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Alum Success

Mark Reese

“The material covered in LSSU's engineering program provided me a solid foundation for graduate studies. The systematic approach and communication skills needed to tackle engineering projects were taught and then practiced over and over again. In particular I appreciate the many hours spent by the faculty to develop oral presentation skills in each student. As a graduate student now, these skills have proven to be highly beneficial and, to my surprise, obviously not taught to the same extent at many other universities.”

Mark Reese, Mechanical Engineering 2005
Hawaii Natural Energy Institute
School of Ocean & Earth Science and Technology
Graduate Student, University of Hawaii at Manoa

Alumni Association

Staff

Susan L. (Frohmader) Fitzpatrick
LSSU Class of 1987
Director of Alumni Relations

Phone: 906-635-2831
Email: sfitzpatrick@lssu.edu“My favorite part about working here is the interaction with the others in the office: alumni and Foundation staff, and the various students who come and go in both offices. They are my built-in babysitting corps! And it's always a blast to hear from alumni I remember from school. Talk about an ideal job - I get paid to chat with old friends!”

Susan (Frohmader) Fitzpatrick returned to Lake State just one year after graduating in 1987. Her first job was working for the LSSU Foundation as the office manager. She moved to the alumni side of the house in 1995 to help develop the alumni program while working with the University’s first full-time alumni director, Mark Jastorff. Susan took over as Director Alumni Relations in 2006..

As an ‘ACE’ – Alumni Campus Employee, she says, “It's great to work for a place that you know from all angles, as a student, an alum and an employee.”

The ’87 alumna majored in English Language & Literature, which she enjoyed immensely. “But,” she laughs, “[computer science professor] Tom Boger convinced me that I had better get a computer science minor, because I might need a job some day. I’m pretty sure I would have gotten this job with or without the computer science minor, but there’s no doubt that the programming experience has come in handy many times over the years.”

Fitzpatrick has held various positions with the Foundation and Alumni offices since 1988, including a stint as Advancement Analyst with responsibility for the 50,000-record database shared by the alumni and development offices on campus. As Alumni Director, Susan handles communications with LSSU alumni, administers the Alumni Association membership program, manages the budget, works with a 15-member volunteer Board of Directors and administers the various programs and services provided by the Alumni office.

Susan is married to Rick Fitzpatrick, 2002 recipient of the Donald and Catherine Finlayson award, who owns and runs Pingatore Cleaners in the Soo. They have two children, 17-year-old Andrea and 15-year-old Ryan. Susan enjoys running, biking, gardening, golf, reading fiction, kayaking and just about anything that will get her outside on a sunny day.