Gena Asher | Dec. 1, 2007
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| Courtesy photo |
| Barry Gellers, B.A. ’81 |
Gellers, B.A. ’81, became president of the Metro New York Alumni chapter in 1998, about the time e-mail became an everyday tool. He immediately started sending out a newsletter.
“First, it was a ‘home-made’ situation,” said Gellers in an e-mail message. “I think it got as many as 800 alumni.”
That number swelled to thousands, though, when the Indiana University Alumni Association asked him to send the e-newsletter through its avenues. Gellers composes the newsletter, sends it to IUAA, and it goes out to 5,000 alumni in the metro NYC area.
A typical newsletter may include announcements about IU gatherings around the area, road trips to IU sports events or happy hours for IU alumni to meet and greet. For those new to the area, the newsletter can be a personal sort of “Craig’s List.”
“I was very pleased to discover that the alumni in NY were more than willing to help and advise other alumni with their requests,” Geller said. “It seemed people remembered what they went through when they first came to New York as alumni and wanted to make it easier for people who needed help. This past week, a young alumnus was looking for some commercial rental space and within 24 hours of the e-newsletter, three to five alumni contacted him with suggestions.”
To sign up, visit the IUAA Web site, enter an address within the metro New York area and an active e-mail address.
Gellers now does financial work for a non-profit, federal court-ordered job-training program. He said he spends about an hour a day assembling material for the weekly newsletter. It allows him to practice his journalism skills but also has a less tangible benefit.
“I had a very positive experience at IU and I always feel that the work I do as chapter president is my ‘thank you’ back to the university,” he said.
