Dr. Heckler to visit Fort Wayne for Valpo Club luncheon

[FWalum]

Very excited that President Heckler is coming to Fort Wayne for a Valpo Club luncheon on September 20th.  I have attached an image of the invitation that should be showing up in some local media.

Registration Link

[vu72]

Very excited that President Heckler is coming to Fort Wayne for a Valpo Club luncheon on September 20th.  I have attached an image of the invitation that should be showing up in some local media.

Registration Link

You may be excited but as of today the community sure isn't.  The registration list shows 12 non-Valpo staff currently listed as registered. 12 days to go.

[FWalum]

Yes, extremely embarrassed by this low registration.  I have been trying very hard to get local alumni to respond.  I put the information in the Community section of the local papers, also in the Fort Wayne Lutheran Fort Wayne Lutheran page 12, sent emails for bulletin inserts to 36 churches, Alumni staff has sent emails and will actually start a phone campaign next week. We purchased the university and have a ton of alumni, but not sure how interested we are in maintaining that relationship. Very sad.

[vufan75]

FWalum...can you update us how the luncheon went? Any new info from MH?

The below link was on twitter from VU.
Fort Wayne alumni shared lunch with President Heckler on 9/20. Want to be there next time? Follow our calendar at https://t.co/UJfAzkl2hx https://t.co/yogPN9nGV6

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[VULB#62]

Isn't this symptomatic of a general malaise of the average Valpo alumnus?  There are  many vibrant Valpo fans, but they are, IMO, a minority.

Part of that is that, as students, again IMO, our graduates just haven't gotten into school spirit as undergraduates. How many times have we seen posts deploring the lack of student participation in games at the ARC. Compare that to places like Duke, ND, BYU, or Michigan. Rabid students = Rabid alumni. And it all starts at the undergraduate level. Intense memories of alma mater after graduation intensify as we grow older. But I don't see that happening. And, eventually, that extends to alumni financial support.

How do we change that?  It starts at the top and is infused throughout the strata of the university.  I am a graduate of an OP Kretzman Valpo. That man was at every major athletic event and he was a feature.  In the.
Bartow 60s,  Hiltop was jammed midweek with 4,000 fans - mostly students.  Brown Field had upwards of 5000-6000 at games. I would be willing to wager that one of the most involved alumni demographics today is that group of alumni.

Valpo has a responsibility to itself. It is to find every way possible to encourage the spirit I am referring to.

[crusadermoe]

That Valpo alumni MALAISE idea is interesting.  My sense is that continuity and momentum are helpful in building an attendance steadily.   

Other than the "campaign events," I wonder which cities have had good events lately? You see a few "Valpo Club of x city" hosting an x event on the alumni page, but not nearly as many as you would think. 

Hopefully, each "Valpo Club has a goal for recruitment, for alumni job referrals, or some other measurable.  I am guessing the clubs have officers or something like that.  Do any of you know whateents/gatherings other than basketball may have happened in key Valpo cities in the last five or six years?...or further back?
 
We haven't seen much here in for a long time. I've been too busy to pay any attention.

[crusadermoe]

i hear lots of crickets.  Just wondered.  Fyi, I see a listing of "Valpo Clubs" on the alumni page and one alumni event set in 2017-2018 (in Detroit). 

However, there is a "club" concept and it looks like 4 events per year is a goal.  Click on Minnesota and you see an August 4 post:

"Looking for volunteers! Please comment if you are interested in helping to plan the following: 1. Viewing Parties/Happy Hours 2. Family Picnic/Park Outings 3. Sporting Events or Official Valpo Events and 4. Any kind of Networking Event or Random Entertainment Evening Out (Comedy Club, Quiz/Trivia Night @ a pub or brewery, Networking/Resume Reviewing, etc. ) We are hoping to have at least 2 people work on each item with the university and plan to have 1 event/season (4/year) moving forward with the club so folks have plenty of opportunity to get involved. Tag your friends!

[valpotx]

I am the leader of the Valpo Club of DFW.  I can definitely attest that it is difficult to get more than 30-35 people to each of our events, but we obviously don't have the Valpo alumni population that most Midwestern cities would have.

[FWalum]

FWalum...can you update us how the luncheon went? Any new info from MH?

The below link was on twitter from VU.
Fort Wayne alumni shared lunch with President Heckler on 9/20. Want to be there next time? Follow our calendar at https://t.co/UJfAzkl2hx https://t.co/yogPN9nGV6

Sorry, I didn't respond earlier.

The event was very nice and it was nice to spend some one on one time with President Heckler. The staff and I did all that we could to get people to the event, but it was not very well attended and quite frankly I was embarrassed that more alumni did not attend.  Perhaps it was the fact that it was a workday luncheon as a number of people and teachers were not able to get away at that time.

Much of what the President told us has already been discussed on this board.  Perhaps one tidbit that he gave was about renovation to the baseball field, I believe that they have a significant donor stepping forward to make some significant changes.  The Law School was discussed and I am afraid that the news is not good. As I wrote in a previous post about the HL lawsuit, he gave us the complete story on the situation which was then printed in the paper several days later.

