{"id":8474,"date":"2016-02-25T19:55:40","date_gmt":"2016-02-25T19:55:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?p=8474&#038;post_type=story"},"modified":"2025-03-17T14:11:49","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T14:11:49","slug":"driven-to-serve","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/driven-to-serve\/","title":{"rendered":"Driven to Serve"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Spring 2016\u00a0| By <strong>Eric Michael, &#8217;96<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>[lead]Staying connected to your alma mater can be difficult from more than 1,300 miles away. In Miami, busy corporate executive Julie Stroh was searching for a way to sustain her bond with the place where she experienced \u201ccultural enlightenment\u201d \u2014 the University of Michigan. Volunteering with the U of M Club of Miami-Fort Lauderdale \u201cseemed like a great way to fulfill a drive and desire and do something for an institution that had really helped me so much,\u201d she says. But Stroh had no idea that her initiation into the world of alumni relations would lead to a radical shift in her career trajectory \u2014 and a new level of professional fulfillment.[\/lead]<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was really transformed because of my experience with service and philanthropy. It totally changed my life,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s why I left the for-profit world and moved into higher education.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After that transition, Stroh became a leader in alumni, community and government outreach positions at the University of Miami, where she earned her graduate degree in liberal studies, and Ball State University in Indiana, before joining the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucffoundation.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">UCF Foundation<\/a> \u2028in September.<\/p>\n<p>[photo id=&#8221;8516&#8243; title=&#8221;julie-stroh-quote&#8221; alt=&#8221;julie-stroh-quote&#8221; position=&#8221;right&#8221; width=&#8221;325px&#8221;]Julie Stroh, associate vice president of alumni relations and executive director of the <a href=\"https:\/\/ucfalumni.com\/\">UCF Alumni Association<\/a>, believes the combination of service and philanthropy creates meaningful impact.[\/photo]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>[divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 24px;\"><em>\u201cServing and being engaged and involved at UCF will give you access to things in your life that will make you a more successful person, but the real return on your investment will be the impact you\u2019ll make \u2014 the lives that will be changed because of generosity.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>[divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m a latecomer to higher education advancement but have been fortunate because of the great synergies between my entrepreneurial corporate background, my passion for education and my personal drive for service,\u201d says Stroh. \u201cI don\u2019t function well as a person unless I feel that I\u2019m giving back as a significant part of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the combination of service and philanthropy that Stroh sees as the key to success for alumni who truly want to maximize the benefits of their association.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have the opportunity and the ability to provide our alumni with connections to resources on campus, to career services and to <a href=\"https:\/\/ucfalumni.com\/get-involved-2\/alumni\/chapters-clubs\">fellow Knights in a new city<\/a> or in your current community \u2014 meaningful connections,\u201d she says. \u201cServing and being engaged and involved at UCF will give you access to things in your life that will make you a more successful person, but the real return on your investment will be the impact you\u2019ll make \u2014 the lives that will be changed because of generosity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a result that Stroh believes in because she has experienced it firsthand. \u201cI think if someone were to ask me what I am most proud of in my professional life, I\u2019d say it was the opportunity to serve and give back to my institution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":8665,"template":"","categories":[],"tags":[904,871,903],"class_list":["post-8474","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-staff","tag-ucf-alumni-association","tag-ucf-foundation","issues-881","issues-spring-2016"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Driven to Serve | Pegasus Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Read Driven to Serve and other articles about UCF students, alumni and faculty impacting Orlando, Florida and the world.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/driven-to-serve\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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