Office of Alumni Relations

Alumni Council Meeting Minutes November 3, 2007

Alumni Council Minutes 

November 3, 2007 

  

Bill Roseen, President, called the meeting to order at 9:20 a.m. 

Bill introduced the new Association Chaplain, Robert Pierce, and he opened the meeting in prayer. 

Chris Watters thanked everyone for their attendance at the meeting and also reviewed the events of the day: 

·        New members that were not present at the August meeting need to see Lisa to pick up a special gift or if you are new and did not get your gift see Lisa 

·        Bettyann O’Neill will talk about the marketing study that is underway at the college at 9:45 a.m. 

·        We will have a break at 10:30 a.m. 

·        After the break the meeting will move to the ballroom – students will share with us what it is like to be a student at Berry today, 5 areas will be represented – academics, campus life, residence life, faith life, and work life 

·        In the front pocket of the meeting folder you will find index cards – any questions you have for the students please write down and turn in to an Alumni staff member 

·        Lunch will be in the dining hall 

·        1 p.m. committee meetings will begin 

·        2:50 p.m. break 

·        3 p.m. closing session 

Chris reviewed the contents of the meeting packet.  A few events to note are:  

-          November 8 – meet and greet with Dr. Briggs in Augusta with the Berry singers performing  

-          December – chapter Christmas events (any events not listed please send those to Chris), Candles and Carols at Oak Hill,  

-          January --  Founder’s Day and Cage opening are tentatively set for January, next council meeting is February 2, 2008 

Chris provided a Mountain Day Update – over 2000 people believed to be in attendance and 1,875 plates were served at the picnic lunch 

Agenda change to note: Heritage committee will be meeting on room 302, Young Alumni and Student Relations will meet in room 337 

Chris reminded everyone that they are ambassadors for Berry everywhere they go. 

Bill presented the August 2007 minutes to the council. Tom Bowen motioned that the minutes be accepted.  The motion was seconded and passed without opposition. 

Bart Cox, Parliamentarian, presented the formation of a constitution and bylaws committee. Members of the committee will be: Whit Whitaker, Dr. Ouida Dickey, Bob Aiken, and Celeste Creswell. The committee will meet in January. 

Why did council meet in Krannert today? Because the focus of today’s meeting is on student life.  Since we are having a student panel we thought it would be nice to be in the student center.  In addition, we are having lunch in the dining hall.  

Board of Trustees Update 

·        Over 50% of the board of trustees is made up of alumni 

·        Standing committees – advancement (alumni subcommittee within this committee), audit, budget/finance/investments, student affairs, academic affairs, board governance, executive committee  

·        The trustees meet in October, February, and May for a day and a half 

·        The meetings consist of discussion session, committee meetings, business session; there are campus reports from students, faculty, staff, and alumni representatives 

·        Committees and subcommittees meet between full board meetings 

·        Topics discussed at October meeting: 

o      Strategic plan – increase to 2400 students 

o      Berry budget 

o      Crisis communication system – Berry Alert 

o      Athletic affiliation study 

o      QEP endorsement 

o      Additional residence halls 

o      New Berry FM public radio station 

Student Report – Joe James, SGA President 

·         Student Activity Fee – great impact on the quality of activities, increase in attendance at activities 

·         SGA is trying to help increase the vibrancy on campus – change visitation hours in dorms, create a 24 hour study lounge possibly in the library 

Bettyann O’Neill – SimpsonScarborough Marketing Study 

·         Currently Berry does not have a single powerful message 

·         The marketing study was conducted to determine the “hook” to get people interested in Berry 

·         Working to finalize the positioning statement – attributes that make Berry different to the outside audience, Blue Sky out of Atlanta has been hired to bring the positioning statement to life through publications and advertising 

·         21% of alumni participated in the alumni survey 

·         Rufus talked about the Student Work Task Force and what they have been working on – different levels of work, training for students, work transcripts 

Adjourned for a break and the student panel to begin at 11 a.m. 

Lunch in the student dining hall in Krannert. 

Committees met. 

