Welcome back to this edition of Bearcat Chats.
And, today we are profiling the Alumni Association and all of the great work that they are doing.
And, the exciting events that they have planned.
It's a pleasure to be joined by Kim Faber, the executive director of alumni engagement.
Steve Seepersaud who is the advancement communications manager.
And, Tenley Halaquist, who's the assistant director of alumni engagement.
I'm Jacob Wilkens and guys, thanks so much for being with me.
Thanks for having us.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Tell me Tenley, let's start with what's upcoming, in terms of virtual Homecoming and all of the events . . .
I mean there's something for everybody here.
Yeah. We're really excited.
So, first we've extended Homecoming from our original three days.
We really wanted to make sure that we are doing programming that will fit everyone's schedule.
And also, we want to be mindful of screen fatigue.
We know that that's a real thing.
So, we have given everything from a chat with President Stenger, to a virtual 5K for athletic folks.
We have a Netflix Watch Party.
And, we have some great demos: Cooking demos with alumni, that are local, so we're really excited.
Yeah. And, tell me how did you guys come together and plan this?
Because certainly, it's a Homecoming like no other.
Yeah. It was a big discussion.
There were a lot of people involved, believe it or not.
And, we did a lot of research of what other institutions were doing.
We know some institutions that were having alumni weekend over the summer.
So, we really took a look at what they were doing, what was feasible . . .
if they were actually just canceling it or moving it virtual.
And, we all kind of talked as a team and a division.
And, you know, we thought that virtual would be great, because a lot of alumni can't necessarily come back to Binghamton . . .
So, this would be a really great opportunity to get some additional alumni engaged with us . . .
And, remind them of how great Binghamton is.
And Kim, you guys have been doing stuff leading up to this point.
You know, whether it's book clubs or cooking demos.
How have you remained engaged with alumni in this challenging time?
Well, the thing is was, is we were already preparing for a virtual programming module.
We started to plan this process last fall.
And, when we went through that process we took a look at what we were doing and what we weren't doing.
And, we realized that we didn't have a lot of virtual programming in play.
That we had been spending a lot of time engaging our alumni in our 18 chapters.
So, when the pandemic hit and we were all kind of relegated to our homes and so forth . . .
We actually were able to kind of move quickly and move into a virtual world, with our alumni engagement.
You did mention the book club. We did launch that in the middle of May.
And, as of yesterday, we had over 1300 alumni; had signed up for our book club.
We also were able to launch a mentor match program, back in February.
And, we're excited to say, we have close to 1300 alumni in that.
But over some 22 countries.
So, the virtual opportunity has really expanded our reach beyond the chapters that we were focused on.
Yeah. I love this mentorship program.
Because you think of students in this time.
You know, the rug sort of taken out from under them.
Those natural resources that they would have on campus..
Steve, can you elaborate on how this program is making an impact?
Yeah. I mean, it's been great to shift into this model . . .
and to be able to get alumni engaged with us, pretty much from everywhere.
And, be able to engage alumni who have never done anything with us before.
The mentorship program in particular, has been a pent-up need for a while.
And, we hear from students that , "We would like mentors." "It's hard to find them."
Sometimes it's intimidating to go on your own and try to make that happen.
So, to have a means where that is facilitated and you have alumni in there who want to be contacted . . .
and have a means to get them to participate, without having to bring them back to campus.
This can happen on everyone's time, regardless of location.
And, so every couple of years, we would have various fits and starts with launching a program like this.
And, I think finally, it's the right solution where it's the right product, the right time, people want it . . .
and we have a great platform to make it happen.
So, this has been very, very exciting.
And, I think beyond our expectations, as far as how well this has really taken off.
And, it's not just the numbers; say okay, we can say, we had "X" amount of people that are mentors of students . . .
But thinking about what the real impact is in a time like this where things are so uncertain . . .
And, students were getting ready to graduate with offers or had internships lined up.
And, now things are coming off the table.
And, they need a little more help than usual.
And, it's difficult really in any year and now it's good to ask them what it's like . . .
to be able to step in and have a "value-add" to provide that assistance for them.
And, help make their career goals happen, is really tremendous.
And, Kim, how do you measure success, in this program?
So, we look at the activity.
So, the Mentor Match program is student-initiated or mentee-initiated, so I call it, "Match.com meets Linkedin.
So, we certainly make sure our alumni or our mentors know that to be patient, that the students will reach out to them.
So, we've taken great strides in incentivizing our students.
Know, obviously promoting our Alumni Network.
We have tremendous alumni around the globe, doing great things . . .
And, now they're available.
Really, we had a click of a mouse on their keyboard.
So, we we monitor the activities.
We do marketing campaigns.
Back in March, we started what was called Mentor Match.
So, the old "Match Madness."
And offered the first 475 students that made connections, you know, a complimentary tumbler and so forth.
So, we are always looking for ways to make sure that our students are reaching out to our alumni ?
We work closely with the parents.
They are really promoting the depth of our alumni network and the fact of the matter is we have alumni.
just ready and willing and waiting to help our students.
I should also mention that we have just opened a new opportunity for our alumni to be mentees.
So, we thought maybe some of our alumni may have become displaced, you know, during this time.
So, I am happy to say, we have close to 100 alumni, who have actually joined the Mentor Match program . . .
looking for alumni mentors, as well.
