My college is very small, 120 students. We do not have the budget for a separate position in the alumni director role. How would I develop this association on an "all volunteer" status?
We have tried in the past and failed. One of the issues is owner buy in.
Christian,
Have you thought about including some of your alumni on your advisory board?
June Gudeman
Christian,
Have you thought about including some of your alumni on your advisory board?
June
Our school has been around almost 100 years, so there is an Advisory Board in place. I work closely with the President, VP of Career Services, Director of Admissions, as well as all Department Heads. These are the decision makers for our school so I try to interact with them as much as possible, communication is key.
We have an advisory board. I work closely with The President of the school, the VP of Career Services that handles all of our Alumni communications, as the Director of Admissions, and all of the Department Heads. I try to attend as many meetings as possible.
Hi Sharon,
Since this particular Advisory Board will function to help you set up an Alumni Program, you may also want to include some of your staff. It may be helpful to include an instructor, a representative from your administration, as well as career services. Basically, you'll want to find people who are passionate about your graduates.
June
By Sharon Cologero
What I have done in the past and have continued to do, is invite all of the managers, Dr. who participate with our school in the externship portion of our training. This way they can give us good feed back as to the education our students are receiving.
I also feel that graduates should be included in the advisory board as well,especially those who have completed and have been offered positions. They can give good insight as to what the students need on externship and what we as an institution can provide for them.
Hi Dillon,
Those who volunteer certainly should be the motivated ones. Remember that people like to be asked. So if you can think of a couple individuals that would provide good leadership on your team, ask them first.
June
I would like to ask for volunteers among our staff and alumni to form an advisory board as I think we would get the people who are most motivated to help. I think it is also important to keep in mind current students who might be great candidates for leadership when they graduate.
Hi Randy,
Will you include any alumni on your advisory board? As you consider who to invite on your team, consider who would be passionate about your graduates. Try to choose people who have a vested interest in making connections with your grads, like career services for example, so they stick with it.
June
WE will begin with the Dean of Students office. I think we will use our Retention Specialist and long with a mixture of staff and students to formuate our Committee.
Justin,
Certainly looking for individuals who may be passionate about your alumni and willing to serve (as opposed to being arm-twisted) is a great idea. I might suggest actually targeting some graduates and staff members that you think might be good candidates. Frankly, people like to be asked. You communicating to them that you believe they would be a good fit, may encourage someone to agree to something they might never step up to do on their own.
Just a few thoughts to consider.
June
I work for a small career college and would like to invite all of our graduates and school employees to come join the Advisory Board. Hopefully, the board would be formed from those who volunteer and seem dedicated to starting one. I would like to see a mix of instructors, graduates and administration to balance out the different needs and perspectives of the alumni association.
Hi Fiona,
Your thoughts on who you plan to include on your Advisory Board are good ones. It's interesting you're planning to include current students. This is a bit unique, but I believe will provide a great pay off down the road when those students become graduates. My prediction is they will be your future alumni interested in serving on your advisory board.
June
Gerry,
Good point! Sometimes the most difficult people to get "on board" are the people within your own organization. If you can get them to "buy in", as you said, others will follow.
June
Since I work in Student Services and Career Services along with managing our Alumni Association Chapter I would invite Advisory Board members on a volunteer basis. I would select from our Student body reaching out to students who function as Student Reps for their class, Employers, graduates our Associate Director and DOE along with Community representatives such as a member of the Chamber of Commerce or an industry Association.
For us it will start with our Program Deans. If we can get them to buy into the importance of having an Alumni Association, faculty and industry professionals will follow. We need to build it from inside the College and out.
Hi Linnet,
You are "right on" in looking for individuals representing several different departments. Your alumni program will need to be connected to other areas of your school and will benefit from the input from other departments.
Thanks,
June
I would invite people to offer volunteers to be part of the Advisory Board, especially I would like one or two people from each department to see the point of view of each part of the school.
