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March 2008
The Jepson School provides
an intense and personal learning experience and most graduates say they
leave campus bound closely to their classmates, faculty, staff — and to the institution itself.
"We want to keep those connections strong and we believe in taking a collaborative
approach to developing programming to serve alumni," says Sue
Robinson, Director of Community Programs. "We act only in response
to alumni ideas and priorities."
Alumni say their main interests are
improving communications with each other, mentoring students,
engaging in educational opportunities and becoming more connected to
the life of the School.
"Our smallness, as an institution and as
an alumni network, is a real strength," Robinson says. With fewer
than 1,000 alumni — many clustered in metro Richmond, the
Washington corridor and major East Coast population centers — the
Jepson network is accessible. "It's possible for every alumni who
wants to be involved on some level to actually do so."
The
Jepson Alumni Networking
Committee advises the dean's staff on alumni matters. The committee,
formed in 2007,
meets twice a year. Members represent their class years and
serve for two years before rotating off to make room for new
members. The Committee, at its spring semester meeting (meeting
minutes), indentified these immediate actions:
Create a Service Opportunity Tied to the 15th Anniversary of the
School
Attendees embraced this idea as a way to “reconnect” to the school
as well as service as as a public relations strategy to showcase the solidarity
of what Jepson alumni value, to tell the Jepson story and to show the
regional impact of alumni groups. Greg Efthimiou and Jonathan Zur
agreed to lead a committee to further develop this idea.
Create Enrichment and Educational Programming for Alumni
Alumni have open invitations to all Jepson lectures and programs. A
discussion about how to create a learning experience with far-flung,
busy alumni reaped ideas ranging from a leadership film festival to a book
discussion club. Reagan Williams Morris and Kate Materna agreed to work
further on this idea.
Create a Mentoring Program for Current Students
The consensus was that creating opportunities for alumni to
network with students is always a win-win. Creating a formal
“mentoring” program is more complicated. These should be seen as
separate functions. Likely a formal mentoring program — where people
are “matched” will be more effective because some structure will
encourage the mentor/mentee to communicate and connect. The group
acknowledges that “matching” mentors will never be 100 percent
effective and any program developed should accept that reality. Mark
Hickman and Eric Loepp agreed to further develop this idea.
Create an Action Plan for Financial
Support of the School and University
The
committee recommended that the dean explore how to increase UR annual
fund participation among Jepson graduates and how to designate gifts
for Jepson's use. Stefanie Mathew, Sam Kaufman and Jeremiah Winters
agreed to further explore this idea.
Alumni who wish to volunteer to help develop any of these
initiatives or join the committee or share ideas should contact
Robinson at 804-287-6627 or by email at
jepson@richmond.edu.
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