From the Desk of Kristi Jarmus

From the Desk of Kristi Jarmus, Director of Alumni Relations

HELPING TO SHAPE THE FUTURE

SAVE THE DATE:

Homecoming 2022

Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, 2022

Time is passing far too quickly. When I started as director of alumni relations in January, Homecoming 2021 seemed so very far away and then—poof—in the blink of an eye, it is a memory. What a wonderful weekend it was, meeting, and greeting our alumni at various events. Thank you to all who traveled from near and far to attend Homecoming 2021, and congratulations to our reunion attendees and our alumni honorees. Finally, a big thank you to all who helped to make the weekend a success.

Here are a few things that have stuck with me after my first homecoming at Indiana Tech:

I really, really enjoy my job. The best part of it is meeting alumni and hearing stories about their wonderful experiences at Indiana Tech. The opportunities to meet and share with new people grew exponentially during homecoming. It was a great weekend and I hope you can join us next year! Save the date now, Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, 2022.

I cannot wait for the Zollner Engineering Center expansion and renovation project to be completed. I’ve been eagerly awaiting the completion of this beautiful addition to our campus since construction began, just south of my office, in midsummer. My anticipation grew after seeing how much excitement this project generated during homecoming tours of campus. The Zollner building is such an important piece of our university’s history and alumni are ecstatic about the innovative and inspiring learning environment it will become. Learn more about the project at indianatech.edu/zollner or reach out to me if you would like to support it.

Women’s hockey looks good at Indiana Tech. Being born in Winnipeg, I was excited when men’s hockey became a sport at Indiana Tech. Now that we field a women’s team, it’s double the fun. It was great to see our program win its very first home game during homecoming. If the success of our men’s program is any indicator, I see a bright future in store for our women Warriors.

Our sports teams are excellent, period. That, too, hit me during homecoming when our was awarded the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Commissioner’s Cup for having the winningest program in the WHAC during the 2020-21 academic year. What’s really cool is that you can follow our teams and watch many of their competitions at indianatechwarriors.com.

I am already looking forward to next year! Speaking of which, we will be looking for reunion class captains from 1962, 1972, 1982 and 1997. If you are interested in serving in this capacity, please contact me.

What is coming up next in the world of alumni

relations? The next alumni association online meetup will be held on Jan. 26. Alumni with graduate-level degrees are invited to attend. If you are interested, please contact me for the Zoom link. Also, watch for a short survey that will be sent out in February to all alumni to gather feedback on a few key areas of alumni engagement. Finally, I am extremely excited to announce that we are partnering with an organization that will help us capture and share your stories through our Alumni Oral History Project. More information will come in spring of 2022.

I wish you health, happiness, joy and prosperity in the new year!

Best always,

Kristi

ALUMNI NOTES

Do you have an update you’d like to share with your Warrior Nation? Perhaps you have a new position or earned yourself a promotion, maybe you tied the knot or your family is growing, or even built something that’s changed the world in some small (or not-so-small) ways. We’d like to hear about it! Send your stories or questions to Matt Brown at alumni@indianatech.edu. We love to brag about our alumni!

DUSTIN MCDOWELL, B.S. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 2020 A special education teacher with Peru Community Schools, Dustin earned a master’s degree in special education from the University of Saint Francis in August.

ALLY ZENDA, B.S. PRE-LAW, 2021 Ally has been accepted into the University of Toledo College of Law.

NICHOLAS MASTEJ, B.S. NETWORK ENGINEERING, 2017 Nicholas joined the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) as a summer associate in the Information Technology Directorate at IDA’s Alexandria, Virginia, headquarters. AMANDA DICKS, B.S. BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, 2016 Amanda was honored as the Project Manager of the Year for 2020 by the BALSA Group. She recently received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis after defending her thesis, “Human iPSC Tissue-Engineered Cartilage for Disease Modeling of Skeletal Dysplasia-Causing TRPV4 Mutations.”

TANYA WOOD, B.S. BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, 2021 Tanya Wood has been promoted to senior transportation analyst for CTB, Inc. of Milford, Indiana. CHARMAINE (COCKERHAM) QUINN, B.S. COMPUTER INFORMATION SYSTEMS, 2002 Charmaine, a senior project program manager at AT&T, earned an M.S. in Information Technology from Purdue University. ROBERT GABBARD JR., B.S. HUMAN SERVICES, 2013 Robert earned an M.A. in Human Services Counseling from Liberty University. ROBERT BROCKERS, A.S. GENERAL STUDIES, B.S. ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP, 2017 Robert became regional manager of field operations for Charter Communications in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

DREW MARTIN, MBA, 2017 Drew was hired by Premier Bank as vice president of commercial lending in September.

RAYMOND E. BENN III, CERTIFICATE IN ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP

Raymond was promoted to the rank of First Sergeant in September by the Indiana State Police and will be assistant commander of the information technology section.

DANA HOWARD, B.S. BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, 2020 Dana was named branch manager of Centier Bank’s Carmel location in August.

Dustin McDowell Tanya Wood

Ally Zenda Robert Brockers

Nicholas Mastej Drew Martin

Amanda Dicks Dana Howard

Keep us connected!

Your stories are what make Indiana Tech proud—and we want to hear from you! Share your successes, update your information, learn about the Alumni Association and find ways to connect with your peers, friends and faculty members on our website at Alumni.IndianaTech.edu. You can also email your updates to Alumni@IndianaTech.edu.