Bill called the afternoon session to order at 3:03 p.m. 

Alumni Centennial Planning Committee 

·         Dr. Ouida Dickey talked about the Alumni Centennial Planning Committee – 33 members with 11 subcommittees 

·         Francis discussed the proposed service project – puff cleaning of the Cage Center, would be our 100 hours of service, need 25 people for the project 

·         Rufus announced that the date has been set for the opening of the Cage Center and it would take place on January 25, 2008. 

·         Carolyn Smith is chairing the committee for Alumni Weekend 2008 

·         The class of 1958 will march in graduation with the class of 2008 

·         There will be a special centennial focus at Reunion Zero 

·         May 30 will be the grand birthday party, awards, past presidents will be acknowledged along with past award recipients  

·         Worship service 

·         Mountain Day 2008 – academy reunion hosted at WinShape Retreat 

·         Mega Reunion at Oak Hill 

·         Rick Woodall is chairing two committees identifying accomplished alumni and doing an alumni spotlight in the Alumni Accent 

·         Cecily announced that there will be a large outdoor event for alumni, students, and friends, table tents will be placed on the dining hall tables with information about the Alumni Association, show a movie made at Berry and information about the making of the movie 

·         Banners will be hung on the lamp posts with the theme- One hundred years of service: the Berry Alumni Association 

·         Alumni centennial will end with Founder’s Day 2009 

Betty Whitten – Events 

·        Thank you to Tom Bowen for help getting Mountain Day volunteers 

·        Alumni Work Week 2008 – want 100% council participation, funding is needed 

·        No Alumni Workday for 2008, in 2009 workday will be over spring break 

·        Move to move council meeting to January 26 so that people can come to the Cage opening 

Valerie Loner – Young Alumni and Student Relations 

·         Event with seniors and young alumni on February 19 in the Alumni Center to talk about insurance, renting vs buying, and investing 

·         Appreciation lunch for faculty and staff alumni and bring students in to interact and talk about why these alumni have come back to their alma mater to work 

·         Electronic communication – pod casting, create student focus groups, research email for life concept, how is it working for other schools and their alumni 

Barbara McCollum – Financial Support 

·        Not at 100% council participation, 53% as of October 26, 2007, please make your pledge 

·        Ron Thornton – targeted giving, target southeast Georgia region and business alumni 

·        Find out key things – how do we communicate to get a donation, will be testing SE GA region in the next 2 weeks and do business alumni in January 

Harlan Chapman – Heritage 

·         10 year video history has been tabled in order to focus on oral histories 

·         Helping centennial planning committee 

·         One video of 3 oral histories will be Voices of the Past for this year 

·         Discussed with Jennifer Dickey what they can do to help Friends of Historic Berry 

·         Complete 6 histories of faculty and staff members for next meeting 

Clara McRae – Awards 

·         Withdrawn the student alumni award idea based on feedback and lack of student interest 

·         Honorary Alumni criteria has been established and will go into effect next year 

·         Ethics subcommittee will meet further 

·         5 nominees for honorary alumni  

·         13 new nominees for awards this year bringing the total number to 22 

Pick up nomination forms from alumni staff or go online for seats on council and leadership (vice president) positions. 

Nominating Committee is being formed and will present a slate of candidates at the next meeting, members of the committee include: Frances Richey-Goldby, Tommy Jarrett, Drew Landis, Juanita Scurry, Martha Bowen, Rob Pierce, and Kim Terrell. 

Next meeting will hopefully be in the Cage Center with a tour included, discussion about the building and the kinds of activities that will take place there. 

Rufus encouraged the council to support the Cage Center and to make it a priority when giving. Project being encouraged – 100 seats for 100 years for $100,000 in honor of alumni centennial, name will be placed on the seat, payment can be spread over 3 years. 

Whit reminded the council to keep the honorary alumni private for now until they are officially announced. 

Chris thanked everyone for coming. 

Chaplain Pierce closed the meeting in prayer. 

Meeting was adjourned at 3:45 p.m. 

