Class of '70, VMI

From VMI Communications and Marketing:

The VMI Foundation and the VMI Keydet Club announced that the number of alumni who made a gift to VMI increased 11.7 percent for the fiscal year that ended June 30 as compared to the previous fiscal year.  Last year, 4,524 alumni made a gift to VMI; this year, 528 more alumni joined the ranks of those who support VMI, boosting the number over 5,000 to 5,052.

This increase also means that the percentage of alumni who supported VMI also increased. Last year, the 4,524 alumni donors represented 35.34 percent of all alumni; the 5,052 alumni donors in the just-ended budget year represented 38.82 percent of all alumni.

Of special note within the participation figures is a 67-percent increase in alumni donors to the Keydet Club. Spurred by its “75th Anniversary Challenge,” in which alumni and friends were asked to donate $75 in support of VMI athletics in recognition of the 75th anniversary of the Keydet Club’s founding, 3,135 participants made gifts to the Keydet Club Scholarship Fund and the Athletic Operations Fund during the year. Of these participants, 1,925 were new donors who were not members of the Keydet Club last fiscal year; they accounted for more than $344,000 of new gifts.

Read the rest of the article here.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine appointed two new members and reappointed two serving members to the VMI Board of Visitors.

New members are Gen. John P. Jumper, retired Chief of Staff of the Air Force and resident of Burke, Va., and Kimber L. Latsha, a founding principal of Latsha, Davis, Yohe & McKenna, P.C., a law firm headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pa. Reappointed to the board were Elizabeth Lee Camp of Richmond and Marshall Mundy of Roanoke.

See the VMI News Web site for full article.

Article about Army Gen. David H. Petraeus’ commencement address on the VMI website here.

My copy came yesterday, and I forgot to give you all the link. The latest Institute Report is on line. Just follow the link.

You can get notified electronically of its publication (usually long before it arrives in the mail). Go here to sign up.

April edit:  The March edition is on line, too.  Go here for the March report.

Remember the days when all we heard was “poor VMI — they are out of their league,” and similar comments.  Check out Mike Miller’s article on MSNBC, Big Dance Could’ve Used High-Scoring VMI.  It’s quite a different outlook. Good read….

Army General David H. Petraeus, Commander of U.S. Central Command, will deliver the commencement address on 16 May.

“I am honored to accept the invitation and look forward to what I know will be a great event,” General Petraeus said in his letter accepting the invitation to speak at commencement. “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to thank VMI’s faculty and cadets for their service when I join you for Commencement ceremonies this spring.”

Complete article at VMI Communications website here.

Band Heads For Mardi Gras in Mobile

The VMI Regimental Band and Pipe Band will march and perform in concert Feb. 21-24 at the Mardi Gras in Mobile. Mention Mardi Gras and most people think New Orleans and its famed French Quarter. However, Mobile’s Mardi Gras is the older of the two celebrations, dating all the way back to 1704 when the future Alabama port city was a colony of French soldiers.

The Regimental Band will be in action the culminating Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, when the cadets will march in four parades and participate in the Patriotic Opener Concert at the Civic Center. Finally, on Fat Tuesday (Feb. 24), the Band will be a featured unit in one of the biggest of the parades at noon. before returning to Lexington later that afternoon.

Read more at the VMI Communications site.