Alumni Relations Review

De'Neatria Robinson | Kennedy-King Career Planning & Placement Center | December 1, 2015

Alumni Relations GETTING BACK THAT 50%

Table of Contents

Overview ........................................................................................................................................................ 2

Defining Alumni ............................................................................................................................................ 2

For students ............................................................................................................................................... 2

For the career planning & placement center .......................................................................................... 2

Understanding Affinity ................................................................................................................................. 3

Affinity Matters.......................................................................................................................................... 3

Why does affinity matter to non-CPP departments? .......................................................................... 3

Measuring Affinity ..................................................................................................................................... 3

Best Practices & Recommendations ........................................................................................................... 4

Newsletter ................................................................................................................................................. 4

Social Media .............................................................................................................................................. 4

Student Integration .................................................................................................................................. 4

Exiting Preperation .................................................................................................................................. 4

Customized Events .................................................................................................................................... 5

Alumni Website ......................................................................................................................................... 5

Mentorship ................................................................................................................................................. 5

References ..................................................................................................................................................... 6

Overview

This report will address the two main challenges many community colleges face when building

alumni affinity: defining alumni and understanding affinity. The sub-title Getting Back That 50%

alludes to the fact that 50% of students in the United States attend a community college. So how do

we get those students to come back to their educational institutions and build affinity among each

other and the campus? For the purposes of this report, affinity will be defined as “a feeling of

closeness and understanding that someone has for another person because of their similar

qualities, ideas, or interests” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). At the conclusion of this report,

several recommendations will be made, including the utilization of: newsletters, social media,

student integration, exiting preparation, customized events, an alumni website and mentorship

opportunities. These recommendation and challenges will be catered to the student experience at

City Colleges of Chicago (CCC), Kennedy-King College (KKC), and the Career Planning &

Placement Center (CPP).

Defining Alumni

It is important to have a campus wide understanding of the term alumni, for both students and

staff. There is a consistent assumption that everyone knows what it means, thus starts the

miscommunication and poor planning.

FOR STUDENTS

Understanding who qualifies as a KKC alumni, informs students of their own status. The Center for

Community College Advancement (CASE) defines alumni as, “Former students who have eared at

least some credit toward one of the degrees, certificates or diplomas offered by the reporting

institution.” This signals to students that alumni status does not mean completion or graduation.

Which inherently clues them into the fact that at any point in their educational journey, there are

services that KKC will provide to them. A formal definition also allows students to know what

serves are offered to them as CPP continues to grow and cater specific initiative to alumni.

FOR THE CAREER PLANNING & PLACEMENT CENTER

Walla Walla Community College sends a survey to alumni to collect information on their

experience at Walla Walla and their current employment status. One of the questions asked is, “In

what ways can we serve you?” Figure out who your alumni are and build relationships with them,

target your slogans/missions/initiatives towards them. If students who complete certificates or

degrees are the alumni of KKC then CPP should be targeting students in Phase 4 of Washburne

Culinary Institute or students nearing completion. If the KKC alumni definition is more in line with

the CASE definition, then CPP needs to implement more offline and online forms of

communication outside of emails (since it has been proven throughout my experience at KKC that

students do not strongly utilize their emails).

Understanding Affinity

" I don't want to be friends with alumni. When our former students were admitted to our

institutions, they became family; therefore, friendship isn't what we should strive for” (Bennett,

2012).

AFFINITY MATTERS

Alumni are the college version of brand ambassadors. They can talk up an experience and

encourage people to join or they can discourage people to join by talking it down and attributing

several factors about their college experience to current frustrations. It may be a stretch but try to

compare this relationship to the biblical story of the Prodigal Son. KKC/CPP (The father) can give

students (the son) all the resources they perceive that they need for ultimate success in the world.

