Committee 

May 17–19, 2018

Chair Molly Van Metre ’81 opened the meeting and invited members to introduce themselves.

Van Metre shared an overview of the discussion from October’s meeting; noting the following takeaways:

  • Committee does not align with priorities of Alumni Relations
  • The mission of the committee reflects the mission of the entire council
  • There is much overlap with Professional Development and the Young Alumni committees
  • The committee wants action, to do something, to produce

Van Metre next introduced a proposal to recast the committee in support of Alumni Relations’ communities. This could be a work in process and would begin with identifying ways in which we can engage with various communities and develop constructs to engage with students and connect them to these communities from the date they step onto campus.

Van Metre and Jonathan Scherr ’08 led the group in brainstorming ideas and questions, such as how to offer value to current students; facilitate club engagement for students; be a resource for recent grads for help with housing and networking; act as a conduit between alumni experts and the students who are hungry for that expertise; and support opportunities for connection such as the Hill Winds Society, the Daniel Webster Dinners, and the Class Connections Program.

The group discussed next steps including inventorying programs and connections that exist, and engaging with past chairs to learn what’s been done. First, the committee must identify what problems to focus on solving. This includes taking an inventory of these problems from an alumni perspective as well as a student perspective. This approach will provide an understanding of solutions that currently exist, or those that may not be possible.