgroundof the academician; StudentBody representatives contribute theenthusiasm of youth with all the hopesof the future and the contribution ofthe Alumni must necessarily be basedupon the practical viewpoint of thoseengaged in professional and businesscareers. Yet from all these diverseideas thrown into the round-table discussionsthere emerges policies andprograms acceptable to all and capableof being transformed into an expressionof service.markable body.Tbis is truly a re­The Council was organized forthe purpose of co-ordinating all thework, functions and activities of theschool and Alumni, so that completecooperation and efficiency could beobtained in the administration of theprograms and the setting forth of thepolicies of the school and its Alumni.Its primary objective was tbe creationof a practical working body to buildthe C S M foundation for theadequately endowing of the school.The general nature of the work oftbe Alumni Council necessitates thatit be held in confidence and for thatreason it is only possible to report onits activities from a general standpoint.It should be sufficient to saythat a systematic investigation is beingcarried out by the Council of allfoundations, groups or individualswho are directly or indirectly interestedin the mineral industries for theexpress purpose of interesting them inthe needs of the Colorado School ofMines.The first raeeting of the Councilwas held March 27th, 1936 and forthe first year tbe Council met oncein every three months. However, thework of the Council during tbe firstyear was found to be of such greatvalue it was decided to hold theCouncil meetings regularly once everymonth, except during the suraraermonths, so for the past three years totbe present time the Council has beenmeeting regularly once a month.It has heen stated tbe startling successof the school during tbe pastthree j'ears dates from the time ofthe inception of the Alumni Council.That is probably stating it too strongly,but there is not any question theCouncil has been a definite andpowerful force in the rapid growth ofthe school during the past four years.The remarkable success of Minesathletic teams during the past yearhad its birth in the intelligentplanning and well directed programadopted by the Council over threeJ'ears ago.When your newlj' elected President,Mr. E. J. Brook, of LosAngeles, California, visited Denverat homecoming in October 1939 heattended a meeting of the AlumniCouncil. His comment on this groupis worthy of including in this articleand I quote from Mr. Brook."I know of no single group whichcreated a more favorable impressionon my recent visit in Denver at homecomingthan did the Alumni Council.Since its formation, various merabershad written me enthusiastic reportsconcerning tbe work of this organizationwhich aroused not only my interestbut curiosity as well. It was subsequentlymy pleasure to attend oneof your meetings as a guest. Thismeeting not only confirmed the reasonsfor all of the enthusiastic commentswhich had previouslj' reachedme, but was a revelation and a sourceof inspiration to me as well. Uponless emotional and more objective reflection,the realization of the tremendouspotential power for servicepossessed by this group was almostoverwhelming in its portent."Once every month at the ArgonautHotel in Denver the representativesof every departraent of the School andits Alurani meet for the expresspurpose of building our great mineralengineering school of the future.188 THE MINES MAGAZINE ^ APRIL 1940THE MINES MAGAZINE ^ APRIL 1940 189