St. Vladimir's Alumni Board, L to R: Fr. Theodore Paraskevopoulos, Fr. Paul Hodge, Mat' Michelle Jannakos, Fr. David Barr, Mat' Alexandra Safchuk, Gregory Abdalah, and Mat' Valerie Zahirsky.

The new nine-member Alumni Board met May 19, 2010 at the Seminary. In addition to hearing reports from Chancellor Fr. Chad Hatfield and Alumni Relations Officer Dn. Philip Mathew, we held a brainstorming session to discuss current programs and possible future programs for the Alumni Association. The model used over the past few years for the annual, on-campus Alumni Reunion has not worked well, and we hope to find a model that will be successful. We also hope to encourage many more local alumni gatherings—especially in metropolitan areas where a large number of alumni live.

This next year, we will be working on new and different ways of staying in touch with alumni and keeping them involved with the Seminary and each other. Some of the plans we hope to realize include mission trips to help with projects at the Seminary (such as bar coding library books, redecorating and refurbishing common rooms, and other types of maintenance), re-establishing the monthly E-News, and developing a program using Web-based connections (like Skype) to connect SVS faculty to alumni and local communities. In addition, we hope to conduct an online survey of the alumni this year to get their input into our activities and events.

Over the next year, the Alumni Board hopes to improve the seminary involvement of our alumni and to reach out to them to fulfill needs that they have in their ministries. We hope to facilitate several alumni gatherings throughout the U.S. and Canada—both in geographic regions and at various jurisdictional gatherings. We also hope to find new ways of promoting and offering continuing education for our alumni and the clergy of the Orthodox Churches in North America and abroad.

The Alumni Association held elections for its officers at the May meeting: I was elected Chairman, Fr. Paul Hodge was elected Vice Chair, and Matushka Michelle Jannakos was elected Secretary; and according to the newly established bylaws, which can be read here, each of us will hold office for the next two years.

As always, the Alumni Board is interested in getting ideas and suggestions from the alumni of the Seminary. If you have any suggestions for us, please pass them on to any of the Board members. Our goal is to represent the alumni of St. Vladimir’s well, and we value your input, ideas, and concerns.

READ OUR BYLAWS HERE.

Alumni Board Members:

Fr. David Barr, Chairman

Fr. Paul Hodge, Vice Chairman

Matushka Michelle Jannakos, Secretary

Gregory Abdalah

Fr. Abi Chacko

Fr. Theodore Paraskevopoulos

Vitaly Permiakov

Matushka Alexandra Safchuk

Matushka Valerie Zahirsky