Alumni Activities Around the World

Dr. Phillip Morrow, PHD ’89 LAS, and his wife, Dr. Suphatcharee Ekasingh Morrow, PHD ’91 ED, pose in Prague. The couple met as graduate students at the University of Illinois. Morrow recently connected with the Japan Illini Club when club leader Hisashi Komine, a graduate of the UI’s Pacific Economy and Trade Association Illinois Business Program, got in touch after recognizing the name of his old UI English tutor while reviewing a list of PETA reunion invitees.

Chancellor Bob Easter hosted an alumni reception in Mumbai, India, on Oct. 8, 2010. The event marked the inauguration of The Illinois Alumni Club of India, the first official University of Illinois alumni chapter established in India. The new chapter is headed by Vivek Damle, PHD ’00 ACES.

Singapore alumni gathered for a luncheon on July 31, 2010. Professor Jimmy Hsia, associate dean of the Graduate College at Illinois, was a special guest. More than 300 alumni currently reside in Singapore. The UI Alumni Association’s Singapore Chapter is committed to uniting Singapore alumni and building close ties with the University of Illinois. For more information about the Singapore Alumni Chapter, visit the group on Facebook.

The University of Illinois Alumni Association, Indonesian chapter, hosted an ifthar dinner in September 2009. The featured speaker was Budi Mulya, MS '85 BUS, who chairs the Indonesian chapter and also serves as Deputy Governor of Bank Indonesia, the central bank of the Republic of Indonesia. In his remarks he showcased the many activities sponsored by the chapter since it was founded in 2006, and he encouraged more alumni to participate. Fifty-two alumni joined the ifthar dinner and shared memorable moments from the Land of Lincoln.

In January 2009, the University of Illinois hosted a gala reception at the Grand Intercontinental Seoul, which attracted more than 220 attendees, including representatives from the UI Alumni Association, Korean Chapter. The program included the closing ceremony of the Technology & Management International Business Case Competition, featuring students from the University of Illinois Hoeft Technology & Management Program (pictured), Seoul National University, Korea University and Hong Kong University of Science & Technology.

The new University of Illinois Alumni Association chapter in Taiwan hosted a gala kickoff weekend in May 2009, which included back-to-back dinners and concerts featuring UI alumni musicians. Proceeds from the two concerts, held at the National Chiang Kai Shek Cultural Center in Taipei, were donated for the benefit of children in rural schools. Pictured from left to right are Chu-Chun Liang, MMUS '04 FAA, AMUSD '07 FAA, pianist and organizer of the concerts; violinist Yao-Tsu Lu, AMUSD '08 FAA; professor Fei Pei Lai, MS '84 ENG, PHD '87 ENG, president of the Taiwan chapter; professor Joyce Yen Feng, MSW '81, PHD '88 SW; and professor Zach Browning, MMUS '77 FAA, AMUSD '80 FAA. The concerts, which are slated to become an annual tradition, featured several original pieces by Browning, currently an associate professor at the UI School of Music.

Graduates of the UI’s PEATA (Pacific Economy & Trade Association)/Illinois Business Program, many of whom are also members of the Japan Illini Club, gather in Tokyo in May 2009 for their first-ever reunion. The PEATA program, which ran from 1977 to 1999, was originally designed to provide Japanese business managers the opportunity to learn more about American business culture. It was eventually expanded to include participants from many countries.

Xin-Yi (Grace) Lee ’08 LAS and her mother Lay-Chin (Elsie) Tan, MS ’92 BUS, members of the UI Alumni Association, Singapore Chapter, attend festivities for the grand opening of the University of Illinois’ first research center outside of the United States. The Singapore chapter was instrumental in organizing the event that launched the UI’s Advanced Digital Sciences Center at Fusionopolis, a science and technology complex developed by Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). View information about the new research center.

Amy Linton ’94 BUS (third from left), leader of the Illinois Alumni Club of the U.K., hosts a table of UI study abroad students at a pub party held as part of a “welcome to London” weekend orientation program. The students were part of a larger contingent of UI students spending the spring 2009 semester in England.

Jesse Delia, the UI’s executive director for international research relations (right), joins alumni and other attendees at a fall 2008 luncheon at the University of Jordan in Amman. The event, held in conjunction with a National Science Foundation nanotechnology conference spearheaded by UI professor of physics Munir Nayfeh, was sponsored by the UI Alumni Association and its alumni chapter in Jordan.

Eighty-two alumni and current students gathered at the Hilton Hotel in Bangkok for the Aug. 16 University of Illinois Thai Student Alumni Dinner. According to Aukrit Unahalekhaka, an Illinois computer science student who helped organize the gathering, turnout exceeded all expectations and plans are already underway for an even bigger event in 2009.

UI President Joe White and Mrs. Mary White posed outside the Royal Yacht Club in Hong Kong with Sophie Lau Leung ’69 LAS and Brian H.T. Leung ’70 ENG, MS ’73 ENG, members of the UI Alumni Association Hong Kong Chapter. The Whites were in Hong Kong for a gala alumni banquet, during a trip that also featured stops for alumni meetings and events in Singapore and Taipei.

Members of the UI Alumni Association Brazilian Chapter gathered at the Sao Paulo Jockey Club for an informal happy hour. The event reunited two classmates who had not seen each other for 30 years. Pictured, left to right, Mateus Andrade ’99 ENG, Luciana Andrade, Luiz Otavio Villela, LLM ’00 LAW, Afonso Colla, MCL ’80 LAW, Ana Maria Pereira, MCL ’77 LAW, Gustavo Villella, MCL ’77 LAW and Frederico Zornig, MBA ’99.

Executives from the Export Import Bank of China who graduated from the UI’s China Executive Leadership Program displayed their Illini pride during a recent visit from campus representatives. Pictured third from left, Dr. Wolfgang Schloer, associate director, office of international programs and studies; and fourth from right, Virginia Waaler ’61 EDU, EDM ’65, director, China Executive Leadership Program.

Abigail Sloan ’75 FAA, whose travel agency, Pumamaki Expeditions, specializes in trips to South America, encountered a very special fellow alumnus during a scouting visit to the Presidential Palace in Quito, Ecuador. Sloan is pictured with Ecuador’s current President, Rafael Correa, MS ’99 LAS, PHD ’01 LAS.