However, unless there is a relationship there (parent-child relationship) or security within coming

back (knowing that the father would not turn him away), why would the students (the son) come

back even after they have run out of those resources (money)? In a nutshell, why should alumni

come back? The answer should not just be to utilize resources but, they should return because they

possess a relationship between the institution and peers. That relationship can spark networking

opportunities with former students who are now employers, or former students who want to

support CPP initiatives for the betterment of the current student experience. CPP has the potential

to offer alumni the opportunity to serve as real-world\industry focused mentors to current

students. Additionally, the tools to giving alumni access to local employers and providing them

with resources to further their own careers already exist in CPP. The next step would be building

on these and increasing alumni awareness.

Why does affinity matter to non-CPP departments?

The answer is simple: money and time. In The Complete Guide to Fundraising Management,

Stanley Weinstein writes, "Friendraising activities are essential to any fundraising effort. As people

become more involved, they become more committed. Their donations increase as their sense of

belonging grows.” The sense of belonging also comes from volunteering at events and feeling

valued as a member of the Kennedy-King family. People like to see, feel, and hear that they are

appreciated. That appreciation spills over into additional resources (time and money) for the

institution.

MEASURING AFFINITY

Kennedy-King College, as an institution that possess a population reflective of the neighborhood

demographics, has a legitimate opportunity to create a family atmosphere and relationship with

their students. More than ever, institutions are being help responsible for follow through. They can

not simply state their goals and visions and expect students to jump on board; there has to be

intentional action towards creating a culture where students and institution professionals are

aligned. Jim McAlexander, a marketing professor, developed The Building Community Initiatives

survey and discovered that alumni affinity can be measured in four areas: the university's identity

and brand (Do they wear Kennedy-King clothing? Is there Kennedy-King clothing available?); the

institution (Do they like the direction of leadership? For example, the President or Chancellor.);

their peers (Are they in contact with former classmates?); and their education (Has it helped them

in their careers? Was the Career Planning and Placement Center actually useful?) (Bennett, 2012).

Best Practices & Recommendations

NEWSLETTER

Creating a newsletter does seem cliché but it is useful. The key is making it accessible and relevant.

CPP can include community and campus information in the newsletter to acknowledge the holistic

experience of KKC students. Nevertheless, the bulk of the content should be related to either CPP

or career advancement (i.e. Top 10 tips to keep in mind during an interview). To increase

accessibility, the newsletter can be distributed in a hard copy and online. CPP would also benefit

with sharing the newsletter with deans and other campus partners to build relationships and

exposure throughout the campus.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Everyone is taking advantage of social media. Though Kennedy-King has a population that does not

reflect the stereotypical traditional 18 to 23-year-old who binges on social media, a social media

presence can be critical in increasing student engagement with the office and teaching students the

necessity of social media savvy in growing industries. CPP can benefit greatly from having an intern

or a student worker interested in online advertising create and monitor a CPP Facebook (a lot of

people have one), Twitter (quick and short way to get out information to alumni and students, in

addition to retweeting KKC and City College content), Instagram (to share event photos and flyers

for employer spotlights) and LinkedIn (exposing students to a professional social media presence).

A blog offering tips, items from the newsletter, KKC student experiences, or employer interviews

can also increase online engagement from current and former students.

STUDENT INTEGRATION

Start integrating student opinion and creativity while they are at KKC. Students who can leave

behind something that they created or had some input are more likely to become engaged alumni.

For example, allowing students to create promotional materials for CPP will instill a sense of pride

seeing other students using a resource they helped design. By making this opportunity into a

contest, student buy in and buzz for CPP can increase as well. How can students be integrated in

alumni affinity building: being ambassadors, creating videos for CPP, designing covers for a career

handbook, monitoring social media, and being the lead on event planning. CPP can also use

current student images in promotional material. People like to see themselves in other successful

people. It is hard to spot a flyer or poster around campus that has a current KKC student or recent

alumni. These posters feel generic and though racial affinity is usually demonstrated in the posters,

they feel unauthentic and impersonal.