 Committee: Awards Committee 

Date: November 3, 2007  

  

Members Present: 

Patty Etchison,  Clara McRae,  Juanita Scurry, Joyce Shelton, Mary Charles Lambert Traynham    Not Present: Dr. Thomas Jarrett, (on call) Tim Howard and  Earl Tillman 

  

Meeting opened by: Clara McRae at (time) 1:25 pm 

  

Old Business (updates from Committee Chair or subcommittee Chairs; include actions taken and to-do items agreed upon) 

  

1  After review of the minutes, Mary Charles made the motion to approve the minutes with necessary corrections. 

  

2  The Student Alumni Award was discussed.  The subcommittee’s finding was the idea of a student alumni award wasn’t seen as necessary.  Other committee members reported on the negative feedback about this award from other alumni. The general consensus was students should not receive an alumni award.  A motion was made to withdraw this particular award.     


3  The Honorary alumni award was discussed.  The subcommittee gave their report on criteria to be adopted.  The criteria will be implemented next year.  It was suggested that there should not be a form for the nominee to fill out.  Optional documentation limited to 3 sheets can be submitted about the nominee.  Questions arose about the criteria that states the “length of continuing service to the college….”   Several examples were given of those individuals who’ve done great works in a short amount of time.  Joyce made the motion to accept the criteria and form as amended.  After a second, the motion passed unanimously. 
 

  

4  The Ethics discussion was tabled until further notice. 

  

New Business (include topic name, major points, decisions made, committees formed – if any – and follow up action agreed upon.) 

  

1. The new honorary alumni award nominees were reviewed.  After each person’s nomination and biography was reviewed, they were approved by a unanimous vote.  The honorary alumni award recipients are: Randy and Nancy Berry, Dr. Thomas J. Mew III, Dr. Sam Spector, and Mr. Sunny Park.  Each honorary has provided invaluable service to Berry College.   

  


2. Clara reviewed the process for voting  on nominees for the other awards already established by the alumni council.  The committee was reminded that the names and profiles received by mail are to be handled in a very confidential manner.  There should be no communication amongst committee members in any way about the nominees.  Each category was briefly reviewed.  New members to the committee were advised to evaluate a couple names a day once they receive their packets in the mail.  There are about 20 nominees to evaluate this year.
 

  

3. Discussion about possible conflict of interest for awards committee members.  A motion was made and carried to implement a new rule to avoid potential complication.   The motion reads: “A person on the awards committee shall not evaluate and vote on the particular category if a family member is nominated for said category.”  In laymen’s term, if someone’s family member is nominated for young alumni award, the committee member can’t evaluate and vote on the young alumni award nominees.   

  

Actions Requiring Council Approval 

N/A 

  

Meeting Adjourned at (time) 2:45pm

 

Minutes Recorded by: Juanita Scurry 

  

  

Meeting of the Events Committee of the Berry Alumni Council 

  

November 3, 2007 

  

Members Present:  Betty Jones Whitten, Stuart Fuqua, Tom Bowen, Robert Pierce, and Luci Hill Bell 

  

Members Absent:  Robert Aiken II, Geraldine Johnson Bridges, Vicky C. Glass, Judith Cash Hanthorn, Peter Henriksen, Brandon LeWayne Johnson, and Grace Mitchell Stinson 

  

At 2:00 pm Betty Whitten called the meeting to order.   

  

Old Business:  

  

  1. Report on Mountain Day: Tom Bowen reported that Mountain Day was a very successful event.  Tom and the Alumni Office staff recruited 38 volunteers.  They distributed more than 600 information cards to visitors and alumni. These cards gave the alumni and friends the opportunity to indicate their interest in volunteering.   

                  Action Items:   

    • Identify those interested in volunteering 
    • Contact Chapter Presidents for lists of volunteers 
    • Incorporate volunteer opportunities in Mountain Day information brochures        

      

  1. Report on Work Week 2008:  Stuart Fuqua, Chair of Work Week, reported that the Work Week Committee met for job planning on November 2.   Most jobs were identified. 

