The challenges that I see in setting up a website for our Alumni Assoc. is not so much with the fact of creating it, but in the fact of keeping it up to date. Right now we do have a very interactive site and we already have a job posting page. So I think we could incorporate this into a Alumni page. I would also like to see a communication page so graduates can tell their stories about job searching and tips on how to successfully job search. Maintaining contact with the graduates is another obstacle, however, I like the idea of them being able to pull their transcripts from the website. We could maybe even make it easier for them to also get their tax information that way they are always updating their information and at least seeing what else is happening in the college since they left.
Kelley,
I agree with your thoughts. If you have buy in from the 'top', you have the power to sell the idea and the time required from your instructors.
June Gudeman
We will have some challenges with the instructors on being on board with helping past students. Time committment from the staff has always been an issue and it must come from the owner of our school to successfully sell the idea of setting up an Alumni Association. This is the key ingredient for our school.
Samantha,
You may want to consider setting up an alumni site which will give you the ability to administrate the back end and make changes without using IT or having to pay a high hourly rate to a programer.
June Gudeman
Challenges for setting up an Alumni Website will require working closely with an individual in IT to make sure the website is working smoothly, and correctly. Additionally, IT is available for both of our campuses but all requests will require the submission of IT tickets to get requests and goals to be achieved.
James,
I like your idea for maintaining the website - certainly, you want to keep it fresh and new so your grads see the need for returning often. Providing your current students - about to graduate - with a flyer will be helpful in letting them know how to stay in touch. But, bottom line is your grads WILL find you if you have a dedicated website.
June Gudeman
The challenges that we would face in setting up and maintaining an Alumni Association website would be in creating/maintaining it regularly and how to publicize the website. What we would do to overcome these challenges is setting up an organized schedule for maintaining the website after it's made and give the students flyers in class to let them know about the website.
Lisa,
It is certainly a challenge to find the time and resources to set up a well designed website for your grads. You might consider a phase 1 - beginning with a simplified version - even just a link to some static pages. Once you can provide actual numbers of grads visiting the site - it may be easier to gather the support and funds to design a more interactive site.
June Gudeman
Our major challenge to set up an alumni website is how to create, maintain and keep the website with current information. I believe the hard part is to get the approval for IT department to create one that can interact with the school website which will make easy for students can visit and access the site for update information.
Tawny,
As you think about an alumni website for your school, consider what would draw your graduates. What things could you include that would provide that "buy-in"?
You might consider components that alumni are looking for like a Job Board, an Alumni Directory (to connect with old classmates), or other helpful information they might be interested in - Career Services, Loan Info, Continuing Education. You may also want to consider some things that would, literally, force them to your site like Transcript Request Forms or Grad Surveys.
June Gudeman
I think our biggest challenge will be how to get the alumni to want to visit the alumni website and become connected to the school again. I think that for upcoming graudates that process will be emebedded in them before they leave. My goal is to be able to reach back to graduates from many years back and make them see the beenfits and reasons why they should want to be a part of our Almuni Association and making sure we are able to convey exactly what are thoughts, ideas and plans are on the website.
Michael,
If you don't have the resources to put together and maintain a distinct alumni site, some institutions have a designated page off their main site for grads. This is a cost effective and simple way to begin.
June Gudeman
I must admit that we do not have an alumni website as part of our institution. We do have a website for the school and what it offers. This is something that is lacking on our part. We have the people in place right now who take care of the website, it would not be a challenge to make this happen, just some brainstorming on what we want.
Christine,
You're right, it is so important to set up a system whereby your grads get prompt responses. Anyone who has any experience running a website knows both the importance of changing it often to keep it fresh and the challenge of doing that regularly. It is very time consuming. I like your incentives. We constantly need to be thinking about what will bring alumni back to our sites. Remember that the main reason graduates come back to their institution is Career Services.
June Gudeman
I believe that a major challenge would be maintaining and keeping the alumni association website current. Keeping contact with graduates is difficult if they do not respond to requests quickly. If we combine the communication between our site and other social networking sites, then maybe the students will want to visit the site for updated information, if we give them inventives, like continuing education workshops and guest speakers, then it could increase their interest to continuing checking the site.
Christina ,
Certainly, finding a couple of employed graduates who are happy with their education would do a lot to jump start your program. All it takes is a couple of alumni who are excited and ready to "give back" to your institution.
June Gudeman
Christina ,
I like your idea of just linking a page or two. Another thing smaller institutions are doing is to create a separate Facebook page for graduates. This can have provide many of the features of a full alumni website -- opportunities to connect with old friends, place to share alumni success stories, job opportunities,etc.
June Gudeman
I have the same situation. Many are disgruntled with lack of work at this time and only want to complain.
My campus is small and has one website. We may be able to add a link to a page or two on the existing website dedicated to the alumni association.
Christian,
Creating and maintaining a website definitely takes a level of commitment, both financially and in the area of personnel needed to manage it. That being said, it is a fantastic method for communication. Often schools spend an incredible amount of money trying to find and maintain contact with their graduates. A website that includes Alumni Profiles where grads can update their personal and employment info accomplishes that same thing. In fact, graduates will find YOU via a website rather than you attempting to find them.
Some schools are using Facebook to accomplish many of the same things an individual alumni site might use to connect with their alumni.
June Gudeman
