GWU PMSA

Hello PMSA!

If you’re returning to school this semester, I’d like to wish you (belated) Welcome Back! My name is Craig Baker and I am the 2009-2010 PMSA president. Some of you may remember me from last year when I was the VP of Marketing.

I’d like to give you a brief idea of what we’re planning for the upcoming year but first, I’d like to take a moment to thank the outgoing board members Ron Schmelzer (President), Jhaymee Wilson (VP, Finance) and Matthew Levy (VP, Outreach). They decided last year to try something new and that idea grew into Transitions 2009, a tremendously successful one-day project management conference. Starting with little more than a good idea, they delivered an event that included 7 speakers and attracted over 40 people. Attendees gave the PMSA high marks for the event and everyone asked to be informed of future PMSA conferences. The event was so successful that this year’s team has decided to host another such conference. Our job will be considerably easier because of the work these three did.
Thank you Ron, Jhaymee, and Matthew!

Okay, I guess I let one of our ideas slip already: we’re planning to host another conference and possibly to expand it some. We’ve also discussed building up our website in order to make it more useful, holding more student-alumni networking events, and arranging seminars that we’ll make available using the classroom recording technology or Elluminate Live. A final idea we’re working on (this one might be my favorite) is to get the PMSA more involved in the community. Community
in this case means the DC area but also national events, like walk-a-thons. The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure or the AIDS Walk are great examples.

So this year the PMSA is focused on three things: engaging alumni, providing more opportunity to our distance students, and becoming involved in the community. So far we’re off to a great start.  You’ll hear more about our plans here on our site- in the meantime, be sure to check out our team in the About Us section.

If you’re interested in getting involved, we’d love to have your help. Please contact us at pmsa@gwu.edu.

Craig Baker
President, PMSA