Linda Lorimer to Serve as Liaison Officer for Yale Alumni Groups

Yale University President Richard C. Levin has announced that Vice President and Secretary Linda Koch Lorimer will assume responsibility as liaison officer to the Association of Yale Alumni – AYA – and the Yale Alumni Magazine, beginning Jan. 1. The appointment will coincide with the retirement of Terry Holcombe, Vice President for Development and Alumni Affairs at Yale, who currently serves as liaison officer for both alumni groups.

Established in 1972 and guided by a board of governors and an executive director, the AYA directs and supports a worldwide network of approximately 170 Yale clubs and associations. Under the AYA’s auspices, these clubs aid in the recruitment of prospective students; sponsor scholarships and community service fellowships; and offer a variety of social, cultural, educational and career-enhancement programs.

The AYA organizes Yale College reunions and associated class activities, and sponsors several educational programs, including the annual University Seminars taught by Yale faculty members and the Great Teachers at Yale video series. It has been embarking on a series of increasingly ambitious continuing education programs for Yale graduates, which Ms. Lorimer will continue to promote.

Mr. Holcombe, who has been a Yale officer for 15 years, led the University through two history-making capital campaigns. “The successful completion of the recent campaign seemed to Terry a natural break point after two decades of service,” said President Levin, adding that Mr. Holcombe’s work “has set the standard nationally for giving. Throughout his tenure, Yale has remained first among major research universities in total giving per alumnus. During Terry’s first year, Yale raised $25 million; the total giving for this past year approximates $225 million, and the pace has been accelerating. In the last four years, the Alumni Fund has increased by 24 percent.”

Charles Pagnam, who has been second in command under Mr. Holcombe for the past three years and a member of the Development Office staff for 19 years, will serve as Acting Vice President while a national search for a replacement is conducted.

As a result of Mr. Holcombe’s decision to retire, President Levin said he was realigning responsibilities among Yale officers to improve further communications with graduates. Because Ms. Lorimer already has responsibility for oversight of the Yale Office of Public Affairs, her new duties will enable her to provide coordination for all of Yale’s external communications with both alumni and the news media, President Levin said.

Ms. Lorimer currently serves as principal liaison to two alumni groups: the Yale Corporation, which is the University’s governing body, and the University Council, a group that advises Yale’s officers on major issues.

Ms. Lorimer has held several key administrative posts at Yale, including assistant and associate general counsel, 1978-79 and 1979-83, and associate provost, 1983-87, before leaving to serve as president of Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in Lynchburg, Virginia. She returned to Yale as University Secretary in 1993 and was named vice president in 1995. While at Randolph-Macon, she continued her Yale ties by serving as an elected member of the Yale Corporation 1990-1993.

Herself a Yale alumna with a J.D. from the Law School, 1977, Ms. Lorimer will also serve as the officers’ liaison to the Yale Alumni Magazine, an independent publication that was founded in 1891.

In another of her roles, Vice President Lorimer established the University’s Office of New Haven Affairs, which launched the Yale Homebuyer Program, the Buy in New Haven Initiative and other city-campus partnerships. Under her guidance, Yale also played a major role in refinancing the Shubert Theatre, creating the Downtown Special Service District, securing a $2.4 million H.U.D. grant for the Dwight neighborhood and keeping the Pilot Penn Tennis Tournament in New Haven.

Ms. Lorimer will continue to direct the University’s New Haven affairs until May, when nationally renowned urban developer Bruce Alexander will take up his post as Vice President and Director of New Haven and State Affairs. See Aug. 28, 1997, Yale news release about Mr. Alexander’s appointment.