I hope you are all well and preparing for some down time over the Holiday season.

As we approach the end of the year, I would like to update you about what has been happening at AKUAANA. Over the last six months, your newly elected Executive Council has been hard at work enhancing our web presence and updating our databases. This has included additions and modifications to increase efficiency for users and administrators. As you know, maintaining an accurate database is a huge challenge, especially when it involves alumni early in their careers, when relocations are commonplace. We look to you to assist in this effort by ensuring that we have the most accurate contact information for you.

Early preparations for the Annual Reunion, 2014 to be held in mid-August in Washington DC have been initiated. The Class of 1989 will celebrate its 25th anniversary, Class of 1994 its 20^th, and the Class of 2004 will mark its 10^th year since graduating. The various classes have started to connect and plan. We look forward to celebrating with them!

The Aga Khan University is gearing up for a celebration to mark the 30^th year for the University Charter, the 30^th year of the School of Nursing, the 25^th year of the Medical College and the 20^th year for the Institute of Educational Development. Through the years, each of these institutions has raised the bar for their respective professions and I hope will continue to be trailblazers in the region. The festivities will take up most of December and will include at least two convocations and several reunions.

I would like to thank my Executive Council, Secretary Amna Iftikhar (’92), Treasurer Syed Jawad Sher (’97), and Web Design Project Lead Atif Jalees Khan (’99), for their hard work during the last two years. I would like to thank all of you for your support and applaud you for engaging with your alumni association. As is a constant refrain when I have the soapbox, it is your engagement that will allow this organization to fulfill its potential. And how can any organization that has the collective brains, charisma, charm and grit that is the AKU alumni not be a force to contend with!

It is my great pleasure to welcome the new Executive Council, President-elect Faisal Qureshi (’93), Secretary Atif Shafqat (’93), Treasurer Shazia Hussain (’90), and Web Director Abdul Basit Saeed (’07), as they take over the reins on January 1, 2014. They have already been hard at work and, I am sure, will continue to advance AKUAANA over their term.

On behalf of the outgoing Executive Council, please accept my gratitude for allowing us to represent your organization. Working with you has been an honor and a pleasure.

Engage, participate, own.

Sincerely,
Sadaf Khan, ’92

Eid Mubarak!

I hope all of you had a pleasant Ramadan and were able to get a break over Eid.

The Annual AKU reunion held at the APPNA summer convention in Orlando, Florida was a great success. We celebrated the 25^th anniversary for the Class of ’88, and the 20^th anniversary for the Class of ’93. We welcomed Dr. Farhat Abbas, Dean AKUMC, Dr. Saad Shafqat ’88, Dr. Anita Zaidi ’88, and Dr. Naseer Mehmood ’88 as speakers at the dinner.

I am pleased to inform you that we were able to successfully complete the election of the new Executive Council. As you are aware, the process was initiated several months ago. The positions of Secretary and Treasurer had single nominations. The position for President had two nominations. Prior to the reunion, an on-line vote was conducted. For the on-line component, only votes from dues-paying members were included. The final voting was conducted at the reunion dinner.

The new Executive Council, which will start its term in January 2014, is as follows:

• President: Faisal Qureishi ’93
• Secretary: Atif Shafqat ’93
• Treasurer: Shazia Hussain ’90

I would like to thank Treasurer Syed Jawad Sher ’97 and Secretary Amna Iftikhar ’90 for their priceless contributions to the previous Executive Council.

At this time I would also like to thank Atif Jalees Khan ’99 for his work establishing and managing our web presence. He will be transferring his responsibilities to Abdul Basit Saeed ’07. Thank you both.

Ms. Shain Amershi, who for many years has been the force that has kept AKUAANA on track, is leaving us to pursue other opportunities. We are indebted to her for all the work that she has put in to developing a database, establishing the website, handling affairs with APPNA, organizing multiple reunions, and making the Executive Council look good. She has been passionate in her support of the association, both in thought and action. We wish her all the best in her future endeavors.

As far as other business is concerned, as we came to the reunion, we had record membership. If your dues are not current, I would encourage you to see to it. Your contributions help to keep the association and the website running smoothly.

Also at the reunion, we proposed and agreed to formalize the process of setting up host-committees for events. It was established that:

‘For all APPNA associated AKUAANA events, after the APPNA host committee has been established, all AKU alumni on said committee will be asked to join AKUAANA host committee for that event. This group will select one point person for purposes of communication with Executive Council. In the event the group does not select this person, the Executive Committee will do so.’

As always, we are looking for alumni to contribute to the website with blogs, opinion pieces, news etc. Please, let those ideas out onto paper (or screen) and share them with us!

