Highlights

Members of the Illinois Alumni Club of Italy joined alumni and friends traveling with a UIAA EXPLORERS tour for a reception at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Rome, followed by dinner at Casa Mia Restaurant. Among the guests of honor was Japan's Ambassador to Rome (and former UI International Alumni Achievement Award recipient) Nobuko Matsubara, MA '69 LIR. Pictured, left to right, are UIAA Vice President and Associate Chancellor for Alumni Relations Barbara Hundley, and Paolo Farese, MCL '83 LAW, Italian club leader.

Members of the Illinois Alumni Club of Hong Kong hosted a reception and dinner at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club in January for visiting UI dignitaries, including Chancellor and Mrs. Richard Herman. Sophie Leung '69 LAS, a 2002 recipient of the University of Illinois Alumni Achievement Award, is pictured delivering remarks at the gathering. She and husband, Brian Leung '70 ENG, MS '73 ENG co-hosted the event, along with Geoffrey Yeh '53 ENG, Kenneth Ting '68 ENG, James Tien '69 ENG, Ronald Chao, MS '64 ENG, and Lowell Chang '66 ENG.

The Illinois Alumni Club of Cairo rolled out the welcome mat for students from the Global Ambassadors program at the UI College of ACES who were making a spring semester study tour of Egypt. "The Egyptian alumni were true inspirations to the students," said senior Adam Schwartz, pictured at left experiencing his first camel ride. "They really demonstrated how a degree from Illinois can lead someone to become the founder of a multi-national corporation, a professor at a world-renowned university or even the prime minister of Egypt!"

Members of the Japan Illini Club truly set their sights high during a summer club outing, scaling the peak of Mt. Fuji. Pictured flying the Illini flag proudly at sunrise are, from left, Shiro Hara, MS '82 ENG, Kyoko Ishikawa, MBA '00, John Sledge, MBA '00 and Kosuke Furutachi, MBA '01.

A number of countries do not yet have organized clubs, but are represented by individual networking contacts, and these alumni volunteers have been have been busy this year, answering queries from alumni, students, faculty and friends of the University who need information about a particular country or would simply like to connect with fellow alumni around the world. Uzbekistan networking contact Angella Deters Crane '02 LAS is pictured with her fellow UI graduates (left to right) Adim Yousif '00 ENG and Thomas J. Green, JD '93 LAW, posing in full Illini regalia at Karshi-Khanabad Airbase. Other networking contacts, such as Joe Ingram '76 BUS in the Virgin Islands and Maria Elizabeth O'Connor in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, brought alumni together to cheer on the Fighting Illini men's basketball team this spring. In Germany, networking contact Jane Baer '85 LAS coordinated a "College Day" for Hanau American High School on New Argonner Kaserne (base) in Hanau, Germany, providing the American students living abroad with a much-appreciated opportunity to visit booths representing 22 U.S. universities, including the U of I.

Domestic clubs were represented on the international scene this year, as well. Members of the Illini Club of Utah — including club leader Larry Houtz, MS '77 FAA, at left in the photo — traveled together to Austria, holding their own Illini gamewatch in Salzburg on the afternoon of the Illini men's basketball NCAA Championship appearance.