Cornell College Alumni Board
Semi-Annual Meeting
October 14, 2005

Attending:
Lu Ann White ’78, President
Joe Campanelli ’69, President-Elect
Sheila Kruse Boyce ’85
RJ Holmes’99
Fredrick Holtz ’86
Michael Mudlaff ’88
Lisa Naaktgeboren ’90
Lynn Ross Cope ’87
Allan Ruter ’76
Barbara Schultz ’71
Richard Scott ’63
Kalya Sorgenfrey ’05
Roger Stigers ’65
Carol Busch Telling ’66
Carrie Temm ’04
Gary Thompson ’60
Mark Van Etten ’76
Todd Watson ’93
Kate Schlemmer Watson ’95
John Yeager ’74

Absent:
James Coddington ’70
Jodi Enger ’91
Lisa Fry ’02
John Gilliland ’89
Nels Lindquist ’71
Andrew Peternel ’05
Paige Sindt ’03

Staff:
Debbie Green-Director of College Advancement
Ruth Keefe Miller ’66-Alumni Director
Jennifer Boettger-Assistant Director of Development and Alumni
Dee Ann Rexroat ’82-Director of College Communications
Jayne Swanson-Director of Career Services
Sharon Grice-Associate Director of Admission

Meeting called to order at 8:34 by Lu Ann White ’78

Introduction theme:
Things a student should do off campus before leaving Cornell:

Joe Campanelli ’69: Thanksgiving feast at the Owl cabin on the Cedar River. (Though only Owls could do it.)

Fred Holtz ’86. Pork tenderloin sandwiches at Joensy’s.

Kate Schlemmer-Waton ’95: Pinning a dollar to the ceiling at Sutliff.

Todd Watson ’93: Sledding on the Pres. Hill.

Mark Van Etten ’74: Breakfast at the Amanas.

Sheila Kruse Boyce ’85: Climbing the old water tower (on the way back from a night in Mt. Vernon drinking Pepsi).

Sharon Grice: Bike ride on Springville Rd.

R.J. Holmes ’99: Walking on the snow covered grounds.

Jen Boettger: Dinner at Lincoln café

Jayne Swanson: New coffee house

Kayla Sorgenfrey ’05: Hanging out at the Pal

Carrie Temm’04: Shops on Main St.

Dee Ann Rexroat ’82: Trip to Chicago

Barbara Schultz ’71: Being naughty at Lake MacBride (and being discovered by Solon Police)

Roger Stigers ’65: Drinking Pepsi at Sutliff.

John Yeager ’74: Catching trains on the wooden bridge by Ash Park

Debbie Green: Bauman’s clothing store.

Lisa Naaktgeboren ’90: Checking a steak out and going to the Pal on Saturday night.

Gary Thompson ’60: Catching turkeys at a turkey farm. Fly fishing on the Cedar River

Allan Ruter ’76: Ole’s ham and egger (Number 8). Trails at the Pal.

Lynn Ross Cope ’87: Partying at Prof. Steve Lacey’s house.

Carol Busch Telling ’66: Bishop’s all you can eat restaurant and Wapsi and Cedar River canoeing.

Carol Drendel Hon: Visiting the campus to see Gib

Dick Brubaker ’55: The Owls coming out of (one of) their sub rosa periods.

Gib Drendel ’58: Hiding his un-allowed car across the street from the Dean. Hitchhiking to Chicago.

Mike Mudluff ’88: Three weeks in China with a professor of opposite political persuasion (Loebsack).

Ruth Keefe Miller ’66: Frolicking at Lake MacBride.

Lu Ann White ’79: Buying Pepsi in Mechanicsville. Hanging out in Iowa City.

R. K. Scott ’63: The men’s social groups going to Bob’s in Lisbon on Monday nights after their group meetings to have a Pepsi together.

 

(a lot of Pepsi was drunk)

Spring meeting set for April 21, 2006

Respectfully submitted,

Fred Holtz ‘86
Acting secretary

Alumni Association Board of Directors
Alumni and College Advancement Committee
Minutes of October 14, 2005 Meeting

Amendment of By-Laws

The committee talked about the By-Laws and decided that some changes needed to be made to the description of our committee. Much of the old description focused on fundraising initiatives and we as a committee did not feel that was our focus, but that of the Board of Trustees. Our committee is more about building relationships and connections between alumni. The committee proposed an amendment to the description of the Alumni and College Advancement Committee in the By-Laws of the Alumni Association as follows:

The Alumni and College Advancement Committee, the purpose of which shall be, in cooperation with the Alumni and College Advancement office to:

1) Assist and promote the programs for alumni reunions and gatherings on
and off campus. The committee will consider ways that such activities may
be improved, reach more alumni and be more beneficial to the alumni and
the college.

