I’m sure you noticed the Ramblin’ Wreck on the cover of this issue. The vehicular icon is in many ways the face of Georgia Tech, but it’s also more than just a mascot.
The Wreck represents Tech’s history and traditions as well as our fascination with cars and mechanics and engineering. It also represents a simple if abstract idea: movement.
The Georgia Institute of Technology has always been on the move. From its origins as a trade school, Tech has progressed over the past 125 years into a renowned research institution and highly ranked university. It’s a place obsessed with moving parts: pistons, gears, steam engines, axles, propellers, rockets and so much more. This issue of the Alumni Magazine was built around the idea of “motion,” and as you flip through the pages you’ll see the many ways (some obvious, others more subtle) in which movement defines Georgia Tech.
What you might not realize is that our alumni base is also on the move, and it’s moving fast.
By the time you read this, you’ll be one of about 133,000 alumni living around the globe. Because Tech’s enrollment is so much larger than it used to be, with each new graduating class the alumni body grows younger and younger. Right now, the average alum graduated in 1993 and is 44 years old.
Amazingly, a full 10 percent of our alumni graduated since 2010. About 37 percent graduated since 2000.
Tech is also growing more diverse. Our alumni body is made up of 20 percent women, and that number will change quickly now that more than a third of our current students are female.
Your Alumni Association is always in motion, too, making sure we keep up with the changing face of our alumni body. We’ve spent the past year examining what we do and planning our future to best meet your needs. (Click here to read our Annual Report and a letter from C. Dean Alford, EE 76, chair of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association.)
It’s the holiday season as I write this, and I want to thank you for another year of supporting Georgia Tech and your Alumni Association. The tradition of alumni engagement is alive and well. To quote Tech’s provost, Rafael Bras, “I’ve never been to a university where the alumni and the Association are so tightly woven into the fabric of life of the institution.”
Georgia Tech is a much better place today because of you alumni who care about Tech long after you’ve ventured out into the real world. You’re part of an amazing network of fellow alumni. It’s an asset you can call on, no matter where your travels take you.
Joseph P. Irwin, IM 80
President & CEO
Georgia Tech Alumni Association
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