Alumni Board Meeting Minutes
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Semi-Annual Meeting
Friday, April 16, 2004
Hedges Lounge, The Commons
Lu Ann White '78 - Presiding
Attending:
Lu Ann White '78, President
Joe Campanelli '69, President Elect
Bobbi Buckner Bentz '01
Jim Coddington '70
Jodi Enger '91
RJ Holmes '99
Fred Holtz '86
Nels Lindquist '71
Michael Mudlaff '88
Lisa Naaktgeboren '90
Allan Ruter '76
Sally Larson Sargent '72
Barbara Schultz '71
Richard Scott '63
Roger Stigers '65
Carrie Temm '04
Gary Thompson '60
Ann Loewe Turner '94
Mark Van Etten '76
Todd '93 and Kate Schlemmer '95 Watson
Absent:
Jalel Aossey '97
Shelia Kruse Boyce '85
Lisa Fry '02
John Gilliland '89
Paige Sindt '03
Carol Busch Telling '66
John Turner '94
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
Bev Moser, Hon. '80 - Alumni Programs Coordinator
Sharon Grice - Associate Director of Admissions
Jayne Swanson - Director of Career Services
President, Lu Ann White, opened the meeting. Each of the board members introduced themselves and told of changes they have seen on campus since there were students
Some of the changes noted were:
* Joe Campanelli (his wife-a student) brought brownies and cookies for the class
* Allan Ruter remembers English papers being done without computers.
* Mark Van Etten mentioned that his father might have been the one that was responsible for the burning of Old Sem when the chemistry department was housed there, as he had somewhat of a similar experience in the old Chemistry Building..
* Ann Loewe Turner remembered the "Monk" book that is no longer in existence.
* Kate Schlemmer Watson commandeered a study carousel in Bowman and depending on how long she studied would determine if someone wanted to enroll in that class.
* Carrie Temm-since she just graduated, wasn't able to give an example of any changes!
* Gary Thompson remembers the Cole Bin.
* Jodi noted improvement in Career Services Department. She had to look through files as there was no computer-generated reports.
* Jim Coddington remembers the old, large card, data processing computer system.
* Michael Mudlaff remembers a big football player by the name of Ira Skeeby bouncing him off the wall and putting a hole in the hall in Merner.
* Bobbi Buckner Bentz noted internet in rooms which was not installed when she entered as a freshman.
* RJ Holmes noted the changes to Armstrong Hall and Women's Gym.
* Fred Holtz remembers the Milts.
* Lisa Naaktgeboren remembers floppy disk.
* Nels Lindquist noted that there used to be hours for women-9 p.m. weekdays and 11 p.m. weekends.
* Barb Schultz noted there was only one phone at each end of the hall.
* RK Scott remembers filling wastebaskets with water and placing against a freshman's door and then going to switchboard and calling up to the room to tell them they had a phone call.
* Roger Stigers remembers moving the library book by book.
Minutes of the October 17, 2003 meeting were approved.
Recommendation: All future handouts and correspondence have date on front page.
LuAnn presented an overview of the agenda/plans for the day.
Lu Ann White handed out new copies of the "Strategic Plan" and the following discussion was held.
Mission:
(to be revised to state)
To connect and reconnect alumni, students, parents and friends with Cornell.
Student Assistance
I. Career Services
A. Study alumni Fellows Program for October
B. Alumni Board Members to send business cards to Jayne
II. Admissions
A. Consider speaking at on-campus student events
B. Add members to existing CARE alumni groups
C. Consider being "profiled" for Alumni Search Data Base - expand site to career services
III. Alumni Visibility on campus
A. New student orientation
B. Consider informal "visibility" initiatives that make sense
The board adjourned for lunch in Harlan Dining Room. Gordon Urquhart and Judge David and Ginger Hansen were presented with Honorary Membership Certificates. President Les Garner gave a brief presentation to the board.
Following lunch the board reconvened in Hedges Lounge. Karla Carney, Associate Dean of Students gave a presentation on the social group situation. She outlined the goals of the task force that has been formed to make recommendations to improve pledging procedures.
A brief recap of the Sesquicentennial Celebrations was held.
Committees then broke out for individual meetings. When they reconvened the following recommendations were presented:
Student Assistance
Career Service
o Jayne Swanson shared a list of programs in 2003-2004 involving alumni.