So, it's not just for our students, but it's for our alumni as well.
And, Steve, if folks want to, if there's alumni watching this for the first time, that say, "Hey, I want to get involved."
How do they go ahead and do so?
So, the one central place where we can send everyone is the Alumni website.
And, we try to make it easy off the homepage, next to the various things that are the most important to be involved in.
So, that would be: binghamton.edu/alumni.
And, binghamton.edu/alumni.
And so, you can find Mentor Match from there, the virtual Homecoming, the virtual programs, the book club.
Lot of ways for people to get involved.
We very much look forward to when we can be back in person again.
But, we're definitely making great use of the time, while we're sheltering in place or at home.
Things will just have to wait out a little while.
We're rolling ahead with programs that I think people are really going to love.
Tenley, you know it's funny, we had Erica Kryst on from the Fleishman Center on about finding a job in internships . . .
And, we were talking about the silver linings, in the course of this pandemic . . .
And, how maybe because of the virtual technologies that are available, there is ways to increase communication with alumni.
I just think of Homecoming and hey a lot of people can't travel back to campus, but here's a way for them to stay involved.
What have you found in terms of things that may potentially change the way you are able to engage alumni, going forward?
So, I think this will be a really great opportunity to see how many people we can engage virtually.
And, see what interests there are for alumni.
I'm hoping that we get more alumni engaged in this week-long activity . . .
then we have at Homecoming within the three days.
And, it will also be really interesting with our other programs.
I mean we've had so many first-time engagements.
That I think we're definitely gonna say, "keep a virtual component, even when we are back to giving hugs . . .
And, welcoming alumni back to campus.
Kim, you're nodding your head; you're in agreement.
Absolutely. We are launching, "It's a 10 under 10" award ceremony, at Homecoming, this fall.
And, it's an opportunity for us to highlight some of our Bearcats of the last decade.
And, Tenley has worked really hard on this with some other folks on our team.
And, we have over 100 nominations that we are sorting through right now.
And, we really think that just a program like that, you know, we could get hundreds, if not thousands of alumni to tune in . . .
to see some of their fellow classmates from the last decade.
So, we're excited.
Yeah, you guys, there's plenty going on here.
And, Tenley, I also want to hit on the Class of 2020, COVID-19 resources page that you guys have put together.
Yeah, so when graduation was coming up and everything was canceled, we really wanted to step in.
Us and Fleishman. We partnered on a lot of great activities or programs for the Class of 2020.
So, if you are a recent grad, there is a web page just for you, with an "Our Alumni" website.
You can also just type "Binghamton COVID-19" resources.
And, it should be one of your first clicks on the Google.
And, we had a Grad Career Fest for the Class of 2020.
It was a four-day kind of conference online where there are a bunch of speakers.
It talks about the jobs fair process and what to expect.
We also are doing LinkedIn Learning for just the Class of 2020.
And, as you know, LinkedIn Learning is basically an online education source, with thousands and thousands of videos.
You can learn anything from "How to Use Excel" to "How to Write Code," to "How Do You Manage Your Time?"
So, we're really trying to do a lot of different things for the Class of 2020 . . .
because you know, we really want you to be successful in the job market and in your research.
And, Steve, am I missing anything? Do you want to chime in?
Well, I just, I mean I guess we can just reinforce the idea that even though we do a lot of the programs . . .
year after year, that are mostly very much the same, but you know, have become traditions . . .
But, each year is different and you know, that's really an understatement.
I think about 2020 and how we really had to change.
Homecoming has a really different feel this year.
And, the Career Programs that we've put a lot of energy into building over the last couple of years . . .
Now, it's taken on a greater significance and we've grown so many more resources behind it.
But, it's a much better product now for the students and alumni, so it's great, we're hitting our stride with that.
It's just a shame that it took a pandemic to make that happen, but . . .
I think the real win is for the students and for the alumni.
And, it's really great that we have a Homecoming to look forward to.
And, I think it will pull in a very different mix of people.
Binghamton is easiest enough to get to and it's also easy enough to not get to.
And, if you spend enough time here, you can definitely relate to that.
And, so we would see a Homecoming every year.
A lot of the same faces, which is great.
And, some new faces mixed in.
But, what they all had in common, was for the most part, they came within a driving radius of 3-5 hours.
And, it was a rarity to see someone fly from Florida or North Carolina or California or somewhere like that . . .
unless they had a once in a lifetime 50th Reunion or something of that sorts, that they really, really didn't want to miss.
For the most part, that was, you would see like these entire pockets of the country that would not be able to engage.
Even though we have a high concentration of alumni in New York.
There wasn't really a lot of geographic diversity.
So, we felt like that was something like, how do we make it more broad-based; more palatable to a wider circle of people?
And, I think having virtual this year will do that.
And, having a mix in future years of in-person and virtual; some bright opportunities.
You know it would be great to have you come to campus.
We love when people do that.
We want you to come back, but that's not always practical, for a variety of reasons . . .
So, we can still keep people engaged from wherever they are.
Just think #BINGPRIDE WORLDWIDE.
Kim Faber, Steve Seepersaud, Tenley Halaquist.
Thank you so much for all the work you're doing and continuing to do.
And, I am really looking forward to this virtual Homecoming, come the fall.
Kim: Thank you. Tenley: Thank you. Steve: Thank you so much.