A message from Donna Castellone, President,
SHTM Chapter of the Stony Brook Alumni Association

Dear Fellow Alumni,

I am honored to join Dean Lehmann in welcoming you to the first electronic version of our alumni newsletter. On behalf of the SHTM Chapter Board of Directors, we hope you find this method of communication both informative and enjoyable, and will take advantage of it to stay in touch with us, the school and each other.  Our board has worked closely with representatives of the SHTM Alumni Development Committee and members of the HSC Advancement Team to develop an alumni web site that will be updated bi-annually in order to provide you with the most recent information about school and alumni related events.  We are proud to  make this available to you, and  are most excited about hearing from you, so please keep us informed  about  the  latest happenings in your life too!.  

During the past year, the SHTM Chapter, which is devoted entirely to alumni of the School of Health Technology and Management, has continued with its mission   to promote the health care professions in general, and to specifically recognize the importance of our students, who are the future of health care.  We have increased our general membership in the chapter, and held several socials throughout the past year to encourage students to join the chapter prior to graduation.  These socials have proven to be successful venues for educating students about the benefits of chapter membership and to encourage them to maintain a relationship with us long after the strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” have faded.

It was a pleasure to see so many of you at Homecoming 2005, and we hope you enjoyed the game as well as the festivities.  We’ve earned a place in the hearts of Homecoming attendees, who recognize us for the beautiful and creative gift baskets used in our fund raising efforts.  Homecoming 2006 will be held on October 7; be sure to check the website for further details, and then make plans to stop by and visit us in the tent!  For those of you who may not be aware, monies raised at this event are used to fund our annual Alumni Scholarship. The $500 award is presented to a graduating SHTM senior at the Annual Salute to the Graduates, held the night prior to convocation; our 2005 winner was respiratory care student, Anu Markose.  Applications will be available shortly for the Class of 2006 scholarship.

In compliance with our by-laws, our general meeting was held in March 2005; in addition to the reports offered by the chapter officers, elections were also held.   I am pleased to welcome our newest members of the board, Lynn Timko-Swaim (PA ’92); Maria Tsivitis (MT ’84) and Anthony Goubadia (PA ’74).  I would like to take this opportunity to invite all of you to attend our 2006 general meeting, which will be held on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 at 6:30 pm in the SHTM large conference room, located in the HSC, level 2, room 408. At that time, we will hold elections for the positions of president and vice president, as well as three “at large” positions.  It has been a tremendous honor for me to serve as president during the formative years of the chapter, and I look forward to continued involvement with such an energetic and exciting group.  I encourage all of you to consider joining us on March 29, whether you are interested in a position on the board or   just want to reconnect and offer your input or make suggestions. We will continue to grow and be successful only with your continued support and participation!  To RSVP to this invitation, kindly e-mail chorgan@notes.cc.sunysb.edu, and we hope to see you there!