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In order to sustain a scintillating sense of Lafayette pride and excellence, the Alumni Association is working diligently with the Office of Alumni Affairs to realign its goals. Bob Sell ’84 has led the effort, which began with an examination of the group’s structure and programs.
“We want to reinvigorate some of the old and improve some things we do today,” says Sell, who completes his term as Alumni Association president in July. “It’s the value of staying connected — the real spirit of what Lafayette means outside your four years on campus.”
As Alumni Association president-elect, Jamie McLaughlin ’76 is helping to anchor the group’s objectives to the College’s strategic plans.
“We’re focused on alumni connectivity and relevance to an alumni body which has become increasingly diverse and dispersed, a trend we expect to be even more pronounced in the future,” he says.
The mission is to create an indelible experience that starts on campus and lasts a lifetime. An enthusiastic McLaughlin continues, “We want to create a common nerve center to share information regardless of where alums are geographically located.”
McLaughlin leads 50 alumni on various committees — chapter programming, undergraduate relations, legacies, homecoming, reunion, volunteer day, career services, young alumni, alumni admissions representatives – and strives to engage more ‘Pards to envision themselves as lifelong members of the Lafayette community. For instance, one group is developing a formalized faculty speaker program while the young alumni committee, chaired by Simmone Chaddan ’04, is helping students transition from backpack to briefcase.
Supporting this effort is the new alumni online community, which provides access to permanent e-mail forwarding, “live” class notes, an online directory, and a campus and alumni events calendar. In addition, the local chapters program is reaching more alums by driving diverse programs while an ad hoc committee is reconnecting international alumni (five percent of the alumni population).
Not unlike the cyberworld in which we live, we’re no longer limited by geographic distance from College Hill. We can all reap the benefits of being connected to Lafayette and, most of all, to each other.
Interested in volunteering? Contact alumni affairs at alumni@lafayette.edu, (610) 330-5040, or (800) LAFAYET (outside Pennsylvania).
Vicki Salemi ’95 is a KPMG recruiter and author of The ABC’s of College Life. She writes for AOL, MSN, and magazines in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia.