Marquette NROTC Alumni & Friends Association (A&FA)

Marquette NROTC Alumni & Friends Association (A&FA) is a 501(c)19 Veterans non-profit organization.

Mailing Address:  1532 W Clybourn Street, Milwaukee, WI 53233-2202

Email: munrotcalumni@gmail.com



All alumni are invited to attend 
Marquette University NROTC Alumni & Friends Association
Annual Membership Meeting 

followed by a
Reunion and Social, with lunch provided

This will be an in-person *and* online interaction, blended together as we cautiously emerge from pandemic restrictions

Saturday, June 3, 2023
at the Marquette NROTC Unit 1532 W Clybourn St, Milwaukee, WI
 Membership meeting 0900 to 1000 CDT
followed immediately by 
Reunion 1015 to 1300 CDT 

With announcements (both in-person & by ZOOM) from: 

  • ·       Welcome by A&FA President/Chair (Scott Christensen)
  • ·       Zoom/in-person communication instructions (Phil Claiborne)
  • ·       Welcome by SLA President/Chair (Maureen Murphy)
  • ·       Prayer for the Class of 1973 departed (Fr. Michael Zeps)
  • ·       50th year greetings by 1973 Class Representatives (Tom McGarry, ’73, Bob Hess, ’73)
  • ·       Other anniversary year greetings by Class Representatives
  • ·       1973 reminiscences (beginning with Tom McGarry/Bob Hess)
  • ·       Marquette/Milwaukee updates (Ed Taicsich)
  • ·       Other anniversary year reminiscences
  • ·        Virtual room breakouts 

An agenda and meeting presentations will be updated to this link when available. (Revisit these links for the final documents.)
 

"Virtual" attendance is via ZOOM or phone only (up to 100 participants)


Join ZOOM Meeting + Reunion through the web 

{click here}.
Note
The member meeting + reunion will be on the same ZOOM link, continuous from 0900 - 1300

-or- To join by voice only, over the phone:
Dial the phone number closest your location and be prepared to enter the Meeting ID and Passcode below
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C)

Meeting ID: 322 983 9446  Passcode: 277118
Click here to find your local number if you need international



NOMINATIONS are OPEN

  • Alumnus of the Year 2023
  • Young Alumnus of the Year 2023

Please assist your Association Board by nominating deserving candidates commissioned by the Marquette University NROTC program (to include midshipmen from the Milwaukee School of Engineering and University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee) for our 2023 Alumnus and Young Alumnus Awards, to be presented at the 2023 Annual Fall Ball. We need your help in bringing them to our attention. Alumni are our primary source of nominations.

The nomination submission deadline is 15 August, 2023. 


Click here for guidelines and nomination forms.


LCDR Alyssa (Wilson) Norris, USN

Alumni Awards Coordinator

Wilson.alyssa720@gmail.com



Congratulations to

RDML Brian "Lex" Luther, USN (Ret.),

Alumni of the Year - 2022

Read his bio and watch RDML Luther's video message to attendees of the Marquette NRTOC Unit Fall Ball. 

Congratulations to

LT Nikkol "Big Raj" Rajkovacz, USN,

"Young" Alumni of the Year - 2022

LT Rajkovacz with CAPT Scott Christensen, USN (Ret.),

President of the MU NROTC Alumni & Friends Association


Read her bio and watch LT Rajkovacz's give her

acceptance speech.


November 12, 2021 Fall Ball Invitation

Join us in-person at the 2021 Fall Ball for the announcement of the Marquette NROTC Alumni & Friends "Alumnus" and "Young Alumnus" of the Year Awardees.

Click anywhere on the invitation below for a larger, readable invitation with links to RSVP (by October 25th.)



The Summer 2021 MU NROTC A&FA newsletter is here!  




Marquette NROTC Alumni & Friends and Seapower Leadership Assn

Q3 Board Meeting

Aug 17 2021 1800 CDT

In-person + virtual ZOOM

___________________

agenda <-click

presentation hand-outs <-click

To join via "ZOOM" <-click

or dial-in: 

One tap mobile

+13126266799,,83795959832#,,,,*658984# US (Chicago)

or find your local number <-click

and use Meeting ID: 837 9595 9832 Passcode: 658984



Marquette NROTC Alumni & Friends and Seapower Leadership Assn

Q3 Board Meeting

Aug 17 2021 1800 CDT

In-person + virtual ZOOM

___________________

agenda <-click

presentation hand-outs <-click

To join via "ZOOM" <-click

or dial-in: 

One tap mobile

+13126266799,,83795959832#,,,,*658984# US (Chicago)

or find your local number <-click

and use Meeting ID: 837 9595 9832 Passcode: 658984



Marquette NROTC Alumni \ Seapower Leadership Association donations were put to work in the MU NROTC Weight Room adding new gym equipment including weight and bar racks, core-trainers and a deluxe squat rack, plus a fresh coat of paint. Thanks to all who have donated in support of the Midshipmen and women of MU \ MSOE \ UW-Milwaukee Navel ROTC!


Virtual 245th Navy & Marine Corps Birthday Ball

Friday, November 13, 2020 1800 Central time, online.

The MU NROTC Unit invites alumni and friends to attend this unique virtual online 245th Birthday Ball.

The Marquette NROTC Alumni & Friends Association will announce our 2020 Alum of the Year and Young Alum of the year during this online event.

To attend, use this link at the designated time.  

To view the formal registration announcement, click here.


Enjoy your Summer 2020 Newsletter!

