Letter from President

Exciting things are happening within the Roanoke College Alumni Association! We are in the early stages of a number of new initiatives that are designed to increase alumni participation and alumni giving. We are beginning to communicate more closely with other organizations within the school to create synergies and work together to achieve our common objectives. 

What's New in the Alumni Association?

• Rick Oglesbee moved from Secretary to Vice President of the AEC.  He is '95 graduate and is very involved in the Charlotte Alumni Chapter. Rick is an incredibly enthusiastic and creative participant in the AEC and I am very pleased to have him involved.
• We have a new Secretary in Kevin Hartz. Kevin is a '92 graduate and was the Virginia Beach Chapter Chair until moving into this position. He has been an active participant in the annual AEC meetings and brings a strong passion for Roanoke College to the AEC.
• The Alumni Association has historically met once a year on the Saturday of Alumni Weekend for about ninety minutes. It's been my experience over the last two years that, while these meetings are beneficial and well received, that there is barely enough time to update people and too little time to get input or make forward progress on new ideas.  We have decided to increase the formal interaction with the Alumni Chapters to four meetings a year. That will include two face-to-face, on campus meetings and two conference calls.  We held a conference call in early September and our second on campus meeting is this Saturday.  This meeting will be longer in duration than the Spring meeting and will allow us to look at issues more deeply. Our theme for this meeting is a financial one. We will be discussing topics such as 1) the cost of educating a student 2) the status of the endowment and how the money we give is used by the college and 3) new ideas for raising money.
• In the past, I've mentioned my desire to create more synergy with the President's Advisory Board and the Parent Associates Leadership.  To that end, I attended and participated in the PAB meeting that was held during the Sandra Day O'Connor weekend.  The guest speaker of that meeting was an expert on higher education fund raising. In addition to other topics, two of the working sessions at that meeting focused on 1) Whether we should revamp the Associates program. Should we raise the commitment level to become an Associate? Add a new "Junior Associates" category? and 2) How can we reach out more effectively to younger, more recent graduates to get them into the habit of giving earlier? The PAB had many great ideas regarding both of these subjects.  Several representatives from the PAB have agreed to join us at the meeting this Saturday to review those ideas and talk about how the PAB and the AEC can work together through the alumni chapters to assist with these efforts.  We have also invited representatives from the Parents Association and the student body to discuss the issue with us on Saturday. We will then work with the various organizations and, of course, the Resource Development Office to move some of the ideas forward.

 Recent Activities

 Since our Board meeting in April, our Alumni Chapters have continued to be active.  Events have occurred in a number of chapter areas, including the following:

• Family Day at the Zoo in Norfolk, Virginia
• Knights Baseball game in Charlotte, NC
• Tailgate Luncheon prior to the NCAA Lacrosse Tourney, Roanoke, Virginia
• Pig Roast in Washington, DC
• Social at the Shawan Downs Races, Baltimore, MD
• Picnic & Day at the Park at Hungry Mother State Park, Southwest Virginia
• Cruise on Lake Norman, Charlotte, NC

 Upcoming Activities

All eleven alumni chapters will be hosting Chapter Receptions in the coming months.  The first such event will take place in the Roanoke Valley on October 8.  The final Chapter Reception will occur in Washington, DC, on December 13.  A full listing of these events is attached.  In addition, other events will be occurring in certain chapters.  For example, an educational and social event will be taking place at the World Bank Headquarters on October 14 in Washington, DC.  The College will also be hosting events in non-chapter areas, such as a Presidential Reception in Southside Virginia in November.

Plans for 2009-2010

The plans for 2009-2010 have been developed in conjunction with the Alumni Executive Council officers and the staff of the Resource Development Division.

Goals:

• Increase overall giving percentage from 28% to 29%.
• Increase participation (financial and otherwise) by new alumni (years 1-10).
• Increase participation of Alumni Clubs in non-chapter areas - California, Colorado, South Carolina, New Jersey, Charlottesville, Chicago, Raleigh, etc.
• Ensure that the Alumni Association members are equipped to become major ambassadors for and supporters of the upcoming Capital campaign.
• Find additional ways to add value to current students and to Roanoke College, in general.
• Build a bridge between the AEC, PAB, Parents Association and the students (when appropriate) and to utilize the structure that the PAB adopts for campaign planning and preparation.

Additional Thoughts

Based on recent conversations with various chapter members, I believe that we need to examine the issues of consistency and "process" across our alumni chapters.  We have a great many people who are passionate about Roanoke College but I am not sure that we share ideas and successes well enough among the chapters. Additionally, it's my impression that we could help the chapter Chairs be more effective through more formal expectations and by giving them additional tools to help them be even better ambassadors for Roanoke College.  I hope to work with the AEC to evaluate this and perhaps make improvements in this area over the next twelve months.

Finally, I believe all of these activities and efforts will help us get organized and prepared for the next capital campaign, whenever that may occur.

Give Now

Sincerely,

Pam Cabalka '76
President, Alumni Association