Thank you, alumni leaders, for sharing your talent with the IU Alumni Association.
For those of you who I have not met yet, my name is Rachael Jones McAfee and I am the new Director of Alumni Communities and Volunteer Management for the IU Alumni Association. I am so excited about returning to the university and working with its committed alumni. If you haven’t had the chance to listen to my introductory webinar or read the summary remarks, this might be a great time to do so. I want you to get to know each of you, and in turn, I want you to know me.
In that introductory webinar, I talked about five priorities that I would like to accomplish in the first six months of my tenure (the clock is ticking! I began on Sept. 8). Priority #5 is listed below:
Reinstate annual recognition program but also regularly recognize communities who do good work.
Develop, with other staff, a holistic recognition strategy that both formally and informally recognizes excellent work in alumni relations.
Feedback is important in any planning process and input from you, our most dedicated alumni, will be crucial. I will regularly host “Open Ear Forums” to gather your thoughts and expertise in a specific area of alumni relations; for the month of November there will be three separate sessions to share ideas on alumni leader recognition. I want to gather feedback about a formal recognition or awards program and on informal ways the IUAA can recognize outstanding efforts by groups and individuals year round.
Each forum will last 1 hour and will be held via conference call. There is no need to attend more than one forum. The times and dates are listed below (all times are Eastern).
- Wednesday, Nov. 11, 8:30-9:30AM
- Friday, Nov. 13, 4-5PM
- Monday, Nov. 16, noon-1PM
I am requiring registration for these forums so I can be adequately prepared and can also follow up more easily after the call.
Several days before each forum I will follow up with all registrants providing a conference call dial-in number and also specific questions for you to consider. These questions should not be seen as prescriptive, rather they are fodder for thought. All constructive feedback is welcome.
More topics will be introduced in the months to come. Stay tuned!