Happy Holidays and Upcoming Events

Happy Holidays

From all of us on the leadership team of the Bay Area Chapter, we wish you happy holidays and a wonderful new year! 2016 was a fun year for DU and our friends and family in the Bay Area. Despite some heartbreaking semi-final losses, our men's lacrosse and soccer teams had terrific campaigns and we could not be prouder. Academically, the school is stronger than ever, continuing to admit new students with stronger academics and more rounded extracurriculars than ever before. Locally, we went to a Giants game, volunteered at the local food bank, and enjoyed several social events. We're gearing up for an exciting 2017 and look forward to seeing you in the coming months!

January - Reception with Law Dean Bruce Smith

Bruce Smith, the new dean of the Sturm College of Law, will provide a brief update on the state of the law school, including fresh initiatives for student recruitment, the development of interdisciplinary partnerships across campus, and collaboration opportunities for our alumni community.

When: Thursday, January 5, 5:30 - 7:30pm
Where: Morton's Steakhouse (map)
RSVP here

February 18 - Hockey Watch

Details are still in progress, but we're planning to get together in February to cheer on the hockey team. This is tentatively scheduled for 5pm on Saturday, February 18 against Miami of Ohio.

DU Day of Service

Register Now: DU Global Day of Service is July 30th

The SF-Marin Food Bank is on a mission to end hunger in San Francisco and Marin. With over 100,000 meals worth of food going out each day, they rely on the support of volunteers to serve the community.

Come help out at the SF-Marin Food Bank, then join us for happy hour!

Help other volunteers sort and pack food donations at the food bank, then head over to Magnolia Brewing Company, just a couple blocks away, for happy hour. Food will be courtesy of DU but we're on our own for drinks.

Date: Saturday, July 30th
Time: 12:30 - 3:30 at the food bank (facebook), happy hour starting at 4 (facebook)
Where: SF-Marin Food Bank, 900 Pennsylvania Ave, SF, 94107 (map)
             Magnolia Brewing Company, 2505 3rd St, SF, 94107 (map)

Even if you can't make the food bank, please join for happy hour afterwards! 

June Updates

Happy Summer!

This is commencement weekend at DU where we'll add roughly 3,000 new members to our global alumni network! Here in the Bay Area, we have ~4,000 DU alumni and family and have seen increasing turnout in events over the past year and would love to see you all out at events in the near future! Also, we are actively looking for new members of the Alumni chapter leadership...

DU Day at the Giants

On Saturday, June 25, we have a fantastic evening out planned as we watch the Giants take on the Phillies at AT&T Park. We're getting close to selling out of tickets, so act quickly to secure your spot!
When: 5pm dinner, 7pm game on Saturday, June 25
What: Ticket includes second deck club level seating in Section 231 with access to food and beverages in a reserved area for DU with a pregame dinner and hosted bar ($130 value)
How much: $40 for current students and alumni under 30, $50 for everyone else
RSVP on the DU alumni site. 

Global Day of Giving

On Saturday, July 30, alumni groups around the world will give back to their communities. Stay tuned for more details on events around the Bay Area, but please keep this date free for philanthropy and DU networking!

Looking for Volunteers

We're looking to grow the local alumni leadership group! Brian Elizardi, Director of Alumni Relations at DU, will be in town for the Giants game this month. He and I would love to meet with anyone interested in helping make this chapter stronger and better. The time commitment for volunteers is minimal but the impact can be huge! If you want to get more involved, just reply to this email - couldn't be easier.

Cheers,

Jared, '04

May Updates

Happy Spring DU Friends and Family!

Sorry about the long update, but there are lots of upcoming events in the DU community this month and next! The men's and women's tennis teams are coming to town for the NCAA tournament, the men's lacrosse team starts their post-season campaign to repeat as national champions, the second annual "One Day for DU" takes place next week, and in June we host the much anticipated second annual DU Day at the Giants.
 

NCAA Tennis Tournaments - Round 1 in the Bay Area May 13 & 14!

The Men’s (18-7, 7-0 Summit League) and Women’s (21-2, 7-0) Tennis teams have both won their third consecutive Summit League titles and will be competing in the first rounds of the 2016 NCAA Championships later this week.
 
The women will face Texas A&M at Stanford University on Friday, May 13th at 11:00a.m. PT. The winner of that match will then face the winner of Stanford/A&M Corpus Christi on Saturday, May 14th. The men will face Ole Miss at the University of California, Berkeley on Saturday, May 14th at 9:00a.m. PT. The winner of that match will then face the winner of Cal/Army on Sunday, May 15th. For more details please click the link below.
 
http://www.denverpioneers.com/sports/m-tennis/spec-rel/050316aaa.html
 

NCAA Lacrosse Tournament | Starting May 15

On Sunday, the Men's lacrosse team takes on Towson in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Follow along at http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/lacrosse-men/d1. Expect watch parties as the tournament progresses!
 

One Day for DU | May 18

On May 18, the University of Denver community is coming together from far and wide to show their Pioneer pride! Our goal is 1,000 donors! For every gift made on One Day for DU, we’ll plant a pinwheel on campus—a colorful, kinetic reminder of your support for DU students.
 

DU Day at the Giants | June 25

Last year, we had over 50 alumni, family, and friends out for a great event that included pre-game dinner and drinks and tickets to the Giants vs the Rockies. Given how quickly the event sold out last year, we've expanded the offering to 100 tickets this year. Once again, we'll be hosting dinner and drinks pre-game on the Virgin America Flight Deck and will have club level tickets. Ticket information for the June 25 event will be coming soon; when you see it, act quickly to make sure you can join what is sure to be another fantastic evening!

Jared Casner, '04

DU Hockey in the Frozen Four!

Join us to watch the Pioneers on April 7

For the first time since skating to a National Championship in 2005, Denver Hockey has advanced to the Frozen Four. On Thursday, April 7 at 5:30 Pacific, the Pioneers will meet NCHC rival North Dakota for a trip to the championship game on Saturday. Please join us locally to cheer on our beloved alma mater! We'll have 2 locations available with food provided by the university; see below for details! If (when) we move on to the national championship game, DU will provide free food at the same venues on Saturday evening as well!

Look for an email directly from the University, as well

San Francisco

Where: Giordano Bros (3108 16th Street, map)
When: 5:00pm on Thursday, April 7 (Face off at 5:30)
What: Free food and fellow alumni to cheer on the Pioneers!
RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/610052252478288/

San Ramon

Where: Buffalo Wild Wings (200 Montgomery St, map)
When: 5:00pm on Thursday, April 7 (Face off at 5:30)
What: Free food and fellow alumni to cheer on the Pioneers!
RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/866223533500046/

Founders Day Happy Hours | March 3

Founders Day Happy Hours

Each year, we commemorate the founding of our University on March 5, 1864 with an event that gives us cause to reflect on our past and look toward to our future. This year, the Founders Day Gala is being held in Denver on Thursday, March 3rd. Those of us unable to attend in person wanted a way to participate, nonetheless. So, we're hosting a couple happy hours on Thursday to coincide with the gala and will have updates from campus to share with everyone.

In order to make things easier, we have opted for 2 events at the same time.  One will be in San Francisco and one in Redwood City.  In the future, we hope to have more locations available for events to get the broadest reach possible.

San Francisco

Where: Golden Gate Taproom (map)
When: 6pm, Thursday, March 3
Who: Hosted by Jeremy Lynch (BSBA, '12) 
RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/1131343340238765/

Redwood City

Where: Timber & Salt (map)
When: 6pm, Thursday, March 3
Who: Hosted by Jared Casner (BS, '04) 
RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/775831535880442/

Look forward to seeing you on Thursday!  And stay tuned for more details on the Day of Giving events happening in late April or early May...

