Establishment of the Alumni Association at LSMU

On 1 December, the most notable alumni of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LSMU) gathered and became the establishers of the LSMU Alumni Association. During the inaugural meeting, the President, the Board and Control Committee of the LSMU Alumni Association were elected and the Statutes were approved.

The Association unites the graduates of the LSMU, Kaunas University of Medicine, Kaunas Medical Academy, Kaunas Medical Institute, Faculty of Medicine of Kaunas University, Faculty of Medicine of Vytautas Magnus University, the Lithuanian Veterinary Academy, Veterinary Academy, as well as Faculty of Medicine of Lithuanian University and the Higher Courses. ‘We established what we had been dreaming of for many years. Today the University is returning to the beginning – two academies were merged. We hope that this Association will not be just the one which has the name. The people who gathered today remember the University and are concerned about the future of the University and current students. Notable alumni joined the establishers’ group of the Association and the University is proud of them. It is a message to the students that the University has become open,’ said Prof. Habil. Dr. Daiva Rastenytė, the Chancellor of the Medical Academy.

‘The fact that the Association has been established and that the alumni have a common goal to work together for the development, prosperity and wider notoriety of the University shows that all this is doubtlessly for the benefit for future students,’ underlined Prof. Habil. Dr. Daiva Rastenytė. According to the Chancellor of the Medical Academy, the LSMU Alumni Association will exist as long as a wish to spread a good message about the University persists.

‘It had been discussed for a long time about the establishment of the Association. The presence of the alumni organization is a sign of a cultured society and state. The term Alma Mater can be translated as a nourishing mother. If the alumni are active, they become as mothers and fathers for future generations’, said emeritus, Prof. Habil. Dr. Vilius Grabauskas, former Rector of Kaunas Institute of Medicine, KMU and the Chancellor of the LSMU Medical Academy.

‘The University without an Alumni Association would not be a University. We considered establishing such association five years ago already. We would like our University alumni to be involved in the process of preparation of new specialists. The main goal for the alumni is to share their good practice with others. They have to help other young people,’ stated Prof. Habil. Dr. Henrikas Žilinskas, one of the establishers of the Association.

The elected President pointed out that in the near future it is planned to call a meeting of the Board to discuss the closest work plans of the Association.

‘The LSMU graduates’ community consists of more than 40 thousand members. We have an inspiring goal to unite around 2 thousand active members’, said Dr. Mindaugas Plieskis, the President of the LSMU Alumni Association.

The objectives of the LSMU Alumni Association are to promote and maintain strong interrelations between the alumni, to contribute to the creation and fostering of the LSMU image in society as well as to contribute comprehensively to the LSMU projects, etc.

The establishers of the Association have elected Prof. Daiva Rastenytė, Prof. Mindaugas Malakauskas, Mohamad Chamsin, Dr. Jolanta Dičkutė, Prof. Vilius Grabauskas, Prof. Henrikas Žilinskas, Prof. Vidmantas Bižokas, Jonas Talmantas, Virginijus Kantauskas and Lina Gedmintaitė as a the members of the Board.