Alumni Council Meeting Minutes

ALUMNI COUNCIL MEETING

May 3, 2008

Minutes

The Alumni Council business meeting was called to order by President Peter Hetzler at about 10:00 a.m. in Kemper Auditorium.

The minutes of the meeting of October 27, 2007 were approved.

Athletics Committee

Co-chairs John Kane and Abby Harris summarized the committee’s process for considering and deciding upon the first group of athletes who will be inducted into the new Andover Athletic Hall of Honor on Reunion Weekend. The following have been selected:

Becky Dowling Adams ’94
Aisha Jorge Massengill ’88
George H. W. Bush ’42
John “Jack” Morrison ’63
Richard “Dick” Duden '43
Richard “Dick” Phelps ’46
Fred “Ted” H. Harrison ’38
Shirley Ritchie, Faculty Emerita
Frank Hinkey 1891
Natalie Ware Ryherd ’63
Sarah Mleczko Kasten '76
1948 Swim Team

Mentoring Committee


Co-Chair Mike Koehler reported on a successful mentoring/networking event that took place in Boston on April 3. About 30 alumni attended a panel of five attorneys (including a federal judge) on “Andover and the Law” organized by Nick Carter. The committee hopes to organize similar events on different career topics in other major cities.

Non Sibi Day Committee


Chair Tom Beaton reported that planning is well underway for the second annual Non Sibi Day, which will take place on September 15, 2008. He urged all members to sign up to lead or participate in community service projects in their own towns.

Council Structural Modifications

Dick Howe summarized the changes to the Alumni Council’s structure approved by the Executive Committee at its January 31, 2008 meeting. The key points are:


  • Approximately 30 new members of Alumni Council will be selected each year by a single process for four year terms, so there is no distinction between members and members-at-large.
  • The President, in consultation with the Nominating Committee, will appoint the members to committees, respecting their preferences insofar as possible.
  • There will be nine permanent committees: Governance, Admissions, Annual Giving Board, Athletics, Class Secretaries, Multicultural, Regional Associations, Reunions/Special Alumni Events, and Young Alumni/Mentoring.
  • With the exception of the members of the Governance Committee, each member will serve on one permanent committee. There will be no set number of members on each committee; some may need more members than others.
  • In addition, there will be Ad Hoc committees, as provided for in Section 5 (D) of the By-Laws. [Current Ad Hoc committees include By-Laws, Communications (CLAC), Non Sibi Day, and Strategic Innovation (SIC).]


Dick Howe reported that there was general consensus that on a typical alumni council weekend (described in the structure proposal), there should be two sets of committee meetings on Friday afternoon. Holding the Governance Committee separate, four of the other permanent committees would meet in one time slot, followed by the other four. This would allow a member to sit in on (audit) a meeting of a committee that he/she is not a member of. Governance and ad hoc committees would meet earlier or at another time.

By-Laws Committee


Dick Howe and Sara Su Jones (by phone) reported on the changes proposed by the By-Laws Committee and recommended to the membership by the Executive Committee. These are described in the summary attached to these minutes.

Upon motion duly made and seconded, the proposed By-Laws as amended were approved.


Council Strategic Plan

Strategic Innovation Chair Steve Matloff presented a summary of the strategic planning process to date, beginning with the three-pronged focus:


  1. The Education Frontier as the cornerstone of Andover alumni connectedness;
  2. Strengthening the partnership between Alumni Council and Alumni Affairs, to increase the Council’s relevance and importance to the Academy; and
  3. Improve Council structure and operations to achieve 1 and 2 above.