Cheers,

Jared, '04

Hockey Watch Party | February 20

Hockey Watch Party

On February 20, DU will be taking on CC in the Battle on Blake, the first ever hockey game hosted at Coors Field.  We've arranged a joint hockey watch party with the local CC alumni group - let's make sure to show up with big numbers to watch the Pioneers skate to victory!  Be prepared for some friendly banter for what is sure to be a great game!

Details

What: Joint Hockey Watch Party with the CC Alumni Group
When: 4:30pm on February 20 (puck drops at 5)
Where: Kilowatt Bar (16th and Valencia - map)
Who: BOTH DU and CC alumni groups - let's make sure we have a bigger presence!
RSVP: https://goo.gl/UpE6TN

Other details?  Kilowatt is cash only, so please be prepared...

See you all there!

Jared, '04

February Newsletter

Survey Results

The survey results are in!  Thank you to all who participated in helping make our chapter better.  We'll be following up with everyone who sent their details over the coming weeks.  In the meantime, results of the survey are available on our website.  In particular, we're looking for some help in the East Bay, so if you're interested in volunteering just a couple hours a month, we'd love your help!

Upcoming Events

You spoke, we're listening.  We're adding more geographic locations to many of our upcoming events.  We couldn't make that happen for everything on short notice, but we're doing our best going forward to make events more accessible to everyone.

 

February 20 - Hockey Watch

On February 20, we'll be joining forces with the local Colorado College Alumni Group to host a hockey watch for the Battle on Blake.  Luckily, DU came through at the last minute to ensure the game would be televised! More information will be sent in a separate email in a few days; for now, please check out the Facebook invite.

 

March 3 - Founders Day Happy Hour Series

To coincide with the Founders Day Gala on campus, we'll be hosting happy hour events around the Bay Area.  We'd love to have someone organize a venue in the East Bay, but have locations in Marin, San Francisco and on the peninsula in the works.  Stay tuned for more details...

 

DU Day of Giving

In April or May, we'll be giving back to our local communities.  The University is coordinating a Day of Giving across the country and we'll organize philanthropic events around the Bay Area.

 

June 25 - DU Goes to the Giants

Last year we had over 50 people join us for a great day out at the ballpark.  This year, we have 100 tickets available, which we know will sell quickly.  Tickets will go on sale in April and will include a pregame reception, dinner, a hosted bar before the game, and club level seats.

The results are in!

A big thank you to all who responded to the survey!  We will be using the results from the survey to help with our 2016 event planning.  We have a very large and diverse alumni population in the Bay Area and our goal is to continue to increase the alumni engagement.

To respect the privacy of those who shared their contact information, we won’t be releasing the full results, but we did want to share some quick highlights from the responses.

• We have a wide range of ages, with our 2 best represented age groups  being 25-34 year olds (27%) and those 65+ (26%)
• We had responses from alumni as far away as Sacramento and Santa Cruz, but our 2 best represented regions are the East Bay (24%) and North Bay (21%).  You can see the detail below in chart 1.
• 44% of respondents have never been to an alumni event, with the vast majority citing a combination of bad timing and location as the reasons why not.
• The most popular event requests were Social Events (80%) and a Speaker Series (74%).  The full list can be found below in chart 2.
• Email was the clear consensus as preferred communication method (100% of respondents), but there was enough interest in other methods, that we’ll continue to broadcast on many channels.
• There was a strong preference for events to be held on Saturdays during the day (64%) and weeknights (59%); more details are below in chart 3.

As a result of these responses we are going to attempt to do more events in other areas outside of San Francisco.  Hopefully you will see event options closer to you in coming announcements!

We’re always looking for more members to join of the alumni leadership team.  In particular, we’re really underrepresented from the East Bay and San Jose areas on the committee.  If you, or someone you know, is able to contribute just a couple hours a month, we’d greatly appreciate it!

Survey Results

Chart 1: Locations of respondents.

Chart 2: Types of events requested

Chart 3: Best times to hold events