Spring 2025 Note from Institutional Advancement

Dear friends, 

For so many of us, our relationship to the Carlson School is central to our identity. Whether we are alumni, benefactors, current or former faculty or staff, volunteers, or friends, our ongoing involvement with, and affinity for, the school has shaped our lives. 

Since joining the Carlson School community, I have been lucky to meet many of you who have shared stories of your love for the school, and the ways that your identity as a member of this great community has been a positive influence on your career, family, and life. In these pages, I hope you are heartened to read, as I am, about members of our community whose various intersecting identities come together with their careers and passions, leading to fulfilled lives. 

In my own work, it is particularly gratifying to see the ways that Carlson School alumni and friends bring their affiliations and identities to the benefit of others. In particular, the Military Veterans Initiative was an idea borne by two Carlson School alumni and veterans wanting to provide a diverse cohort of student veterans the same educational opportunities they had. That partnership is now thriving in a new way through the Connecting Carlson building project.

Many of you, like the people highlighted on the following pages, have committed to help current and future Carlson School students pursue their educational ambitions. We are ever grateful for you, the Carlson School’s generous friends and alumni, who ensure that your school is increasingly an inclusive and welcoming space, where students bring their whole selves and authentic identities to their studies.

With gratitude,

Jess Kowal 
Assistant Dean, Institutional Advancement