The HAA Clubs and SIGs Committee Awards honor individuals who provide exemplary service to a Harvard Club or Shared Interest Group, as well as to clubs and SIGs that have organized exceptional programming. Awards were presented to the following recipients at the HAA Board of Directors winter meeting on February 4.
Jake Arbes ’73, of Atlanta. As president of the Harvard Club of Georgia, Arbes has helped the club grow substantially, both financially and socially. Club events, ranging from public-service projects to recent graduate dinners, have attracted more than 100 local alumni. Arbes has also bolstered the club’s relationship with the HAA, partnering on programs such as the HAA Global Networking Night, the HAA Global Day of Service, and Early College Awareness.
Anne M. Dewez, M.B.A. ’81, of Monaco. Since she assumed the presidency of the Harvard Club of Monaco in 2005, Dewez has demonstrated leadership by maintaining high-level programs while working with other regional university clubs to create joint activities that benefit all area alumni. In 2008, she also developed and organized an event that brought together 175 local high-school students with representatives from Harvard, Amherst, and the University of Pennsylvania to learn about attending college in the United States.
See-Yan Lin, M.P.A. ’70, Ph.D. ’77, of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. As HAA regional director for Asia for 12 years, Lin has helped create a strong network of Harvard clubs. He is the founding deputy president for the Association of Harvard University Alumni Clubs of Asia (AHUACA), and he has played a pivotal role in organizing several Asian club conferences. He has also served as president of the Harvard Club of Malaysia since 2002, and was deputy president from 1983 to 2002. In addition, Lin has been a leader within the Harvard Graduate School Alumni Council, serving as the chair, 2002-2005.
The Harvard Arab Alumni Association, founded in 2001, has more than 500 members who span five decades and represent nearly every school at the University. HAAA’s goal is one of inclusiveness and cooperation; it seeks to build bridges by bringing together the intellectual capability, innovation, and creativity from the University with the richness and diversity of the Arab world. The organization holds annual conferences, in both Cambridge and the Middle East, which unite students and alumni with world-renowned experts in a unique forum focusing on a wide range of topics. The 2009 conference in Cairo, entitled “The Arab World: Shaping the Future” (see “Cairo Conference,” September-October 2009, page 63), drew more than 200 people.
The Harvard Club of Phoenix serves 2,000 alumni in metropolitan and rural areas. During the last four years, the club has reinvigorated itself, holding 22 events last year, including a day of public-service work at a local food bank, and evenings with guests ranging from Bass professor of government Michael Sandel to Arizona state legislators. Its schools and scholarships committee conducted 325 interviews for applicants to the College class of 2013 and, as a way to bolster membership, the club has instituted a “one thing” policy through which each board member makes one significant contribution to the organization every year.