Click this link to view a PDF of the newsletter


A Legacy of Service

Michael J. L'Abbe, alumnus of MU '74, MPP Georgetown, a 25 year Navy Veteran, currently with the VA in Maine, is proud to announce a legacy of Naval service by way of his daughter, Abigail. Ensign Abigail L'Abbe commissioned 9 MAY 2020 at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine. A Marine Science major, she will be qualifying as a SWO aboard USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) with the Meteorological and Oceanographic (METOC) option.


2020 MU NROTC Alumni & Friends Annual Meeting

The Annual Membership Meeting for the Alumni & Friends Association was  6 June 2020.  The agenda and presentations are still available through the link below.

Agenda + meeting presentation documents.  (click here)

The 2020 Reunion open house normally scheduled to coincide with the annual meeting was canceled.  A combined-year reunion will be scheduled for 2021.


Commissioning - May 2020
View the "virtual" commissioning ceremony on YouTube:

     (Click picture below to link to video)


Member Recruiting Reward!

Every Member - Recruit a Member Campaign

Our committed A&FA membership is the "engine" that propels our operations and initiatives. As part of our "Every Member - Recruit a Member" theme for the 2020 Membership Year that begins now, we have established a Membership Recruiting Reward for every current A&FA member who recruits one new member.  We ask your help to "rev up" our membership by recruiting one new alumni to join their association.

What's the reward?  A MU NROTC Challenge Coin like this:


Step up to the challenge!

Here's the "fine print":

  • The recruiter needs to be a current dues paying A&FA member.
  • The new member needs to provide us the recruiter name when they submit their membership details and payment.  We have updated the "Join Us" page format on our website and the hard copy membership form to capture this input.
  • If the new member has been a "free" New Graduate Member for a few years after commissioning, as long as they have not yet made the leap to paid dues status, they "count" as a new dues payer recruit.
  • And…if you bring one of our fellow “lapsed” members back into the fold, we’ll also reward your effort.
  • Questions?  Contact Mike Good at:  mgood3@att.net 

We Recognize the Marquette NROTC Alumni and Young Alumni of 2019

Dear Marquette University NROTC Alumni & Friends,

Many distinguished alumni have served our country valiantly and honorably during the past 79 years, both in peacetime, and during every conflict from World War II through Korea, Vietnam, two Gulf Wars and Afghanistan. We have honored fifteen of our distinguished alumni since 1990, from a Navy Vice Admiral to a Marine Corps 1st Lieutenant. 

It is my honor to announce the 2019 Alumnus of the Year, Richard "Dick" Leinenkugel, class of 1980...


Leinenkugel bio and video message

and 2019 Young Alumna of the Year, LCDR Natalie Ferbezar, USNR, class of 2009.

LCDR Ferbezar bio

Please join me in congratulating both for exemplifying the high standards of the United States Navy and Marine Corps.


Dick Leinenkugel and LCDR Ferbezar are acknowledged for their awards by Captain Matthew R. Vanersluis USN, Commanding Officer of Marquette NROTC with A&FA Vice President William Hayes at the 2019 Fall Ball. Looking on is Lieutenant Michael Balistreri USN, SWO-3/C Adviser.  


To join Marquette NROTC Alumni & Friends Association

MU Naval ROTC History Preserved 



Over the summer of 2017 after their May commissioning, three of our young Naval Officer alumni worked closely with the MU Special Collections & University Archives staff at the Raynor Memorial Libraries to make a high resolution digital scan of every Porthole yearbook that the NROTC Unit held, 57 in all, dating from the first year of the unit’s forming in 1940.  Depicted above, left to right are: Katie Blank (Electronic Records Manager); ENS Bryan Troup; ENS Brooks Furleigh; ENS Daniel Peters; Amy Cooper Cary (Head, Special Collections & University Archives).  The result of over two years of coordination by your Alumni & Friends Assn (A&FA), this was a superb team effort by these individuals with the support of CAPT Dan Olson, our previous CO at MU NROTC.

Due to concerns with loss, the NROTC Unit placed the Portholes into the university archive for retention.  This will ensure that this incomparable record will be maintained for the future. With their digitization, they can be more accessible to our alumni with no risk to the originals.  Your A&FA has had great success in working with the Archives staff to develop a long term plan to have the Porthole yearbooks hosted on the university’s digital collection website.  Click on this link for direct access to the current collection hosted by the MU Archives:

http://cdm16280.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p16280coll8


So, real progress – but we need your help.  Many Porthole yearbooks are missing from the collection.  Can you alumni donate (or loan?) your Porthole to round out the collection?  We want to ensure the archives has a complete record – and we will work with the unit to scan the additions when we have “stashed” Ensigns available.  If you can help complete the collection, contact Mike Good at mgood3@att.netHere are the needed Porthole editions:

     1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1975, 1978, 1999, 2000, 2001

     2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014

THANK YOU to Jay Burzak, Maj USMC Ret ('73), Bill Sonntag CDR USN Ret ('75) and CAPT Tim Wilkie USN ('95) for help filling in a few gaps!










































































































































































































































































































































Shipshape; Off & Running is a fine Marquette Magazine Fall 2019 Class Notes article by Guy Fiorita about MU NROTC Alumni Ensigns Brandy Kinnunen, '18, and Donovan Lyon '19, serving aboard USS Ross based in Rota, Spain.


Link to Marquette Magazine article

Congratulations to Robert Busalacchi, class of 2010 for being named a 2019 John Wooden Global Leadership Fellowship UCLA Anderson School of Management.    (<-link to bio)

Mr. Busalacchi was named Marquette University NROTC Alumni & Friends Association Young Alumnus of the Year in 2018, seen here accepting the award from LtCol. Albert Lagore, USMC, Ret.

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