When Alyssa Burns, ’86, moved to Sarasota, Florida, she turned to the local U-M alumni club to meet new people.
For Burns, the alumni club was “a wonderful way for me to connect with others when I really didn’t know anybody,” she says.
Since then, she has put in tireless hours and lent her leadership expertise as a volunteer and the president of the U-M Club of Sarasota | Manatee. Burns is among 10 honorees of the Alumni Association’s Alumni Volunteers of the Year award which recognizes those who are going above and beyond in their efforts to engage local alumni.
“These people stand out because of how engaged they are with the club,” says Carlos Martinez, associate director of alumni engagement for the Alumni Association. The honorees bring new ideas and energy to their organization or help revive clubs that were struggling.
Volunteers of the Year are nominated by fellow alums or University personnel who work directly with the clubs. The Alumni Association has approximately 900 volunteers across 95 domestic and 15 international clubs.
Since becoming president of the U-M Club of Sarasota | Manatee, Burns has overseen new events while shoring up existing ones. In addition to football watch parties and a Michigan Night at the Opera, she launched a new and popular event with the locally based Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe and, through an alumni docent connection, a tour of the Sarasota Art Museum.
Burns also noticed that an annual meet-and-greet event was becoming uninspired. So she and the club renamed the event and found a local high school jazz band to play, doubling attendance.“They were amazing, they learned how to play our fight song,” she says of the band.
“We just jazzed it up a little bit — no pun intended.”
Professionally, Burns runs a communications and marketing strategy business and serves as an adjunct professor at Loyola University Chicago. Amid all her professional commitments, volunteering with the alumni club is rewarding for Burns.
“I like keeping people connected and engaged with each other and with the University of Michigan,” she says. “If you went to Michigan, you have an instant connection. Even if you are a neuroscience major or an engineering major, you’re still a Wolverine.”
Double Duty
Another award winner, Rachel Firsht, ’14, does extensive work with two clubs. Originally from Maryland, Firsht began volunteering with the U-M Club of Seattle, where she helped run the club’s social media. She later relocated and started volunteering with the U-M Club of Denver, where she says an abrupt departure of the club’s president seemed to threaten its future.
“It kind of falls within my personality and my DNA to not let things fall apart,” says Firsht, who ended up taking on the role of president herself.
Today, she continues to serve as president and secretary of the U-M Club of Denver, while also managing the social media accounts for both that organization and the Seattle club.
In Denver, the club plans events around when Detroit sports teams come to the Mile High City along with when national tours of Broadway shows have U-M alums starring in them.
Firsht says she’s found that the U-M connection spans generations.
“As soon as I know you are connected by Michigan, I can talk to anybody about anything,” she says.
THE 2025 ALUMNI VOLUNTEERS OF THE YEAR
Alyssa Burns, ’86, U-M Club of Sarasota | Manatee
Andrea Hyslop, ’89, U-M Club of Greater Ann Arbor
Andrew Richards, ’08, U-M Club of Central Ohio
April Roberts, ’02, U-M Club of Chicago
Lucy Freeman, ’21, MM’22, U-M Club of Austin
Matt Nolan, ’03, JD’06, U-M Club of Charlotte
Patty Donohue, ’85, MS’86, U-M Club of Greater Northville
Rachel Firsht, ’14, U-M Club of Denver
Ram Ramanujam, MBA’00, U-M Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander Alumni
Therese Timmons, ’75, MS’77, PhD’83, U-M Club of Houston
David Muller is a freelance writer based in Grosse Ile, Michigan.