He listed a series of accomplishments, developed in conjunction with the strategic planning process, even as the plan was being clarified and completed:

  • Non Sibi Day
  • Alumni Trustees involvement
  • Participation in Alumni Affairs’ “Retreat” (understanding of duties)
  • Replacement of Communications Committee with CLAC (ad hoc)
  • Alumni involvement in redesign of Andover.edu
  • Alumni Trustees nominating process
  • Bylaws overhaul
  • Co-Chair handbook & job descriptions
  • New member orientation
  • Governance Committee
  • New Council members nominating process
  • Athletic Hall of Honor
  • Exit surveys
  • Experimenting with third-party productivity tools:
  • Alumni Affairs’ use of Angel Points to manage Non Sibi Day 2007
  • Alumni Affairs’ driving Regional Association surveys
  • Google Spreadsheet for Alumni Trustee nominating process
  • PBWiki for collaboration on Alumni Portal Wishlist
  • Distribution of Academy news through Facebook Group
  • Creation of Linked In group
  • Recording conference call to allow person absent to get up to speed on own
  • Google Spreadsheet for new Council Member nominating process

Steve also described how the planning process has expanded our technology horizons by drawing the distinction between educational content and means of distribution. He noted the importance of continuing to experiment with new means of sharing information and collaborating in its development.

Consultant Doug Bate set the stage for breakout groups by committee that focused on specific initiatives to advance the educational frontier and implementation steps over the next year and the next 2-3 years.

The committees reported back with their short- and mid-term action steps:

Communication Liaison to the Academy (CLAC)


SHORT-TERM


Consider available online tools that could address 2-3 challenges faced by 3 committees:

  • for Class Agents, matching/assigning agents to classmates and tracking of agent contacts and success in soliciting giving
  • for Class Secretaries, providing a class page, reunion page, and ability to track names in notes
  • for Regional Associations, ability to generate alumni lists, to manage events (especially “Who is coming”), and to have an online presence

LONG-TERM

  • Continue constant and inexpensive testing of communications tools
  • Emphasize the fact that Andover classes and groups already have organized away from Andover.edu on Facebook and other social networking sites

ADMISSIONS REPRESENTATIVES


SHORT-TERM GOALS

  • Continue to expand mission of Committee
  • Where were the candidates who account for the 114 principal interviews (school heads)? Try to match with AARs instead of principals

LONG-TERM GOALS


  • Continue to increase alumni connection with Admissions
  • Pick up more AARs, especially in underserved markets – engage alumni in regions to identify uncovered schools
  • Need to educate non-AAR alums that they are eligible for this program locally – perhaps "broadcast" this message through PA's electronic newsletter
  • Develop concept of AAR Regional Coordinator more in conjunction with Admissions Office
  • Attempt to identify other underserved areas that should garner more focus

ANNUAL GIVING BOARD


Noting that numbers are looking good in dollars raised, but that participation is down (consistent with other institutions and largely tracking the macro environment), the AGB is seeking to:

Address the decreasing number of gifts less than $250 by

  • make solicitation more specific/tangible -- all giving levels matter -- SHORT-TERM COMMITTEE GOAL
  • Continue encouraging the 10 youngest classes through the 20/20 initiative
  • 20/20 (20 people focus on youngest 20 classes) -- nationwide effort, largely regionally-based -- have identified problem areas & started to address how to deal with issues
  • Classes of '60s & '70s were a bit soft and special consideration will be given to strengthening this group.

LONG-TERM GOALS

  • Integrating Andover Fund goals/messages/communications with those of overall campaign
  • Make special effort to upgrade participation by 60's & 70's, similar to 20/20 initiative
  • Consider ways to improve annual giving stewardship

ATHLETICS


The Athletics Committee considered ways to align its areas of concern more closely with the Council's Strategic Plan. Ms. Harris reported the output of that discussion to the Council. Three points were identified.

  1. Methods should be identified through which alumni provide mentoring to students and among themselves on athletic issues (eg, youth coaching, competitive experience). This could include speakers/panels/dinners on campus.
  2. Opportunities should be identified for alumni to provide volunteer services in athletics, on campus (eg, ARC) and in their communities.
  3. The Committee discussed an Online Athletics Network where ideas and information could be exchanged.

