The Mac Weekly

Issue date: 2/5/10 Section: News

Media Credit: Photo courtesy of Tommy Bonner President Rosenberg with Mac alum Takuya Masamura '93 in Japan. Tokyo was Rosenberg's first destination on a trip that included stops in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Seoul.

President Rosenberg has just returned from what truly was a whirlwind tour of East Asia.

A Macalester delegation led by President Rosenberg visited four East Asian cities from Jan. 17 to Jan. 31, the first time the college has sent a delegation to the region since former President Mike Macpherson was there in 2002.

The tour kicked off in Tokyo, followed by Hong Kong, Singapore and Seoul. Director of Principal Gifts Rebecca Schubring accompanied Rosenberg for the trip's duration, and Vice President for Advancement Tommy Bonner and Rosenberg's wife Dr. Carol Rosenberg participated in the Tokyo and Hong Kong legs of the trip.

The trip had three main purposes: for the college to engage the alumni and parents living in the four cities, for Rosenberg to visit high schools from which Macalester recruits students and to analyze Macalester's fundraising prospects in the region.

"You can send out magazines and you can send out e-mails, but there's a real difference between doing that and at least from time to time having the college have a physical personal presence," Rosenberg said. "So much of what we do depends on having alumni engaged that we felt it was important to do that."

In each city there was a main evening gathering event, and the rest of the time Rosenberg spent visiting the high schools and meeting individually with certain parents and alumni. The Tokyo event yielded the highest turnout with approximately 70 people in attendance, with a combined total of around 150 for all the events. There were a lot of young alumni at the events, with graduates ranging from the 1960s to people who graduated as recently as last year.

"I think it really exceeded my expectations in terms of the enthusiasm for Macalester that I saw in the people I met, it was really very energizing, it was great to see," Rosenberg said. "It's also great to see how successful in all those cities Macalester alumni are, especially young alumni, it makes you feel good about the work the college is doing."

Continued...

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