Among the joys I experience as editor of Old Dominion University magazine are sharing stories about our many talented and successful alumni and keeping former students in touch with one another via our Class News section. Our goal continues to be to produce a magazine that not only offers interesting stories, but also performs a worthwhile service.

To achieve this goal, however, we have to be able to deliver the goods - literally. In a mobile society such as ours, it's easy to lose track of former students. We realize that informing your alumni magazine about your new address may not be high on the list of the many places that must be notified when one moves, so every few years we conduct a search to find "lost" alumni.

To those whom we found recently, we hope your reaction was more favorable than that expressed by the fellow below. Our latest search, in fact, turned up nearly 5,000 alumni with whom we had lost touch. We're happy to have you back - and hope that you're glad to be hearing from your alma mater again. Some of you took the opportunity to write us a note, including one alum who wondered whether we had used CIA tactics to find him. Also among the comments was this: "We really enjoyed receiving the magazine, but we're still trying to figure out how you all tracked us down. Good work. Thanks for providing a place for people to keep in touch!" And this: "I recently was pleased to receive the alumni magazine, the first I can recall, although I graduated in 1993. I'm glad you found me!"

If, however, your reaction was similar to the fellow's in the cartoon, and you don't want to receive the magazine, let us know and we'll take you off the mailing list.

Just as we are always on the lookout for "lost" alumni, we are often contacted by graduates want-ing to get back in touch with friends from their college days. If the person sought is listed in the latest alumni directory (published in 1995), and he or she has not notified us of any changes to the information listed therein, we can share that address and phone number with the requester. If the published information has changed, however, our policy is to invite the requester to send us correspondence which we will in turn forward to the desired contact. An updated directory is being planned for the not-too-distant future, so be sure to fill out the questionnaire when it arrives.

In the meantime, if you are planning to move, please let us know. This will help us avoid unnecessary postage costs, but more importantly, it will ensure that you stay connected with your alma mater and fellow alumni.

All of us who work on this publication are pleased to report that Old Dominion University magazine recently received an Award of Excellence from CASE District III. CASE is the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, based in Washington, D.C., and District III encompasses the southeastern states. While we are happy with this recognition, we prefer to hear from you as to how we're doing. We want to know the kinds of stories you like to read, and we welcome your suggestions on how we can produce a better magazine. A postcard asking for your input is included in this issue. Please take a minute to fill it out and drop it in the mail (the return postage is on us). We can all benefit by staying in touch.

- Steve Daniel, Editor