UVSC Alumni

There are probably few things as frustrating as starting a blog and then not being able to write, unless it’s reading a blog and finding no new entries.  Though I love the idea of blogging, and have found, to my surprise that there are many more things to write about than I thought there would be, my role as UVSC alumni director just doesn’t leave much time to do as much blogging as I would like.  So, to those of you who have been faithfully coming back in hopes of seeing something more interesting, I’m sorry!  Don’t give up, something new will turn up every now and then.

Every week I meet with the Student Alumni Association (SAA) as their advisor.  This another duty that I enjoy very much.  I work with 19 students who serve in leadership positions in the organization.  We organize events and programs designed to connect UVSC alumni with students and to further the mission of the UVSC Alumni Association.  The most recent event we held was Founder’s Day.  We started Founder’s Day about three years ago as a way to celebrate the founding of the school and also to make the Alumni and Student Alumni Associations more visible on campus.  We hold a big birthday party where we serve cake and ice cream and give away some kind of favor to anyone who wanders by.  It’s not hard to convince students to take a piece of cake and ice cream.  We gave away 1000 pieces this year in about an hour.   Another component of this event is the honoring of an Outstanding UVSC Alumni.  So far we’ve honored Wilson Sorensen, as one of the original founder’s of UVSC.   We are now collecting nominations for next year and would love to hear about our outstanding alumni.

SAA is involved in about 5-6 other major events or programs during the year.  Right now we are in the planning stages of Take A Wolverine To Lunch, a program started by another college in the state that has been so successful that all of the major schools have their own version.  What will happen is that UVSC alumni will volunteer to take a student to lunch. The students will then search through the list of alumni for someone that matches their interests. The student will contact the alumni and a lunch date will be set. 

The purpose of the lunch is to allow students and alumni to talk to each other and to allow the student to benefit from the alumni’s expertise and advice.  They might talk about the student’s educational goals and which instructors were most helpful to the alumni. They might conduct an mini job interview where the alumni critiques the student’s answers.  The student could bring along a resume for the alumni to review. Or they might discuss the alumni’s career path and whether reality matches the student’s expectations. The possiblities are endless. But, the outing is not a place for the student to seek a job from the alumni.  It’s a networking opportunity and a way for students and alumni to connect.

We are especially excited about this program because it will fit under the  Communities of Engaged Learners Initiative.  We’ll be seeking a grant to fund the program.   I’m hoping that our alumni will be responsive and take advantage of the chance to share their knowledge with current UVSC students.