In APPNA news – an anonymous donor, alumnus of Nishtar Medical College, has pledged to match up to $1,000,000 for donations to a newly established scholarship fund. Within the fund, each participating medical school will have a sub-account. A minimum of $10,000 from alumni is required to receive a matching contribution from the donor. The scholarship monies are allotted at the discretion of the particular alumni group and their medical school. I think this is an excellent opportunity for us to be able to give back to our Alma Mater. Please review the information at this link on the APPNA website.

In news from AKU – the Pakistan- Middle East chapter is in the last phase of its establishment. There is an election scheduled for later this month, after which the association will be fully functional. Our sister association is led by a President (Saad Shafqat ’88), Vice-President Under-Graduate (Saniya Sabzwari ’92), Vice- President Post-Graduate (TBD), and Vice-president Graduate (TBD). The Steering Committee (Chairman Hasnain Zafar ’91, Secretary Anita Zaidi ’88) has done a fantastic job with sorting through the very complex task of University and region-wide nominations and elections. They have been ably assisted by Abdul Haq Wahedna, Manager Alumni Affairs. We look forward to an excellent relationship with the association.

That’s all for now.

Engage, participate, own.

Sincerely,
Sadaf Khan ’92
President, AKUAANA

Dear Friends,

I hope everyone is well and enjoying spring.

I wanted to update everyone about a few issues. As you know, preparation for the Summer Alumni reunion during the APPNA meeting is well under way. We will be celebrating milestones for the Classes of ’88, ’93, and ’03. I am hoping that everyone will make an effort to attend, especially our Alumni in Florida.

To this end, I would encourage all planning to attend to purchase tickets for the AKU Alumni dinner to be held on July 5. There has been a change in APPNA policy and unlike previous years, we will be unable to purchase tickets on-site. Please buy your tickets from the APPNA website if you are an APPNA member. If not, please purchase them from the AKUAANA website.

This December will also mark the end of the 2-year terms of the current AKUAANA office bearers. We have put in a call for nominations and look forward to an election at the Reunion. We have received several nominations and will post the details up on the website after the deadline of April 20. All dues paying members and Reunion attendees will be eligible to vote. We will arrange voting for Members who are unable to attend the Reunion, hopefully before July. We will inform you of the details as we work through them.

We continue to work to improve the website. However, your participation is absolutely essential to provide interesting content. Let your creativity loose and share your thoughts and ideas!

In related news, the Steering committee for the Pakistan and Middle-East chapter of AKU alumni is gearing up for its first election. Once this chapter is functional, it will comprise the largest group of AKU alumni and, I hope will facilitate our interaction with the University and Pakistan. We look forward to a productive relationship with them.

I will end with a final request. Please check the status of your dues. If they have lapsed, please renew so that you can take part in the election and help keep AKUAANA afloat!

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,
Sadaf Khan, ‘92

Dear Alumni,

Ramadan Mubarak!

I am happy to report that Reunion 2012 was a great success, with the largest attendance to date. There were 170 attendees. We were joined by guests from AKU that included Dr. Farhat Abbas, Dean AKU Medical College Karachi, Mr. Lou Ariano, Registrar AKU, Ms. Carol Ariano, VP Human Resources and Mr. Karim Jan Mohammed, Director Resource Development. Our guests provided the Alumni with updates relating to the medical college, as well as Aga Khan University campuses across the globe.

The theme of the evening was ‘Giving Back’. We had speakers from the i-Care foundation, who detailed their undertaking, and Asad Ansari ’95 introduced the project that his class undertook in association with the Citizen’s Foundation.

The AKUAANA website (which I hope you are exploring now!) was officially introduced. We hope that this will be used as a launching pad for many projects spearheaded by alumni. I invite all of you to actively participate in the development of this project.

The Class of ’92 celebrated its 20^th year, and the Class of ’02 its 10^th year. Congratulations to them on their continuing collective achievements.

Following the reunion dinner, we were able to conduct a very successful business meeting, voting on several issues that will have a bearing on the future direction of AKUAANA. The minutes are posted on the website.

Our goal over the next few months is to try and increase membership and engagement. Please use your networking prowess to encourage people to join up and volunteer for AKUAANA projects. To jump-start communication, we have recently initiated a 6-month period of free access to the Discussion board. Please join up and say what’s on your mind!

For those of you who were able to join the reunion – I hope you enjoyed the gathering. For those who were not able to join, I look forward to seeing you in Orlando in July 2013!

Wishing you a peaceful and blessed Ramadan,

Sincerely,

Sadaf Khan, ‘92
President, AKUAANA