Recommendations from the regional alumni association to the communications committee
Establish a guideline for regional associations.
Establish a guideline for how regional committees should work. It needs to be written by the college. As each region has individual needs and successes, there needs to be some more guidance from the college which includes a deliberate plan on how the college disseminates information to regional associations. Whether organized by steering committee or president, the school needs to set tone and expectations. The school also needs to asks people who have been put in place perhaps because of development reasons but do not participate in activities to step aside or address the lack of engagement.
Aspire to have five annual alumni events.
Each regional association aspires to have five annual events that are shared throughout the alumni community to build unity and connection with regional alumni and alumni in other areas. Certainly more activities are encouraged and welcome.
Important Alumni Events:
- Summer Send-Off in July to bring local alumni together and current students to welcome incoming first years. This will need coordination from both Admissions and APE.
- Bell-a-Thon the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving which needs coordination with APE and Development. Could become a great social event and development activity.
- Pheburary Phling – in February is a social event for alumni only in which folks gather and remember winter weekends, parties, etc. FUN. APE would be helpful.
- Middle Path Day – around Earth Day focusing on non-profits, preferably with Kenyon alumni involved, in which alumni gather and work. In regions in which the distances prevent the efficacy of one meet up, the region may pick a shared non-profit such as Habitat for Humanity and have Kenyon folks in each area volunteer for part of a day. Help form APE to guide people to non-profits or Development who may also have that info. It would be beneficial that it be covered widely in the Bulletin to encourage this.
- Career Panels — Building vocational communities. Best case is that these occur over winter break and spring break and are coordinated with CDO and APE so that all Kenyon students know. It would be nice if there could be some representation from CDO at events to show alumni how to navigate some of web systems and how to better plug alumni into the network.
Aspire for coordinated effort in all areas of college life.
A coordinated effort on the parts of all areas of school such as admissions, sports’ teams, professors, singing groups, Career Development Office, president’s — any college related group — need to commit to informing each other and each regional association when they will be visiting. Better events will be planned and better relationships with college and ultimately giving will unfold if there were a bigger presence.
Create a single website for all regional websites.
A website that hosts all regional websites so that each region is not forced to do that and reinvent the wheel each time.