SGA hosts alumni groups in hopes of growing student-alumni engagement
Syracuse University’s Alumni Association and the Office of Alumni and Constituent Engagement explained three focus areas to increase student-alumni connections at SGA’s Monday meeting. Focus areas include engagement, networking and events. Zoe Xixis | Staff Photographer
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To strengthen ties between students and alumni, the Syracuse University Alumni Association and the Office of Alumni and Constituent Engagement discussed their program goals at the Student Government Association’s last regular meeting of the semester.
SUAA representatives — a community of SU alumni that serves as an advisory body to the Office of Alumni Engagement — explained methods they currently use and hope to enact to increase student-alumni connections. The group supports personal and professional networks, alumni university programs and volunteering for events, Alonna Berry, president of the association’s board of directors, said.
“Our role is to elevate the great things that are happening on campus,” Berry said.
ACE is currently working to build events and affinity special interest groups to connect SGA alumni with current active student members. SGA is also working to build an affinity group that connects students and alumni to collect donations in support of the association’s leader stipends, SGA President German Nolivos said.
ACE has three main areas of focus: increasing alumni engagement, raising annual donations and bringing alumni back to campus.
The office engages by connecting alumni and students to support career and professional development, ACE Vice President of Alumni Engagement Lauren Villanueva said. ACE often uses Ask Orange Alumni, an online forum where both alumni and students can receive professional advice.
Increasing annual donations helps fund “unrestricted support” for the campus’s areas of need that tuition doesn’t, Villanueva said. For example, ACE and SUAA partner with Registered Student Organizations to raise money for club materials and other needs.
“All of that (giving) collectively can add up to do really amazing things at the university,” Villanueva said.
The SUAA works closely with ACE, aiming to inspire pride, advocacy and a culture of engagement and philanthropy, Villanueva said.
“We’re really aiming to strengthen lifelong connections,” she said.
SUAA also works to bring alumni back for events such as the Orange Central Homecoming or ribbon-cutting ceremonies, Villanueva said. Last homecoming, she said, over 1,000 alumni returned to campus.
Undergraduate student representatives serve on the Alumni Board to share important issues the student body is facing with alumni, Berry said.
“Your voice guides the work that we do,” she said. “You are all future alumni of this university, and everything that comes with that is shaped by your experience on campus.”
Other business:
- SGA also held a state of the student body presentation to demonstrate the progress it’s made this semester.
- Nolivos said SGA will work on several initiatives in the new year, including improving campus dining services, making textbooks more affordable and increasing health resources, such as hands-free bathroom doors and contraceptive vending machines.
