Hello Fellow UCSD Alumni!

Did you know that there are over 5,000 UCSD alumni in Orange County? We admit that we assumed there must be lots of alumni in the county closest to San Diego, but hadn’t really given it much thought until we were first approached about becoming founding members of a brand new Orange County Chapter of the UCSD Alumni Association back in 2004. Frankly, it seemed crazy that there hadn’t been an Orange County chapter for years!

Fortunately, there was a great core group of other alumni that were just as excited at starting our own chapter as we were. As of this month, our chapter is now three years old – and what a full three years it’s been! With great advice and support from the full time Alumni Association staff in La Jolla, we learned what kind of events the dozen or so other chapters had found successful (and just plain fun). In addition to career networking and professional mixers, we’ve also cheered on the Anaheim Angels and marveled at the wonder that is the Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach.

But probably the two events that we find the most exciting are those that celebrate the efforts of our recent graduates, and that offer encouragement to our newest freshman students. This September will mark the fourth year we have had the pleasure of meeting over 150 new UCSD students and their families, before starting this new part of their lives. Even before that, though, we will soon be welcoming home UCSD’s newest Orange County-based graduates at our New Grads Mixer on Tuesday, July 24th. Not only do we get to hear a bit of what is happening at our old stomping grounds, but we may also be able to connect these newest UCSD alumni to valuable professional contacts – and isn’t offering that kind of help what being an alum is all about?

If you would like to join us for any of these events, please be sure that the Alumni Association in La Jolla has your current email address, and keep an eye out for the Orange County Campus Loop, or for the event emails. Our young chapter has much to celebrate this year, and I hope that many of you will be with us at our upcoming events to celebrate with us.

Best always,

Jennifer Lee-Anderson '94

Orange County Chapter President

Eric Gainey '93

Orange County Chapter Vice President

UCSD Alumni Association