CLASS SECRETARIES/WEB EDITORS


SHORT-TERM GOALS

  • Have each secretary work with Academy to get rich information on individual members of class to better cater contact with them.
  • Better tracking of various communications with individuals.

LONG-TERM GOALS

  • Maybe have multiple secretaries per class or someone who can act upon information that a secretary is accumulating.
  • Class Notes now considered a bit dated when released, this is especially sensitive on obit news, at least certain news needs to reach classmates faster.
  • Web pages/blogs/etc., some classes already have independently put them in place. In blogs, people tend not to report traditional Class Notes content, but rather use them more for discussing shared interests, they are often organized along these lines.
  • Set up listservs for secretaries.
  • Bridge generations and pair up classes to educate each other (down and up), maybe through shared reunion cycles.

MENTORING/YOUNG ALUMNI


SHORT-TERM GOALS

  • Replicate mentoring events in additional regions across numerous professional and interest groups
  • Videotape events or simulcast events online
  • Invite students to Boston-area alum events
  • Employ current faculty where appropriate to speak at events
  • Continue to support the Mentoring Module on www.andover.edu
  • Connect more people to the Mentoring Module, especially seniors and alums coming back for reunion
  • Get all seniors registered on the Mentoring Module

LONG-TERM GOALS

  • Determine ways to connect through Facebook
  • Better define our relationship with current students and current student groups on campus (e.g., the Phillipian, Community Service, WPAA, athletic teams, etc…)
  • Have a summer job/internship event to help current students find opportunities (work with Roxy Barry)
  • Compile a list of all the ways that Andover communicates (Facebook, LinkedIn, mail, etc.)
  • Enable members on the Harris website to include a link to their Facebook pages
  • Get more mentoring stories/testimonials
  • Host events with faculty to help re-establish faculty-student relationships

MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS


SHORT-TERM GOALS


Work with CAMD on planning the Af-Lat-Am 40th anniversary celebration to be held in the spring of next year and the Gay Straight Alliance reunion to be held in February 2009. The Committee will assist in setting an agenda, reaching out to alumni and providing a mentoring platform.

LONG-TERM GOALS

  • We discussed replicating the New York gathering for new admits of color and their parents with alumni and Admissions. In the last two years, over 90% of the new admits who attended decided to attend PA. We will continue to work with Admissions to determine other locations where this type of gathering can be held.
  • We should work with the Mentoring Committee to assist with mentoring
  • Considered arranging panel discussions with current students

REGIONAL ASSOCIATIONS


 The Committee concluded that Regional Associations are essentially the Academy's communications liaison with distributed centers around the globe whose goals are closely aligned with those of the Communications Liaison to the Academy (CLAC).


SHORT-TERM GOALS

  • To test the use of a shared drive on the web for common regional association documents that would be accessible to RA heads and the Alumni Affairs office.
  • To prototype an online "event management tool" to test the efficacy of central third party tools. The tool should facilitate:
  • Get all seniors registered on the Mentoring Module
  • Calendar
  • Registration
  • Payment (PayPal)
  • Attendance Lists
  • Demographically sorted email lists from the alumni database through filtering

LONG-TERM GOALS

If these tests return positive results...the long-term goal would be to integrate them into Andover.edu and, where appropriate, open them up for use across the alumni population ultimately making use of the entire alumni population to farm the best event ideas and generate greater interest through "crowdsourcing."

SPECIAL EVENTS/REUNIONS

SHORT-TERM GOALS

  • Find sustainable model for Broadening Horizons
  • Mini-reunions

LONG-TERM GOALS


  • Explore idea of alumni stories in context of special events (NPR Storycorps model with pre-specified questions) -- becomes part of content library

Doug Bate and Peter Hetzler commended the committees for their productive focus on clear goals, which has measurably moved the strategic planning process forward.


The meeting was adjourned.