Alumni Executive Council Business Meeting
June 8, 2019
President Cortney Terrillion called the meeting to order at 9:02 A.M. ET.
Following role call by Vice President Sue North, a quorum was documented.
Present:
Bates, Beyer, Bickford, Blank, Burbage, Cochran, Colucci, Danielson, Faulkner, Frank, Friedlander, Glass, Gotham, Gross, Hallock, Hann, Higgins, Ireland, Jensen, Kallet, Kelly, Kuno, Lancaster, Lee, Levi, McManus, McSweeney, Michaelson, North, Patrick, Peterson, Rana, Richman, D. Ryan, M. Ryan, Santini, Smith, Stern, Terrillion, Wheeler, Wieland, Wilson and Zonitch.
Not Present:
Abernethy, Battaglini, Egbert, Giles, Hughes, Lawler, Lloyd, Russell, Taylor, Twombly, Wells and Willis
Approval of the 02 February 2019 Business Meeting minutes were moved by Doug Stern and seconded by Don Jenkins. There were no objections to the meeting minutes.
President’s Report
Cortney reported that she shared our Vision and “How” Statements with the Board of Trustees and they loved the crisp statements.
The Officers look forward to hearing how the various Committees will address the Power of Connections Big Idea in their 2019-2020 planning.
We plan to continue our discussion with Florence Hines, VP of Admissions and Financial Aid, and will set up time with Paul Redfern, VP of Communications, in the future to talk about Communication of the admissions brand message.
Please complete your survey following the meeting. We value your feedback and use it to plan future meetings.
Campus Report
Kim started her report by reading the University Advancement mission statement. She then provided an overview of the University Advancement organization chart. There are a total of 49 employees in UA; 2 new hires have been recently made and 2 people are transitioning into new roles.
Student Delegate Report
Sohel talked about his involvement in a variety of activities, including Student Entertainment, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, Thelmo, Community Based Learning, Volunteer Services outside the SLU Community, and the Canton Community Outreach Program.
Liam is a Track & Field athlete and is involved in the student athlete mental health and wellness program that Franco Bari spoke to us about on Friday. Liam is on Thelmo. One of the initiatives that he is involved with is the work with clubs on campus to change their rules to make all students feel included.
Nicholle reported that she spent the last semester in the NYC Semester Program. Her internship was in Development at NY Public Radio. She is also on the Sr. Staff for the Hill News. She is a member of Chi Omega sorority and Laurentian Singers. Spring Break 2020, Nicholle will be going to San Francisco to sing and participate in SLU Connect.
Trey is a captain of the football team and is also involved in the student athlete mental health and wellness program, with a goal of making sure that athletes have people to talk to about their mental health concerns. Teams across the University are enthusiastic about the work being done at Appleton, because more teams will have their own locker rooms. Trey is a part of the Student Safety Team. He reported that there has been a decrease in the number of students who had to be transported to the hospital in the last semester. The cause of this decrease is unknown. Trey is a CA for First Year students. One of the things he stresses with them is the Good Samaritan Law – they will not get in trouble for calling for help for a student who needs assistance. Trey also works with SAA to make sure students know who they are and who the AEC is. SAA is working on educating First Years early about the importance of giving.
Finance and Resources
Treasurer, Paul Danielson, shared that we will no longer receive University support from the bookstore which is $30,000 annually. Going forward, this support will come directly from University Advancement. As the bookstore profitability becomes a challenge, this is a more secure situation for AEC. The F&R Committee is very pleased with this change. Paul thanked the committee and working group chairs for sending their budget request forms in on time. There are no significant changes in our support from the last year. The only change is the separation of the marking communication line from Advancement and
Engagement to a separate line item which will fall under the newly formed Communications Working Group. The amount is listed as $200.00. Future project estimates are unknown at this time.
Paul also explained to the Council that, as we’ve had in the past several years, there is a deficit of approximately $6,000 this year. At our current rate of spend and expenses, we can continue with these annual deficits for another couple of years. Paul noted that our two options are to get more revenue from the University or reduce expenses.
