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Summer Send-Offs Connect Comets, Present and Future

The UT Dallas Austin Alumni Chapter recently joined with the University to host a casual reception welcoming incoming UT Dallas students from the Austin area. The first of this year’s summer send-off events, the evening provided Comets with an opportunity to meet incoming students and network with area alumni.

“This event is a great way to stay connected to the University,” said J. Amber Ahmed BA’07, who serves as one of the leaders of the Austin chapter. “Incoming students participate in the legacies and traditions that all UT Dallas alumni share.”

Austin Student Send-Off | 7.25.17


Many alumni also share a mutual affection for their alma mater and miss the Comet camaraderie they experienced on campus.

“It’s hard to find any networking opportunities to attend once you graduate, so these types of events actually take you back to when you were there at UTD,” said Rishi Vamadevan MSEE’12, a silicon architecture engineer at Intel Corp. in Austin.

Daisy Pena BS’12, a UT Dallas admissions counselor located in Austin, emphasized the importance of the send-offs, explaining that they provide alumni a chance to re-engage with the University and with one another while offering support to new students.   

Like Pena, Chandrasekhara “Chandu” Guntakala MS’98, a 2012 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient, was there to encourage and guide incoming students as well as answer their questions.

“It gives these freshmen students a kind of confidence that’s hard to get when they go to the University and just talk to their peers,” Vamadevan said. “When you talk to somebody who has already been through the fire — the kind of perspective alumni might be able to provide — it’s invaluable.”

While the event gave alumni the opportunity to prepare incoming freshmen for the academic road ahead, it also allowed new students to connect before arriving on campus. For example, Stephanie Abe met Miranda Pizer, and the two incoming freshmen discovered they would be living in the same dorm. By the end of the event, they planned to carpool between Austin and Dallas during the upcoming semester.

“It’s nice to meet some future students that are also from this area; we have things in common to talk about and also share the experience of moving to Dallas,” said Abe, who attended the event with her mother. “This is helping us to build up a sense of community early.”

Media Contact: Alexandra Hopkins, UT Dallas, (972) 883-5488, alexandra.hopkins@utdallas.edu

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