The First Online Board Meeting
Feb. 5, 2001
[Read
the minutes of this meeting.]
[View
more photos.]
 WNUR-FM,
a leader in Internet media streaming originating from
the School of Speech at Northwestern University, held
its first-ever "virtual alumni meeting."
The WNUR Alumni Organization, met
Feb. 5, 2001 on the Northwestern Campus to complete its
organizational structure. The Alumni, from all Schools
of the University, and spanning years from 1962 to 1995,
met in Annie May Swift Hall - and all across the country
via the Internet.
 From
the beginning, the organization recognized that much as
Northwestern is a national university, so was the WNUR
Alumni board. It is composed of 55 of the approximately
5,000 WNUR alumni - and they live across the country and
have successful careers on national scale. Therefore,
the WNUR Alumni Board sought to incorporate the entire
national alumni board in a meaningful way. The first
step was to develop committees on a national basis,
including both east coast and west coast activity
committees. The second step was taken by beginning to
hold national meetings.
WNUR partnered with Microsoft and
their MSN service to open a national live chat room.
Stuart Rivchun (Speech '76), of Microsoft, arranged the
necessary technology from MSN, and Professor Rick Morris
set up the technology in Evanston. Discussion from
alumni around the country was fast and furious. Scott
Case (CAS '93), provided the interface to and from the
web. Eleven alums attended in Evanston and five checked
in from around the country - from Los Angeles to Ohio.
The use of "chat" software
made the event accessible to most alumni. Such software
will run on most computers and is available for free
download.
The discussion from the alumni
outside of the meeting room significantly shaped and
influenced the course of the meeting. The use of the
virtual meeting technology created a sense of community
and belonging - it created a connectedness that
permitted old friends to reminisce. One alum even
reminded his program director from the 1970's about
their differences in music choices.
Alumni in attendance: Steve Rudolph,
Alumni President (Speech '75), Linda Dillman (Speech
'63), Toni Boyle (flew in from Los Angeles. Speech '62),
Jack Minkow (speech '68), Mijke Roggeveen,
Bob Rodenkirk (UC), Walter Podrazik (Speech '74),
Don Jacobson (WCAS '75), Anne Vandervort Purky (Speech
'75), Jonathan Lehrer (Speech '75), Scott Case (WCAS
'93); and
Via Internet: Lisa Elliott (Speech
'90), John Wennstrom (Speech '73), Michael Schneider (Medill
'95), Rob Olsen (Speech '80), Stuart Rivchun (Speech
'76), Future Alumni Kevan Harris (WCAS '01), and Brian
Nemorowski (Medill '03).
While this was good, by the next
meeting WNUR will be able to stream a video signal to
those alums who want to watch the meeting in-progress.
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