It seems September comes around more quickly each year and the group of incoming freshmen look younger.

I always wonder where the summer has gone until I think back on all the alumni events that have taken place and the new acquaintances and current friends I've seen.

It was a busy summer for the Alumni Association, as we were involved with a record number of events, both regionally and on campus. Along with our traditional outings, some new and exciting events were conducted, representing a wide range of alumni activities.

The entire Muncie community celebrated the 25th birthday of Ball State's most famous honorary alumnus, Garfield the Cat. Several reunions took place on the homefront. The annual 50-year reunion welcomed back the class of 1953 in June, and the Black Alumni Society hosted its seventh biennial reunion in August.

Meanwhile, we coordinated special athletic team reunions and our first-ever journalism media alumni reunion. Along with the on-campus events, our alumni were also involved in Ball State activities off-campus, with baseball outings, golf events, symphonies, picnics, and tours.

In addition to offering varied activities for our alumni, we also have begun to add new ways to better communicate with our alumni. We currently have 25,218 alumni e-mail addresses and have been sending an e-newsletter, News from the Cardinals Nest, on a monthly basis to those individuals.

If you are not receiving the e-newsletter, we encourage you to let us know your e-mail address by contacting us at alumni1@bsu.edu or by filling out the alumni registry at www.bsu.edu/alumni, as have 8,843 other Ball State alumni.

An Alumni Involvement Index was developed to measure our success at reaching individual alumni.

During calendar year 2002, the Alumni Association had significant involvement with 46,558 different alumni. Since part of our motto is to involve alumni with Ball State University, this is an achievement of which the volunteer alumni leadership of the BSUAA and staff are both pleased and proud.

This summer also produced some challenges for the BSUAA. The Alumni Council, our governing body, faced a mid-year revenue reduction for calendar year 2003 of $95,000 (6.7%). Thankfully, with some re-allocation of funds and reduction of operations, all current programs and staff have been able to be retained.

Budget concerns have reverberated throughout the university community, as general tuition increased for all students and many departments on campus faced funding challenges. The most public of these concerns was intercollegiate athletics.

The desire to balance the budget while continuing to provide competitive, quality athletic programs produced a great deal of publicity and discussion. Please see Glenn Augustine's story on page 26 of this issue of the Alumnus for a detailed description on the plan and how Ball State is moving forward for academic year 2004-05.

At its June meeting, the Alumni Council passed a resolution to support the university's position for the future of athletics and to maintain alumni relations with all alumni athletes, regardless of their sport.

With our successes continuing while we face our challenges head-on, please allow me to thank you! Your investment in Ball State of time, talent, and treasures is both appreciated and greatly respected. I encourage your continued participation and involvement.

On behalf of the BSUAA staff, may I say it is our pleasure to both engage you in Ball State University and to serve you.

Check out our Web site at www.bsu.edu/alumni for information and activities. I look forward to visiting with you when you return to campus!

Happy Days!

by Edwin D. Shipley

Edwin D. Shipley, '68MA71, is executive director of the Ball State University Alumni Association.