J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management Alumni Association
Biography
On March 20, 1952 a group of alumni who had received their MBA degrees from Northwestern University met at a restaurant in Chicago. The purpose of the meeting was to exchange ideas as to what could be done to activate an alumni club for Northwestern MBA graduates. They decided that the new club's objectives would be to establish periodic group contacts, both for social and educational-business reasons, to provide possible job opportunities, and to act as a service organization for the School.
The School's name was the School of Commerce between the years of 1908 and 1953; the School of Business 1953-1965; the Graduate School of Management 1965-1975; and finally, the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management. The Alumni Association's name was changed accordingly.
As the Alumni Association evolved, its activities diversified. Fund raising for the support of programs of the school was a major role, but so also was advising the school faculty on curricular issues, and consulting students and new graduates on various aspects of their futures in the field. Continued education seminars on salient topics, luncheons and dinners with guest lecturers were organized regularly. These various activities were conducted by an administrative board, the president of which was appointed by the Dean of the School, and committees appointed by the Board.
The governing body of the Association also changed over the past twenty-five years. What began as a Board of Directors in 1952 with six members; a president, a vice-president, a secretary-treasurer, and three additional elected members, became an Administrative Board with 24 members. In the early 1970's two special chapters of the Alumni Association were established, the Chicago Chapter and the Hospital and Health Services Alumni Association, both were active in organizing seminars, luncheons and dinners and providing forums for lectures and exchanges of ideas.