VOLUME 12, NO. 3     MAY 1999

Flaherty first female Alumni Association president

Patricia Graham Flaherty

t is only natural that the first woman to hold the office of class president at WPI would go on to become the first female graduate to head the Alumni Association. Pending a vote of the Alumni Association, Patricia Graham Flaherty '75 will assume the office at the association's 108th Annual Meeting on June 5, the Saturday of Reunion Weekend. Flaherty, a self-employed information management consultant, has served her alma mater with pride since the early 1970s, when she matriculated at the newly coed institution.

"It is an honor to be chosen to serve WPI alumni as president of the Alumni Association," says Flaherty. "This is a very interesting and exciting time because of the outstanding leadership of my predecessors, most recently president Bob Maynard, and past presidents Allen Levesque and Don Craig. I look forward to implementing the new Master Plan, concentrating on facilitating more alumni involvement, and creating greater focus on programming and services."

Flaherty chairs the Organizational Structure Task Force, which has worked with the Alumni Office to chart a new vision for Alumni Association leadership under the mandate of the new five-year Master Plan. She orchestrated the association's first comprehensive alumni opinion survey in 1995, chaired the Evaluation Committee and the Alumni Regional Club program, and spearheaded the formation of the Student Alumni Association. In 1985 she was honored with the John Boynton Young Alumni Award for Service. A 1993 inductee into the WPI Athletic Hall of Fame, she was also the first woman to become president of the WPI Poly Club. The Patricia A. Graham Sportsmanship Award is given each year in recognition of her leadership in establishing a women's athletics program.

Also joining the Alumni Association leadership this year is the first mother-son combination in WPI history. Nancy Wood Popinchalk '73 will serve as a member-at-large of the Executive Committee; her son, Seth A. Popinchalk '98 will serve as a member-at-large on the Funds Board.