I have not always been a fan of the more liberal direction the school has taken recently, but I can say that President Heckler's heart is in the right place. One question from the group asked how he personally felt being the President of a Christian school and during his answer, he started to choke up when telling us that it was his life's fulfillment to lead the university.  He and I discussed the fact that many LCMS Fort Wayne Lutherans no longer feel a connection to the school and that recruitment at Concordia Lutheran High School is not where I would like it to be.  We agreed to look into recruitment issues and he offered to have the LCMS Campus Pastor talk to some of the pastors here in town. 

I could go on, but I am really unsure as to where to draw the line. Suffice it to say that I was unhappy that the attendance was low, but then I certainly got to spend more time getting to know President Heckler.

[vu72]

Perhaps one tidbit that he gave was about renovation to the baseball field, I believe that they have a significant donor stepping forward to make some significant changes. 

I spoke with John Kuka yesterday and he confirmed that there is a plan in place to spend over a million on the baseball field including artificial turf in the infield, paved parking and repositioning the dugouts.  Running fiber under Sturdy Rd is also part of the plan, as viewing all sports on cable is a Missouri Valley requirement.

[VULB#62]

Perhaps one tidbit that he gave was about renovation to the baseball field, I believe that they have a significant donor stepping forward to make some significant changes.

I spoke with John Kuka yesterday and he confirmed that there is a plan in place to spend over a million on the baseball field including artificial turf in the infield, paved parking and repositioning the dugouts.  Running fiber under Sturdy Rd is also part of the plan, as viewing all sports on cable is a Missouri Valley requirement.

Great moves for Em Bauer Field.  That artificial turf infield was so needed.

[vufan75]

Question? Doesn't the athletics strategic plan include moving the baseball field from Eastgate to main campus athletic area. I did not look today b4 asking, but seem to recall that from board discussion several years ago. If so why spend a million dollars in an area that is not going to be the long-term future home of baseball?

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[78crusader]

Question? Doesn't the athletics strategic plan include moving the baseball field from Eastgate to main campus athletic area. I did not look today b4 asking, but seem to recall that from board discussion several years ago. If so why spend a million dollars in an area that is not going to be the long-term future home of baseball?

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The long term plan DOES call for relocation of the baseball field, but we are talking LOOOOOONG term plan here.  The cost of relocating the field, which would involve demolition of Kroencke and Dickmeyer Halls, has been estimated to be somewhere between $8 and $10 million.  There is zero chance the university will spend those kind of bucks in the near term.

Paul

[vufan75]

Thanks for the explanation Paul.

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[valpo64]

I would think that renovations to the ARC would take precedence to spending alot of money on the baseball complex.

[crusader05]

A whole lot would have to happen before the baseball field would be moved. We would probably need the new Rec center and ARC renovation to replace Kroenke Hall and the full moving of Art and Psychology and Social Work from that part of campus towards the center part of campus would need to occur. We still haven't completed the STEM quad and I believe they want a new facility for Business so that Psych can take over Urschel.

Basically, we need a lot of dominos. First of all though we need a huge donor or some sort of community/city collaboration for the new Rec center and (hopefully) updated pool.

[FWalum]

A whole lot would have to happen before the baseball field would be moved. We would probably need the new Rec center and ARC renovation to replace Kroenke Hall and the full moving of Art and Psychology and Social Work from that part of campus towards the center part of campus would need to occur. We still haven't completed the STEM quad and I believe they want a new facility for Business so that Psych can take over Urschel.

Basically, we need a lot of dominos. First of all though we need a huge donor or some sort of community/city collaboration for the new Rec center and (hopefully) updated pool.

Another tidbit... Doesn't look like we will need an updated pool (in a good way).

[VULB#62]

A whole lot would have to happen before the baseball field would be moved. We would probably need the new Rec center and ARC renovation to replace Kroenke Hall and the full moving of Art and Psychology and Social Work from that part of campus towards the center part of campus would need to occur. We still haven't completed the STEM quad and I believe they want a new facility for Business so that Psych can take over Urschel.

Basically, we need a lot of dominos. First of all though we need a huge donor or some sort of community/city collaboration for the new Rec center and (hopefully) updated pool.

Another tidbit... Doesn't look like we will need an updated pool (in a good way).

Huh?

[FWalum]

A whole lot would have to happen before the baseball field would be moved. We would probably need the new Rec center and ARC renovation to replace Kroenke Hall and the full moving of Art and Psychology and Social Work from that part of campus towards the center part of campus would need to occur. We still haven't completed the STEM quad and I believe they want a new facility for Business so that Psych can take over Urschel.

Basically, we need a lot of dominos. First of all though we need a huge donor or some sort of community/city collaboration for the new Rec center and (hopefully) updated pool.

Another tidbit... Doesn't look like we will need an updated pool (in a good way).

Huh?

REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF SCHOOL TRUSTEES VALPARAISO COMMUNITY SCHOOLS
By the first of July, 2017 we will have all of the projects bid out with the exception of the natatorium and the Porter County Career Center

Was told that VU will be partnering with the school system when this bid for the natatorium is let.