CEDAR FALLS - The University of Northern Iowa Alumni Association recently launched Panther Union, a new online social network offered exclusively to UNI alumni.

The network will provide a secure online forum where UNI's 93,000 alumni can build and maintain personal and professional connections with other alums. It can be found at http://pantherunion.unialum.org/.

Panther Union empowers UNI alumni to connect with friends and friends-of-friends in an online community. Unlike online social networks that are open to the general public, inCircle is a private-label network that requires identity verification before an alumni member can join. Alumni information is pre-populated, making it easy for users to build profiles and decide what information is available to other alums. The network grows with each new authenticated member who invites more alumni into the exclusive community.

"Panther Union is one of those tools that will help take the UNI Alumni Association to the next level. One of our priorities is to reconnect classmates and friends with one another and with UNI," said Mark Jastorff, president of the UNI Alumni Association.

The association hopes it can use information gathered by interest areas to improve its services and programs to certain audiences. "If the tuba section from the '50s has an active group, for example, that tells us that maybe we should have a reunion or some other event," said Jastorff.

There are already more than 30 groups established at Panther Union ranging from Ultimate Frisbee Club to Marching Band alumni to different residence halls and professional groups like accounting.

"There are also groups set up for alumni in cities all over Iowa and points beyond," added Jastorff. "Alumni have set up groups for Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tenn.; and Chicago."

UNI alumni can log in or register for Panther Union by visiting http://pantherunion.unialum.org/. Once on the network, alumni participants can communicate through messaging, photo albums and blogs, reconnect with classmates or groups, participate in forum discussions and make professional connections. Alumni also can use the search capability to find other alums who share interests, common acquaintances, professions, locations and more.