Nacums

UMMA

University Mail Managers Association (UMMA)

The first "Big 10 Conference" of Mail Service Managers was held at the University of Michigan in 1979. The idea was to meet as an informal group without elected officers or annual dues. The annual meetings were scheduled at various member campuses to view first hand how their Mail Service operated. A few formal presentations were scheduled, round-table discussions were key and the variety of topics seemed to further stimulate surveys and follow-up correspondence.

"The Big 10 Association of Mail Service Managers" has undergone an obvious name change to more accurately reflect the institutions that have attended (and hosted) the meetings. Right from the very beginning, schools not in the Big 10 Conference were included. Midwest College/University Mail Managers was tried, but the conference was drawing schools outside the midwest.

In 1990 at The Ohio State University conference there was a consensus that the association had reached a point of maturity and it was agreed to develop a formal association. The organization was named the "University Mail Managers Association" to avoid excluding any institution that might want to join UMMA.

The purpose of the organization was:

To enhance the image of college and university mailing and shipping professionals;
To network with our peers;
To exchange ideas for the benefit of our institutions and our personal and professional growth;
To primarily, but not exclusively, serve the midwestern states which are serviced by the Big Ten Universities.

Actually, not much of that early "informal" premise has changed. UMMA has stayed with the informal group concept, without elected officers and annual dues. UMMA attempted annual dues and a quarterly newsletter in the early 1990s, but discontinued in that direction when it became too burdensome for the volunteers.

UMMA has a Core Group that consists of the schools that have hosted these conferences and the host of the next conference automatically becomes President. At the 1995 conference it was decided that the President would also represent UMMA at NACUMS. At the 1996 conference at Ball State University, it was decided that representing UMMA at NACUMS would become a responsibility of the Past President.

For more information regarding the University Mail Managers Association or the Annual UMMA conference, you may click here to view our website or you can contact UMMA's President at the following: