Dr. Peter Eppinga was lost, but now he’s been found! Despite the fact that he was featured in publicity stories as one of the top grads at the University of the Fraser Valley in 2006, he and UFV managed to lose touch over the years. That can happen when alumni move away to pursue the next chapter of their lives.

But the university wants to keep in touch with its alumni and found those who have been lost: so much so that UFV is offering a chance to win an iPad 3 to any lost alumni who get back in touch.

Eppinga, who completed his Bachelor of Kinesiology at UFV in 2006, recently completed medical school at the University of British Columbia, and now he’s taking his Master of Health Science degree in clinical epidemiology at the UBC School of Population and Public Health, UBC). He’s also working as a consultant for restructuring of a mobile diabetes clinic and working with tele-health surveys and questionnaires, a process in which doctors assess patients over a television screen via satellite communication. You can find out more about him on his blog, www.drpetereppinga.com

”I’m only where I am today because of what my professors said to me at UFV,” says Eppinga. “They believed in me and alleviated any doubts I had. They literally changed my life! Roger Friesen from Kinesiology and Allan Arndt from Biology were particularly supportive.”

So when UFV’s Alumni Association tracked him down, he was only too happy to update them on what he’s been doing for the past several years. He’s a lost alumnus no more! In fact, he came back to volunteer at UFV’s Convocation ceremonies last spring.

“Our alumni are very important to us,” notes UFV Alumni Engagement manager Nancy Armitage. “By keeping up with them and their achievements, we can measure the success of our programs. They’re great ambassadors for our university, and help us to forge connections with our communities. So we like to keep in touch with as many of them as we can.”

With that in mind, UFV has embarked on a Lost Alumni campaign, run through the Alumni Engagement office.

As of last March, there were almost 28,000 alumni of UFV. Approximately two-thirds of them (64%) are female; slightly more than one third (36%) are male. And 44% of them are considered “lost”.

 

“We can contact just over half of our alumni by mail, and 40% by email,” says Armitage. “We’d like to get our contact numbers up to at least 75%. That’s why we’re offering the incentive of the Lost Alumni iPad contest.”

To get back in touch with UFV, and register for your chance to win an iPad, go to www.ufv.ca/alumni, and follow the link in the top right corner to the lost alumni page. Deadline is Oct 31, so hurry!