o Highlights include Careers for Writers, Careers for Science Majors, Networking and Mingling Dessert Reception, Finance 101, and Your First Months After Graduation
o Attendance ranged from 8 to 20 participants at each session
§ Externship Program over Spring Break
o Focus on the program is for students to job shadow over 3 to 5 days
o In the 1st year of the program, Career Services had 7 students participate; this year there were 15 students with 2 students unable to complete the experience due to sponsor issues
o Students initiate the process of doing an externship prior to winter break, and they list 3 areas of interest and 3 possible locations for the Career Services staff to work with
o Most of the extern sponsors were Cornell alums, but a couple were not
o Michael Mudlaff will send thank you notes to extern sponsors on behalf of the Alumni Board
§ Alumni Fellows Program
o Initially proposed and funded by an alum-Dean Riesen from the Board of Trustees
o Goals is to eventually have 12 Alumni Fellows per year
o Student would do an internship somewhere around the country and be sponsored by an alum for funding issues (e.g., stipend, cost of living, etc.); an alum would also be the internship mentor for the experience
o Program is still under development with the goal to have a more comprehensive plan of action by fall 2004
§ Items the Alumni Board can do to help
o Several Career Services programs rely on local alums to participate
o Board members suggested that Career Services also explore asking alumni who are beyond the 1-hour driving radius of campus as some alums may also be interested in helping
o Joe Campanelli offered assistance in pulling together a program on employment benefits for graduating students
o Alumni can also be used for informational interviews, resources for graduates moving to a new city, and as general e-mail contacts
o All Board members will receive a draft of the Alumni Fellows proposal for review and feedback is requested at the next Alumni Board Meeting in the fall.
Admissions
§ Sharon Grice provided an update on various projects within Admissions
o Will seek more alumni involvement in the fall for the Legacy Phone Project
o Alumni have come back to the Hilltop and served as major speakers for Visit Days including Scholarship Recognition Day (Mike Conklin) and Junior Preview Day (Lisa Naaktgeborn)
o Lu Ann White has written a letter to admitted Cornell students on behalf of the Alumni encouraging them to come to Cornell
o Would like to increase the number of alumni involved in local CARE teams
§ Current teams are in Minneapolis, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Denver, and Houston
§ CARE teams have covered 34 fairs during this past admissions cycle
§ Terri LeBlanc will be doing an Admissions Site Presentation for the full Alumni Board in Hedges
o Review of the V-Dorm feature of the site
o Discuss the online chat system
o Overview of the Alumni Search Feature
§ Needs from Alumni Board
o Feedback on Alumni Search feature on the Admissions website
o Have all Alumni Board members profiled on the Admissions website
o Consider development of a more open Admissions website profiling Alumni that can be used by Admissions and Career Services
Strategic Plan
§ Delete the admissions sample letter under Student Assistance
Alumni Visibility
§ Alumni needed to volunteer with Validation Day activities during New Student Orientation
§ Alumni presence on the Hilltop must be intentional while allowing for informal and meaningful interactions with undergraduates
o Ideas include visiting with classes and serving on panels
Communications Committee
1. Alumni e-newsletter: Dee Ann distributed hard copies of the first Cornell alumni e-newsletter and asked committee members for their response. Comments were uniformly favorable, with some members expressing their desire for faster, more direct access to the Alumni portal on the College's website.
2. Admissions publications. Dee Ann and Allan distributed to all committee members a representative selection of print materials sent to prospective students by the Office of Admissions. Allan asked all members to peruse these materials before the Fall, 2004 meeting, so that we will have a better understanding of both the nature of these materials and the contexts in which they are created and disseminated.
3. Website and e-mail enhancements: Considerable discussion arose about current college website and e-mail capabilities, as a result of comments made by other Directors during the Strategic Planning discussion held during the morning session. Committee members *uickly reached consensus that we should do what we can to support a higher institutional budget priority for expediting email and website communications between alumni and the college, including lifetime e-mail for Cornell graduates. Allan agreed to discuss this issue with appropriate officials and to report back to the committee in the fall.
4. Award nominees: Allan distributed information on proposed alumni award recipients for Homecoming 2004. The committee briefly discussed the nominees before agreeing to submit the list to the entire Board of Directors for approval.
5. Strategic Plan: Comments from the entire Board of Directors during the morning session suggest the need for some revisions to the Communications portion of the Strategic Plan document. Allan offered to draft proposed revisions and email the draft to all committee members for review and comment over the summer months.
Alumni and College Advancement
- Jim Coddington will write a letter to the class agents thanking them this fall - Only a handful of agents not writing letters so Ruth will contact them to ask if they want to continue or get someone else to step in.
- Lisa Naaktoborn will continue to write letter to classes without agent and her class of '90
- Class Agent recognition should be done at convo during Homecoming again and also suggested to have a poster done at registration table with all of the agents names listed
-GOLD Program shooting for 4 events to be scheduled before the end of school in order to get on Senior portal for graduates to see possible events in the areas where they will be living.
- Area clubs in other cities will be established through using Alumni Board members as point people to either help put a committee together or identify someone to start an event
- We are ahead in donor dollars from last year in Annual Fund but need to encourage % participation
Ruth Miller handed out the tentative 2004 Homecoming Schedule and the new Board Directory. Members made changes to the directory. New copy is enclosed.
At the Homecoming Convocation 2004, the following awards have been approved and will be presented:
Mike Conklin '69 Distinguished Achievement Award
Matt Weiss '99, Young Alumnus Award
Charles Milhauser, Leadership and Service
Bill and Vivian Heywood, Leadership and Service
Richard Thomas, Leadership and Service
Meeting adjourned at 4:30 p.m.