Action Items:   

    • Seek funding for replacing cedar shake roofs on “Cabin in the Pines” and the “Guest Cottage” Walkway.   
    • Seek ways to insure that Work Week 2008 DVD can be given to all participants.  

  

  1. Report on Alumni Work Day 2008: Due to budget constraints we are not able to schedule this event in 2008.  However, plans are underway to organize a Work Day for 2009.  One date under discussion is the Saturday before students leave for Spring Break.   

Action Item 

    • Prepare budget estimate 

  

New Business:  

  

  1. Ford Festival: Tom Bowen reported that plans for reinstating this event are uncertain.  He promised to keep the Committee informed. 

  

  1. The Cage Center:  The Cage Center Grand Opening is planned for January 25.  Therefore volunteers will be needed to “spruce-up” the building in preparation for the event.   Action Item:  Events Committee call for volunteers to help with these preparations on January 24. 

  

  1. Date of the next Alumni Council Meeting:  The committee recommended that the next Alumni Council Executive Committee and the Alumni Council Committee be move to January 25 and 26, respectively.  The rational for this recommendation was to make attending the Cage Center Grand Opening, Founder’s Day Reception, and Alumni Council activities very attractive to a large number of participants.    

  

The meeting was adjourned with a special thanks to Luci Hill for taking notes of the committee meeting. 

  

Respectively submitted,  

Betty Whitten, Chair 

  

Berry Alumni Association 

Financial Support Committee Minutes 

November 3, 2007 

  

  

Members Present:  Martha Bowen, Andrew Landis, Matt Little, Doyle Mathis, Brad Roberts, Barbara McCollum, Roger Sundy, Ron Thornton, Whit Whitaker, and Rose Nix.  

  

Absent:  Ed England, Franceen Hett, and David Lewis  

  

Meeting opened by:  Barbara McCollum at 1:10 p.m.   An inspiration was provided by Andrew Landis.  

  

Old Business: 

  

  1. The subcommittee formed to achieve 100% Alumni Council participation by November meeting reported the goal has not been met.  As of October 26, 2007, participation is a 53 percent which includes outstanding promises.  Two gifts were received on Friday, November 2nd ,  which will improve this percentage.  The subcommittee will continue to work to achieve 100 percent by February meeting.     

  

  1. Subcommittee on targeted giving, chaired by Ron Thornton was discussed.  Ron distributed and discussed a proposal entitled “Pilot Project to Increase Alumni Donations Via Chapters and Special Groups”.  The committee agreed to proceed with the proposal and action items are included in new business.   

 New Business:   

  

1.        Rose Nix distributed and discussed the Alumni Council Donor Report as of September 30, 2007.  It compared September 2007 and October 2006 numbers for graduates, all alumni, alumni council and gifts to date.  Total alumni giving of $164,818 does not include Cage.  Alumni Council participation of 46.97 percent is much improved from last year at 20 percent due largely to the efforts of subcommittee efforts.   

  

  1. In response to the proposal submitted by subcommittee chair, Ron Thornton, on targeted giving, the following actions are to be taken: 

  

    1. The Southeast Georgia Chapter and Berry Business Alumni were chosen as targeted groups. 
    2. Chapter President, Doyle Mathis, will lead the Southeast Georgia Chapter team and Barbara McCollum in conjunction with Berry Business Alumni President, Brad Roberts, will work on the business team.   
    3. Barbara McCollum and Brad Roberts will work together to narrow the focus on the business group to include alumni in the Atlanta area.  
    4. The team will consist of four to six alumni. 
    5. Forms of communication will include telephone calls, personalized notes, and e-mail.  
    6. Focus will be on both participation and dollars. 
    7. A test project will be conducted on the Southeast Georgia chapter during November. 
    8. A training session for the Southeast Georgia team will be coordinated by Ron Thornton, Doyle Mathis, and Barbara McCollum.  
    9. The project will take place mid-January to late Spring with follow-up analysis will be conducted.  
    10. Rose Nix will provide two more years of giving data to Ron Thornton.  

