Alumni Association News

Letter From the Executive Director

Carry Your Terp Pride

Amy Eichhorst with University of Maryland credit cards.
March 15, 2018

We connect, cultivate and channel the power of alumni to enrich themselves and advance the university.

This isn’t just the mission of the UMD Alumni Association, it’s a guiding principle for how our alumni board leaders and staff operate every day. This mission also leads us to create programming, events and technologies that encourage connections among alumni worldwide.

The Alumni Association hosts hundreds of opportunities every year to keep you connected. In-person and online programs include professional networking, forums featuring faculty, career mentorships and social gatherings. Visit alumni.umd.edu/events to find activities in your area to enhance your relationships and professional development.

I also want to share that the Alumni Association is now launching a Terps Visa Signature Rewards credit card. Virtually everything you purchase on campus—like athletic tickets, Terps gear at the bookstore and registration to Alumni Association events—will earn you up to 10 times the rewards points. Redeem your points for Visa gift cards, exclusive travel and much more through the premium rewards program.

By using the Terps Card, you can demonstrate your Maryland pride while supporting the Alumni Association. The more widespread the card is, the more we can provide mentoring and internship opportunities for students; professional networking and development for alumni; and hundreds of opportunities each year to connect with the university and other Terps in locations around the country.

Please join me in making the Terps Card your card of choice. Learn more at terpscard.com.

Go Terps!

Lifelong Love

Alum Wins “How We Met” Contest

In February, the Alumni Association asked you to share your #TerpLove4Life stories for a chance at winning an exclusive prize package from The Hotel at the University of Maryland. Scores of you stepped forward with your funny, inspiring and sweet how-we-met tales. Congratulations to the contest winner, Sharon Snyder Deutch ’88. Here’s an excerpt from her story:

My husband and I met at a UMD football game in the fall of 1986. Jeff was hoping to give away his ticket, but once he saw me, he decided to stay. During the game, I got up to get popcorn, and I tripped over Jeff’s feet and fell into his lap. We went on our first date on Sept. 27, 1986, dinner and the movie “Children of a Lesser God” (we were both taking a sign language class). After the movie, we walked around the UMD chapel and shared our first kiss. When Jeff graduated a year ahead of me and headed to the University of South Carolina to pursue his MBA, I have never been so sad. But we talked every night for hours and after a year, he transferred to American University to be closer to me. We just celebrated our 26th anniversary and are so very proud that our son Adam is a UMD freshman. We have come back over the years for football and basketball games and of course Maryland Day. But now it feels so much more wonderful to be back on campus. Our daughter Jenna is a junior in high school and the only school she wants to go to is UMD! Without question, we are 100% #TerpLove4Life.

Making the Move

Terp Bound Program Offers Out-of-State Students a Snapshot of the Maryland Community

Moving more than 2,000 miles across the country is no small feat for an 18-year-old, but a welcoming community of Terps can make it easier.

For Marina Kissner ’21, learning about the University of Maryland from alumni in her home state of California at a Terp Bound gathering helped seal her decision to enroll.

“This event showed me that UMD really cares,” Kissner says. “I saw the support offered to out-of-state students.”

A partnership between the Alumni Association and the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, Terp Bound events connect admitted students like Kissner and their families with alumni in six regions. The program includes a presentation on student life and university initiatives and offers students a chance to mingle with alumni.

Admission to Maryland has become increasingly competitive—the university received more than 33,000 applications for the Fall 2018 class of about 4,075—and the Terp Bound program targets students who have been admitted.

In the past year, the Terp Bound program has doubled in size, welcoming 50 to 80 students, family members and alumni in each location, including Big Ten Conference headquarters in Chicago, a terrace overlooking the beach in Ft. Lauderdale and a WeWork space where an alumnus works in Los Angeles. This year, the series added speed-networking table talks with alumni focused on topics ranging from athletics to redevelopment in College Park.

“There is nothing that lights my face up like talking about my student experience,” says Lauren Norris ’11, M.A. ’16, director of student and recent graduate programming for the Alumni Association. “It’s about building a community from the time a student is first admitted to Maryland throughout their lifetime.”

— Daryl Lee Hale, Alumni Association staff