Paul also discussed the request from Tom Pynchon in our Winter Meeting to help fund the Power of Connections. We have determined that we are unable to fund Power of Connections broadly out of our current endowment. Therefore, we are in discussion with the University about establishing a new endowment with a $250k goal, which would generate $12,500 annually in proceeds.
Finally, Paul reminded Council members that travel expenses for our meetings may be tax deductible.
Committee Reports:
Admissions
Sarah Weiland presented for the committee. She described the initiative that University Admissions is working on. They are establishing a microsite and are asking each AEC member to get 5 contacts who would be willing to post their contact info as a resource for potential students. This initiative is still in draft stage. Sarah requested that Council members start thinking about contacts.
Advancement and Engagement
Laura Patrick and Rob Glass noted that the two sub-committees met together for the first portion of the Committee meeting. Engagement: Laura informed the Council that we are now providing caps to incoming first-years instead of cow bells. 1,001 people attended 2019 Reunion. The Committee is currently working on the plan for Homecoming, which coincides with AEC fall weekend this year. For Family Weekend, the breakfast for Alums could be replaced with another event; this is currently under discussion. Joe Keniston is looking at how AEC can help with athletic engagement. Finally, Laura informed Council that the SAA would like to partner with AEC.
Advancement: Rob reported that the Laurentian GIVE Committee will provide each council member rather trying to re-engage them. The University is using the KDS reunion as a model for other affinity groups in an attempt to increase attendance and participation, trying to make the engagement pitch “personal and actionable”. They also have a goal to increase overall AEC presence on campus – at orientation, FYPs and FYSs.
Communication & Marketing
Alyssa updated the Council that they are working on the AEC elevator pitch and plan to have it ready for our fall meeting.
Faculty Engagement
Anne and Mary are working with Matt Carotenuto on various ways for Council to engage with faculty, such as participating in the FYPs (meet Thursdays 10:20-11:50 am). They are also working on more classroom opportunities Thursday afternoon before our fall meeting. The Committee has constructed a database of alumni who could be resources for faculty, with a preliminary list of 30-35 people. If there is interest by the faculty, the list will be expanded.
They are also pursuing a slot on the fall agenda for faculty/student research presentations, as well as an event for new faculty.
Membership & Honors
Dan and Amy noted that the M&H Committee is the “HR Department” of AEC, and as such, they operate confidentially. They are always looking for nominees for new good Council people and are always striving for diversity. You can find a link to the nomination form on the AEC dashboard.
Dan noted that at the end of each member’s first term (Council membership consists of (2) 3-year terms), M&H will have a conversation with the member and reach a decision on whether they will continue to their 2nd term or not. A list of members by cluster will be distributed, so that all Council members are aware of the cluster distribution and term end dates.
Student Services
Elizabeth updated Council on various activities that the Student Services Committee is working on: The AEC sponsors a Parent’s Program on Family weekend that provides resources to parents as their students make their way through the college career path Career conversations; Networking event will return in January. Elizabeth encourage any Council members interested to sign up for LINC, which is a year-long mentoring partnership with a sophomore. 120 students signed up this year.
The University Liaisons for Student Services are interested in involving AEC over the summer in connecting with interns in their areas. They are thinking of working with AEC to host small gathering of students who are in the area for internships or summer jobs.
Affiliation & Affinity WG
Mike Santini updated Council on this new working group which is still in the formative stage. One idea involves forming an executive board of lacrosse players to help with fund raising, networking and career counseling. As they continue to define their vision, they will work with the Advancement Committee as there is significant overlap.
By-Laws & Constitution WG
Molly Hahn reported that she is conducting a review of the by-laws and constitution, with Mary Peterson’s help. They will provide an update in the fall.
New Business:
There was no new business.
The assembled group sang the Alma Mater.
The meeting adjourned at 10:56 A.M. EST by President Cortney Terrillion with movement from Danielson and a second from Dennis Ryan.
Notes humbly submitted by Sue North, VP (substitute for Chelsea Lloyd, Secretary)