  

  1. Whit Whitaker provided an informal report on Cage Center donations. 

  

4.   Pledge Fulfillment was briefly discussed and Barbara McCollum asked those committee members who were not involved in a subcommittee to work on this area.  There will be further discussion at the February meeting.  

  

  

Actions Requiring Council Approval:  None 

  

Meeting adjourned at 2:45 p.m. 

  

Submitted by:  Barbara McCollum  

  

  

Berry Heritage Committee 

November 3, 2007 

  

Harlan Chapman, Chairman, opened the meeting at 1:11 p.m. in room 302 of Kranert Center. 

  

Members in attendance:  Allyson Chambers, Harlan Chapman, Jean Curran, Ouida Dickey, Jennifer Dickey, Buford Jennings, Larry McRae, Robert Moon, Rebecca Roberts, Carolyn Smith, Virginia Webb, and Fred Mercer, our liaison from Berry Alumni.  

  

Other guests included: Jim Ellison, Rufus Massey, Chris Waters, Bill Roseen and Frances Richey-Goldby. 

  

Harlan introduced Jim Ellison, a photographer, whom we would hear from a little later. 

  

Old Business 

  

1) Fred Mercer gave us an update on Mountain Day Weekend.  Since much had already been said, Fred stated that there were over 100 golfers at the Coosa Country Club event and lots of runner/walkers at the 5Krun/2Mwalk.  After the Grand March on the mountain there were extra activities that included a bluegrass band, cotton candy, and icees.  There seemed to be more people on the mountain this year.   

  

From our committee, Virginia Webb, Carolyn Smith, Buford Jennings, Jennifer Dickey, and Rebecca Roberts were on hand to volunteer at Mountain Day Activities. 

  

2) Jennifer Dickey announced that Candles and Carols will be December 7th and 8th from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.  If anyone is interested in volunteering at Candles and Carols contact Rebecca Roberts.   

  

Jennifer had suggested at a recent Heritage meeting that possibly we need an outline to follow in making our pictorial history of the recent ten years at Berry.  This project would end with graduation and Reunion Zero with 2008 class.  Jennifer also indicated that our subcommittee would meet with Rufus Massey to decide the fate of this project.  We will see work done by Jim Ellison, our guest photographer, when we break for subcommittees. 

  

New Business 

  

 1)      Objective Number One for 2007-08 is to work closely with the Centennial Committee to plan for the Alumni Association Celebration.  Ouida Dickey gave us a brief overview of events connected with the Centennial Celebration which include:  Founder’s Day, Work Week, Mountain Day, Web Pages, a Clara Bowl Event, an Alumni History event, an Alumni History Pamphlet, and a special service project at The Cage.   

  

 2)      Objective Number Two for 2007-08 is to complete several oral histories of alumni who knew Miss Berry.  Harlan reported on the Oral History done with Edith Wyatt.  He told us a story that Edith related about Martha Berry.  When Edith was about 18 or so, she worked at the gate.  Martha Berry would come by often to check on the students.  Martha Berry noticed that Edith’s eyes were crossed and made an appointment for her to see the doctor.  When Miss Berry came by to show Edith the bill, the doctor had written across the top of the bill “Paid in Full”.  Not only is that how Miss Berry treated her students, but she had made a good impression on the doctor, who also sent the school a gift. 

  

3)      Objective Number Three for 2007-08 is to help find ways to support Historic Berry.  Jennifer Dickey related that she would like to see the Friends of Historic Berry be a membership organization of a community of interest to support Oak Hill, the Museum, and other historic places at Berry.  Berry has been given a second grant from the Georgia Historic Preservation Division to continue work at Roosevelt Cabin.  This is a matching fund Grant so it will require alumni and others to give.   

On Mountain Day, Bubba and Cindy Cathy gave $10,000 to be used for developing guidelines for usage and restoration activities at The House of Dreams. 

Jennifer hopes that Friends of Historic Berry not only receives monetary support but gets people interested in Berry. 

  

4)      Our committee will support the following events by attending and volunteering our time.  

Founder’s Day (January 25, 2008): Carolyn Smith, Virginia Webb, and Mary Patrick. 

