PSU Magazine Fall 1987

-----·NEWSMAKER·----- Back on campus by Cynthia D. Stowell I t was while Portland State's 1967 Homecoming Queen was back on campus to celebrate the 20-year revival of the fall tradition that the memorable words were spoken. "Stay close to the University," PSU President Natale Sicuro told Mary Lou Webb ('69, '73 MS). The words reson– ated in Webb's head and she knew things had changed. A year later, Webb is back on cam– pus full-time as Director of Alumni Affairs. For Webb, a circle has closed. Through the years, Webb had returned to PSU for an occasional football game and athletic auction and had stayed in touch with her fellow rally squad members. But, like her classmates, she was busy with her career and her family, busy "looking to the future ," she said. "At twenty years, though, you begin looking fondly at past experiences," reflected Webb. "The value and mean– ing of your college years starts coming around." But it wasn't nostalgia that brought Mary Lou Webb back to PSU in a pro– fessional capacity. "There is an excitement building at Portland State," she observed. "There is an identity here thatjust needs to be developed and it will mushroom." Alumni can play a big part in that, Webb believes. "Portland State Uni– versity is about people, and as alumni we represent what this University stands for. We do it in our businesses, in teaching and in being parents. Because of that we can be effective recruiters, developers and emissaries." The University should be a resource to its alumni, too, feels Webb. "We are here to help alumni have a lifelong experience with the University," she said. To that end, Webb is developing new programs that should be both stimulating and fun for alumni. Particularly interested in profes– sional development, Webb plans to organize courses and workshops tailored to alumni needs. Special con– ference days might bring alumni back to campus to explore topics such as stress control, financial management or interpersonal relations in the workplace. Webb also believes that PSU alumni and students have a lot to offer each other. Through a kind of "career forum," alumni could become men– tors to students, offering career advice while cultivating recruitment prospects. PSU MAGAZINE PAGE 10 New Director ofAlumni Affairs Mary Lou Webb ('69, '73MS) in front of Lincoln Hall ("Old Main"); and, above, as rally squad captain in 1967. The fact that a majority of PSU alumni live in the Portland area is a great advantage for programs like these, feels Webb, but there will also be an effort to involve alumni who have left the area. A network of alumni representatives will be set up around the U.S. and the world as a way for alumni to stay in touch with each other and with PSU. An alumni board that has been assembled to advise the Alumni Affairs office will meet for the first time this month. "We want to hear alumni's ideas and feelings on our goals and directions," said Webb. "But we don 't want to limit our ideas to just these people. We want everybody involved." Recognizing that PSU's alumni pop– ulation tends to be as non-traditional