2) Provide oversight and support of the class agent program.

3) Assist the Board of Trustees in educating the alumni of the college’s
financial needs and fundraising status.

These changes were voted on and approved by the Alumni Association Board in the afternoon.

Also, in the By-Laws, all references to GOLD (Graduates of the Last Decade) should be changed to C’YA (Cornell Young Alumni).

Class Agent Letters

Three classes have not had a letter sent out in a very long time. These classes are ’82, ’93 and ’81. Ruth sent e-mails to these class agents and told them that if the Alumni Office did not hear from them by a certain time, the Office would assume they stepped down from their position and will look for someone else to serve as class agent. The Alumni Office will begin looking for new agents for these classes. The Class of ’81 is extremely important, since they have a reunion next year. The Alumni Office is sending out a letter this fall to that class informing them that they will need help with the reunion. From that committee, they hope to find someone to step up as class agent. Our committee recommended asking out right for a class agent and seeing if anyone might be interested.

The Alumni Office is focusing on these three classes to start with and will work to get a plan to get new class agents. They will then start working with other classes that need assistance or new class agents.

Overall, class letters are going well. One letter a year is sufficient for some classes. It was stressed what a great job Lisa Naaktgeboren is doing with writing letters to the older classes that do not have an agent.

2005-2006 Alumni Events

Ruth highligheted these events in the morning session of the Alumni Board.

Events will be going back to the “key cities” such as Des Moines, Denve, Twin Cities, Chicago, etc. Events will also be held in Florida, Southern Califonia and other places. So far planning for these events are going well.

Cornell Young Alumni (C’YA)

RJ and Jen reported that C’YA had a very successful summer blitz with 11
cities hosting happy hours. Most had good attendance. In Chicago and the

Quad Cities, attendance was fairly low and they are working to figure out why. The happy hour concept is a good catalyst for other young alumni events. However, some young alum are requesting events not at bars, so C’YA will also start planning these type of events, but keep the Happy Hours also. C’YA is going to test having quarterly events in the Greater Cornell area. There was a picnic before the Homecoming game. There will also be a C’YA Holiday Party, C’YA bar crawl in Iowa City, C’YA at the Pal, and the traditional Happy Hour. If these events work well, they may try to have more throughout the country.

Also, C’YA had a strong presence at the Senior Dinner and the Rock the Block events on the Cornell campus. This helps get new grads and current students involved right away.

C’YA also is working with the Young Trustees in fundraising for the college.

The Coe/Cornell challenge went out to grads of the last 10 years and is a contest between Coe and Cornell to see who can get the highest participation rate. C’Ya is still more focused on the social aspect, rather than fundraising, but this is a great program to start with.

Golden Reunions at Homecoming 2006

Instead of having a separate Golden Alumni weekend for classes more than 50 years out, these alumni will be having their reunions during Homecoming weekend in 2006. The challenge with this is accommodating the Golden Group.

Our committee stressed that there will need to be even more support by the Alumni Board next year to accommodate this group logistically. Also, programming for this group was discussed. Ruth said this group doesn’t need a lot of specific events, but time to visit and reconnect. Our committee discussed having a theater production and possibly a museum trip or music from Cornell student groups as has been done at past Golden Alumni weekends.

Submitted by:

Kayla Sorgenfrey

Alumni Association Board of Directors
Communications Committee
Minutes of October 14, 2005 Meeting

Members present: Lynn Ross Cope ’87, Fred Holtz ’86 (secretary), Allan Ruter ’76 (chair), Barbara Schultz ’71, R.K. Scott ’63, Carrie Temm’05, Kate Schlemmer-Watson ’95, Todd Watson ’93

Members absent: none

Staff present: Dee Ann Rexroat , Jennifer Boettger

1. CASA activities: Alum Chums are matched up 1-to-1 for volunteers. Legacy reception (124 students this year!) to be held November 5 th in conjunction with family weekend.

2. Online Community: Beta test site to be launched October 15. Registration materials for first wave of members should go out by the end of the month. The next Cornell Report will have a blurb on the community. An ad-hoc committee was established to discover unexpected issues and policy problems and try to find solutions; members are Kate Watson, Fred Holtz, and Allan Ruter. It is hoped that the first wave or two will have fewer e-savvy users than the subsequent waves so problems can be solved before the complete launch is rolled out. Update: Launch schedule has been revised and posted online.