  

Voices of the Past: Rebecca Roberts, Ouida Dickey, Carolyn Smith, and Harlan Chapman.   Rebecca plans to use pieces from the three videos done by Edith Wyatt, Charles Acree and Betty Hamilton Davis.  Rebecca will introduce the event and the other volunteers will introduce information about each of the three alumni that were videoed to keep some interaction with the students.  We are hoping that Founder’s Day will be in connection with The Cage opening.  Rebecca suggested that Voices of the Past be held at the Science Building Auditorium.   

  

5)      In keeping with collecting histories about Berry Alumni, several of our committee members will present 2-3 page papers on people of interest to Berry.  These will be sent to the archives.  The following members will write papers and make a presentation at our next Heritage Committee meeting: Jennifer Dickey – Garland Dickey, Ouida Dickey – Dr. S.H. Cook, Buford Jennings – Dr. McAllister, Larry McRae – Dr. Pirkle, Jean Curran – Eleanor B. North, and Rebecca Roberts – a secret paper.  Harlan suggested that Ouida send the participants a basic outline for direction. 

  

Breakout of Subcommittees 

  

Short Reports on Subcommittees 

  

1) After viewing a presentation by Jim Ellison, the subcommittee for pictorial history of Berry in recent years discussed with Rufus Massey what we have done so far and the direction we want to go.  Rufus reminded the group that Berry is in process with an advertising agency to pinpoint what we’re all about and create a tag.  Rufus stated that not only will this be costly, but Blue Sky is telling us “how to go” at this point.  Rufus also stated that Dr. Briggs is interested in keeping the oral histories going and indicated the use of students to help.  We all agree that students would be useful to help run the cameras and with the editing process.  We also feel that we need the more mature alumni to conduct the interviews.  As Jennifer stated, the students don’t know the history and are not as connected to alumni as the older members.  Also, they can’t get the students’ learning curve up fast enough to teach them how to conduct an interview.  Our committee is all in agreement that older alumni should do the interviews for our oral histories.  We are counting on our new archivist to embrace this project as did Rebecca Roberts when she was archivist.  The subcommittee agreed to shelve the project for now, keeping the work that has already been done for the next Heritage Committee to continue. 

  

We discussed combining Founder’s Day, Voices of the Past and the opening of the Cage into a day.  Our timeline of events would run like this:  

11:00 Chapel Service for Founder’s Day 

12:30 Luncheon for Founder’s Day (Kranert) and  

              Luncheon for Cage donors (Ford Dining Hall) 

            2:00  Voices of the Past in Science Auditorium 

            3:30  Ribbon Cutting and Ceremony for the Cage opening 

  

Tentatively the date is set for Friday, January 25, 2008.   

  

We discussed bringing before the Alumni Council the proposition of moving our February 2, meeting to January 26, 2008, so that more people would be able to participate in both events. 

  

2) The subcommittee for centennial planning reported a timeline of events.  Alumni weekend 2008: alumni art show at Moon Gallery, big birthday party Friday before alumni weekend, alumni recital, and alumni worship service.  Graduation 2008: Reunion Zero, Class of 58 will attend, and President’s reception.  Mountain Day 2008: all academy reunion, Mega reunion at Oak Hill-all reunion classes, web presence and publicity, Alumni Accent, and consistent presence in student media. Fall 2009: Student activities-KCAB & SAA are hosting and funding event in Clara Bowl, show a movie filmed on campus.  Founder’s Day 2009:  still up in the air, probably a 3 day event. 

The Alumni Centennial Project: 100 years, 100 seats, $100,000 – a way to give funds for Cage Center. 

  

Currently the committee is compiling cost for Alumni Centennial Celebration. 

  

 Action Items 

                                                                                                                    

1)      We all agreed we should combine Founder’s Day, Voices of the Past, and the Cage opening into one day. 

2)      We all agreed that for now we should shelve the pictorial history of the recent ten years at Berry. 

  

 Actions Requiring Approval 

  

1) Move to change the February 2, 2008 Alumni Council 

meeting to January 26, 2008. 

