Remember the last time you saw an old friend? Perhaps you spent the first hour laughing at fond memories and reliving the past. But then the conversation moved to the present: How's your job? Where are you going on vacation? What books have you read lately? Your relationship is rooted in the past, but it takes common bonds and current interests to inspire more dinners and drinks.
In the same way, an institution's relationship with its alumni cannot be completely based on nostalgia. While most alumni value their alma mater's history and tradition, even diehard reunion attendees want to talk about more than their freshman year.
"Some alumni are passionate, bleed the school colors, and want to come back physically and mentally to campus to experience buildings, grounds, or just reminisce about their time in college," says Ryan Catherwood, assistant vice president for alumni relations at Longwood University in Virginia. "For others, that's decidedly not true." They want to know that their degree keeps increasing in value, that new facilities are being built, and that the university is rising in national rankings.
If your alumni crave a relationship with your college as it is today, not as it was back then, then your programming should reflect that.
Forward-thinking alumni
Forward-thinking alumni can be anywhere, but they share certain characteristics. They typically have a big interest in career development and networking, suggests the Alumni Attitudes Survey, conducted by Performance Enhancement Group in Houston. Jobs appear to drive this constituency—nearly half engage with their alma maters through LinkedIn, the most popular social media tool these alumni use. As students, they were more likely involved in professional or career-related organizations and community service groups than athletics or Greek life, the survey shows.
Forward-thinking alumni are less enthusiastic about the institution overall, though they can be persuaded to promote it. "The majority of them still believe their alma mater was the right choice," says Rob Shoss, managing consultant of PEG. "With the right kind of career programming or job fair, they'd be more likely to become engaged."
Forward-thinking alumni are also likely to be recent graduates. Thirty-five percent of alumni who graduated in the 2000s said tradition had no impact on their opinion of their institution, compared to 12 to 14 percent of graduates from the 1970s–90s, according to the Alumni Attitudes Survey. Catherwood noticed this trend at the University of Virginia when he was the director of engagement strategy in the Office of Alumni, Parent Engagement, and Annual Giving. Younger UVA alumni tended to register more for professional development events and casual game-watching parties, happy hours, or community service projects, while older alumni were more swayed by nostalgia and lifelong learning.
The popular SHAKER series at the University of Toronto is geared toward younger alumni and, according to the website, offers the chance to "connect with other U of T grads over swanky cocktails at hip urban hotspots." The institution recently added the SHAKER Professional program to deepen the relationship with its forward-thinking grads and help them with career networking. "Not only do we throw you glitzy parties; we also give you tips and tricks for the working world," the website touts. Upcoming events in 2016 include discussions on effective negotiating skills and the "ick factor" of networking.
Change and growth, not tradition
Depending on the institution, alumni attitudes about the past and the future
can be dramatically different. Younger institutions—those only a few decades old—see a larger number of forward-thinking alumni. When an institution is focused on growth, and traditions are still being developed, alumni are used to looking to the future.
At George Mason University, an almost 60-year-old public university in Virginia, the student experience has always included change. In the 1970s, the campus had four academic buildings. In the mid-1980s, the campus had grown to about 40 buildings. Today the institution has the state's largest student enrollment among public institutions and boasts 149 buildings across three regional campuses. "It's almost impossible for us to give our alumni a truly nostalgic experience, because we're changing all the time," says Chris Clark-Talley, associate vice president for alumni relations at George Mason University. "It's the expectation from the moment they step foot on campus as a freshman—this idea about getting better and better—so they don't expect Mason to be the same when they come back in 10 years."
Mason does not normally host class-based reunions. Its Alumni Weekend welcomes all alumni, and programming is based around affinity groups and schools and departments. Mason alumni are interested in plans for the future, and the university's current capital campaign slogan reflects this: Faster Farther. Mason also hits pride points like new research, alumni success stories, rankings, and awards in its newsletters and social media posts. "Alumni are really proud of the university and want us to reinforce the idea that this place is as good as they think it is," Clark-Talley says.
A similar vein runs through alumni attitudes at Canada's University of Calgary. More than 70 percent of alumni told Mark Sollis, associate vice president, alumni, that they were interested in the university's intellectual content as a primary means of connecting. They wanted to continue to learn from the institution and understand its growth, Sollis says. In response, Sollis and his team developed a lecture series for which faculty travel to different regions with the UCalgary Alumni team to deliver talks on research or current events. Similarly, Maastricht University in the Netherlands hosts a popular lecture series in several different countries, featuring professors who present on topics from happiness to brain imaging. Alumni officer Denise Villerius asks professors to discuss recent developments at the university in addition to lecturing on their research.
The UCalgary Alumni team does not host class-based reunions. "We get pressure from stakeholders who point to other schools with big football programs or long-standing big reunion bashes and say, ‘Why can't we do that?'" Sollis says. "It's hard to stand firm and tell folks that you're different—that what works for one institution might not work for us."
Meet them where they are
Are your alumni reluctant to come back to campus? Why not go to them?
UCalgary has partnered with local theater companies to offer alumni behind-the-scenes looks into productions. "This is stuff they're going to—so if we can be there and offer up our alumni and our experts to give them something a little extra, well, that hopefully ties back to the university and their feelings about it," Sollis says. At Mason, since 64 percent of alumni live locally, Clark-Talley offers microregion brunches during homecoming and alumni weekends. This effort to "go where they are" engages about 150 additional alumni each time who might not otherwise attend campus events.
"These people aren't just alumni, they are business people, parents, coaches, volunteers. We have to engage these folks as they are moving forward in their lives," Catherwood says.
If you can't get to where they are, small reminders through social media or newsletters can help. Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania uses the hashtag #CMUbrag on Twitter to promote the exciting things its faculty and alumni are doing. Its website Little Brags of Big Ideas (cmu.edu/brag) collects them all in a fun "gallery of innovations and sparks of inspiration," and CMU reminds its community that "we don't just imagine the future, we create it." Bragging points like listing famous CMU alumni (both Ted Danson of Cheers and Steven Bochco of Hill Street Blues were fine arts graduates of the institution) also provide the chance to insert facts about the university (in 1914, CMU awarded the first U.S. undergraduate degree in drama).
At Longwood, Catherwood builds a strong network by encouraging alumni to talk to and educate each other. "Allow alumni voices to come to the surface, let them talk about issues that have nothing to do with the university—wellness, cooking, travel, fashion—but the common thread is their alma mater."
But wait—what about the memories?
Nostalgia is still an important part of the university experience—it's where the relationship began. "We certainly respect tradition," Sollis says. "We weave it into a lot of our programs, but it's not the core purpose of the program." When his team promotes a regional event, for example, they include a picture of the past or a campus shot that hints at old memories. While they won't organize reunions, they understand if departments or affinity groups wish to host them.
Villerius at Maastricht finds that even with a 40-year-old institution, her alumni base responds well to nostalgia. As part of the celebration for Maastricht's 40th anniversary, Villerius and her team started an interview series with alumni born in 1976, when the university was established. "Our alumni love human interest stories," she says. Her office also posts nostalgic pictures on social media that emphasize the beauty of the city and campus.
Whether or not your alumni adore the good old days, they are probably still eager to develop and deepen the relationship with their alma mater. Posting updates about new projects and programs, treating your alumni as more than just former students, and providing valuable learning experiences are always good foundations to planning programming.
When in doubt, remember that old friend you haven't seen in years. The real test of lifelong connections is where you're going next. Provide those opportunities for alumni, and they'll be willing to continue the journey with you.