EXITING PREPERATION

As soon as a student comes to campus for orientation, they are a future alumni and should be

treated as such. They need to know how much CPP values them and is committed to their success.

More than anything, CPP is commitment to developing a lifelong relationship with them.

KKC alumni relations and CPP can benefit from giving students small tokens of appreciation during

the first 3 weeks of school such as T-shirts with the KKC or CPP logo, welcome gifts/swag, and

items that have alumni on it. Make CPP and their dedication to alumni visible at all KKC events,

whether social or academic. Though it may be taxing, making sure that some type of representation

of staff, or CPP volunteers are in attendance at every graduation offers in person support. Even if it

is something as straightforward as setting up a table with alumni resources outside the ceremony.

Let’s not forget the actual campus. It is imperative to visit classrooms months leading up to

graduation. Tell students that it is an expectation of KKC students to be an outstanding alumni and

offer them opportunities to return after graduation as a KKC testimony. Go into Phase 4 kitchens

and tell students that CPP admires their future accomplishments and wants to hear all about them.

This is also a good time to plug any alumni surveys being developed.

CUSTOMIZED EVENTS

When companies have no clue of how to serve their target audience, they ask. Creating formal and

informal surveys based upon three questions have proven affective for building alumni affinity in

community colleges: 1) How can we serve you? 2) What types of events would you want to attend as

an alumnus? 3) Are you willing to be on an alumni council or board?

If CPP wants to know what alumni will attend, they must ask students before and after they

become an alumnus. This will give you two answers: what students think they need for the future

and what they realize they need. Having a council or alumni advisory board when it comes to

planning alumni events can also provide some insight to planning social events for alumni. Social

events will allow past students to reconnect and potentially network. If the events are customized

to their needs and wants, then alumni are reasonably more incentivized to attend.

ALUMNI WEBSITE

CPP would benefit from creating its own website. Navigating through the City Colleges of Chicago

website is difficult and impersonal. Nothing about the experience is customized to CPP or KKC.

Having a CPP website provides a platform to share exclusive events, career opportunities, and

discussion boards, while making the career network more accessible. An alumni website (or tab in

the CPP website) will serve as a hub for all information related to alumni. This can serve in the

same capacity as a newsletter or operate as a site where resources are provided online.

MENTORSHIP

Continuing from the Understanding Affinity and Exiting Preparation sections, affinity is dictated by

connections built during the college experience. Alumni can be agents of change by creating career

related mentorship opportunities. Here is a hypothetical example, CPP has a program where

current students and alumni can opt-in to a career mentorship. Current students would be paired

with alumni in their field of interest. While the mentor-mentee relationship is highly dependent on

the personalities of the individuals, CPP can coordinate in person workshops or retreats led by

mentors, networking events, brown bag luncheons, and other activities to keep participants

involved and accountable.

References Bennett, G. (2012). Alumni Relations and Institutional Giving. Finnish Higher Education Experts

USA Study Tour 2012.

Blixt, J., Bottem, L., Fahning, M., and Kangas, R.(2010). Building alumni associations at

comprehensive community colleges. Retrieved from: 

http://www.hr.mnscu.edu/training_and_development/Leadership_Academy/documents/T

eam_3_Final_Report.pdf 

Cabrera, A. F., Weerts, D. J., & Zulick, B. J. (2003). Alumni Survey: Three conceptualizations to

alumni research. Ponencia del Seminario Métodos de Análisis de la inserción laboral de los

universitarios, Universidad de León.

Riverside Community College District. (n.d.)Alumni Relations. Retrieved

from: http://www.rccd.edu/community/foundation/Pages/Alumni%20Relations.aspx 

Russell, P., (March 28, 2013).Comprehensive Look at Community College Alumni Relations Reveals

Growing Pains. Council for Advancement and Support of Education 

Texas Association of Community College Foundation. (2015). Community college alumni relations:

part 1. Retrieved from: http://www.taccf.org/Documents/Alumni-partI.pd

Alumni Relations Review

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