  

Harlan gave us a gentle reminder from Barbara McCollum that we are trying to reach a goal of 100% of Alumni Council members giving, so Give! 

  

Due to our action requiring approval, meeting time and date is to be announced. 

  

Harlan Chapman adjourned the meeting at 2:42 p.m. 

  

Minutes were recorded and submitted by Allyson G. Chambers. 

  

  

Young Alumni and Student Relations Committee Minutes 

November 3, 2007 

  

Members present: Jennifer Beard, Cecily Crow, Heather Henderson, Jennifer Hyre, Joe James, Brian Lackey, Valerie Loner, Ray Smitherman, Kim Terrell, Leann Yoda 

Valerie Loner opened the meeting with a prayer at 1:10 p.m.  

New Business: 

·        Leann Yoda will be chairing the electronic communication committee, Brian Lackey will work with Leann on this committee 

Subcommittee Reports 

Career Development Event (committee members – Heather Henderson, Tracey Batchelor, Kim Terrell) 

·        Event will take place on Tuesday February 19, 2008 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. 

·        Goals of the event: 1) interaction between seniors and young alumni, 2) panelist to provide information on the following topics: Investments – Tim Goodwin, Insurance/Retirement – Heather Henderson, Renting vs Buying – panelist still being decided 

·        Heavy hors d’oeurves will be provided 

·        Career Development Center will help promote the event with seniors and Alumni committee will target young alumni from Rome and surrounding areas 

Faculty/Staff Alumni Event (committee members – Jennifer Beard, Cecily Crow) 

·        Faculty/staff appreciation lunch 

·        Door prizes 

·        Work with Student Alumni Association 

·        Provide a panel of faculty/staff alumni about what it is like working in a college environment 

Electronic Communication Committee (committee members – Leann Yoda, Brian Lackey) 

·        Ways that Berry currently communicates with alumni electronically: Alumni Accent email, Alumni online community 

·        “SWAT” team of Berry employees has been created at Berry to look at different ideas, 3 vendors have presented their alumni database products to the college: Jenzabar, Black Bod, Raisers Edge 

·        Committee is going to research the alumni email for life idea and see how it is working for other schools and if alumni are using it, one of the biggest questions is does an alumni want a lifetime email account with the college, the lifetime email would be used to keep alumni engaged, informed and involved   

·        The alumni online community is also being looked at – should we update the current website or look into using something like Linked In, or have a page on Facebook or My Space 

·        Pod casting – Berry has this functionality but members of the committee do not know all of the capabilities that it has 

·        U Tube – there are already some things about Berry out there 

·        Discussion came back to the Berry online community and the committee seemed to like the idea that Berry was in charge or it, made it seem legitimate, information would be correct, for the concept to work and be effective communication with students and alumni about the presence of such a website would have to be well communicated, what its purpose is, what being an alumni means, what the Alumni Relations Office does, it was suggested that some focus groups be formed to look at these thoughts and ideas 

·        At the senior retreat it would be a good time to introduce students to the Alumni Association 

·        Cecily stated that more interaction from alumni with the students would help, maybe look at the communication packages that go out to students and how they can be improved to draw the students in, educate students on the purpose and meaning behind certain events at the college that are important to alumni – the example given was the candle lighting for the Martha Berry Society Dinner, some successful events of interaction with alumni have been the distribution of water for both freshman move in day and the Mountain Day Olympics 

Recap and Items for Next Meeting 

·    Chris Watters will research the college’s pod casting capabilities 

·    It was suggested to do a demonstration of the alumni online community for the entire council at the next meeting 

·    Leann and her committee will be researching the email for life concept and what other schools are doing 

·    Cecily talked about the success of Marthapalooza (large carnival like events sponsored by KCAB on Mountain Day for students), there were lots of young alumni there – do we need to have a young alumni presence/table set up? 

·    Admissions Ambassadors is being tabled for right now due to some transitions occurring in the Admissions Office 

The meeting was adjourned at 2:53 p.m.

 

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