3. Award nominees: Honorary alumni status for retiring professors Richard Martin and Charles Vernoff. Distinguished Achievement Award potential nominees identified, to be voted on at spring meeting. No potential Young Alumni Achievement identified yet. No potential Leadership and Service nominees identified yet.

4. College marketing issues: Jonathan Stroud and Dee Ann Rexroat co-chair a college brand committee to come up with a logo and graphic identity for brochures, athletics, etc. that will have consistency in look and message. The bookstore has been brought into the discussions in the hope that they will sell items with the harmonized look. Goal is have the project completed this academic year. The only college tag line known offhand from the committee members was Coe’s (“Coe Sucks”, or in Latin, Coeius Suckius). Dee Ann invited the committee members to give their input on their ideas of what the college identity should be.

Submitted by:

Allan Ruter

Minutes of Student Assistance Committee Meeting
October 14, 2005
submitted by Sheila Kruse Boyce

Attending: Michael Mudlaff (chair), Carol Busch Telling, Sheila Kruse Boyce, RJ Holmes, Lisa Naakteboren, John Yeager, Joe Campanelli (Member-at-Large).

Staff: Jayne Swanson, Sharon Grice

ADMISSIONS - Sharon Grice reported on Admissions projects that the Alumni Board can help with.

This is a big jump – because we are paying more attention to them through Lu Ann’s letter, our calls, Jonathon Stroud’s letter and the admission rep. The point is to talk to the parent/alum – it’s more important than talking to the student. The goal is to make the connection to Cornell.

2) Cornell Admissions Recruiting Effort (CARE) – Not much has changed since fall meeting.

a. Development of CARE Teams:

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Future Years
Minneapolis Chicago Houston Austin
St. Louis Dallas Milwaukee
Kansas City Northern CA Madison
Denver New England Des Moines
Decorah Phoenix

*Idea in areas not served by Admission Counselors: Adopt-a-High-School. Alums can contact Guidance Counselors, take in Cornell information and offer to serve as a local contact for interested students.

*Trying to come up with a logo t-shirt for volunteers. Group suggested heather gray with dark purple. Have Cornell College logo be more prominent with CARE logo on sleeve.

Arizona 4 Missouri 7
California 5 Ohio 1
Delaware 1 Oregon 1
Idaho 1 Tennessee 2
Illinois 2 Texas 5
Kentucky 1 Virginia 2
Kansas 4 Wisconsin 1
TOTAL: 37

College fairs have been more of a focus – counselors are identifying fairs to attend in new areas, and working to get more alums involved.

3) Promotion of CARE program: Information provided in Alumni E-Newsletter, direct link to CARE volunteer on-line form located on alumni website and a mailing sent to select cities. They’ve already received 20-25 new volunteers

Send-offs for entering students – It’s more of an alumni role than admissions, but admissions can help with letters. Alumni Board can identify possible hosts in each area and see what we come up with. Suggest starting in major areas, such as Des Moines, Minneapolis, Chicago, Denver, Kansas City, and St. Louis. The gathering would be held in June or July, and could include new students, current students, alums and parents of students.

CAREER SERVICES – Jayne Swanson reported

Jayne will contact the Alumni Board with a list of student interests and areas to see whether anyone can provide a connection. Where a student has a place to stay often dictates where he or she goes.

The Student Assistance Committee sent hand-written thank-you notes to each alumni participant in 2004.

Next semester, the office will sponsor another “Careers in . . .” program and panel (career yet to be selected), the Mingling and Networking Workshop and Social, and several other programs directed towards seniors that utilize Cornell alumni. Jayne will provide a full report at the Spring meeting of alumni who have volunteered their time for Career Services this year.

Mike Mudlaff suggested a “Careers in Religious Studies,” which could include the ministry, counseling, teaching, etc. Mike can offer housing in Des Moines for a student extern.

We should be writing thank-you letters to alumni who are involved in the Fellowships. Allan Ruter offered to write the template.

Student Assistance Committee Business –

The Student Assistance Committee, the purpose of which shall be, under the direction of the Career Services Office, the Admission Office and the Alumni and College Advancement Office, to recruit alumni volunteers to assist these offices in meeting their objectives.

3) Class Agent letters – Suggest having each letter highlight something different, such as encouraging people to update their business info, trying to find classmates that have no address, joining the online community, etc