Alumni Executive Council Business Meeting Minutes
December 1, 2018
President Cortney Terrillion called the meeting to order at 10:04 A.M. EST.
Following role call by Secretary Chelsea Lloyd, a quorum was documented.
Present:
Acevedo, Bates, Beyer, Chrzanowski-Sears, Cochran, Colucci, Danielson, Faulkner, Frank, Hallock, Jensen, Kallet, Kuno, Lawler, Lloyd, McKee, McManus, McSweeney, Michaelson, Montgomery, North, Patrick, Price, Rood, Russell, D. Ryan, Santini, Scuteri, Sethness, Terrillion, Thomson, Wells and Weiland
Not Present:
Abernethy, Brown, Dana, Egbert, Giles, Glass, Hakewill, Hann, Hughes, Jeffress, Jenkins, Kadick, Lee, Peterson, M. Ryan, Taylor, Twombly, and Willis
Approval of the October 29, 2018 Business Meeting minutes were moved by Ron Thomson and seconded by Rick Beyer. There were no objections to the meeting minutes.
President’s Report
Cortney shared that there would be a search committee for the retiring Vice President of Student Life, Joe Tolliver and per usual Council fashion we have offered our assistance, if needed, in the search. The planning has started for our Winter Weekend, January 31- Feb 2. President Cortney is also drafting the next write-up for the University magazine.
Campus Report
Kim shared that we have received additional gifts since The Campaign for Every Laurentian launch. We ending the launch standing at $143 million in gifts and now stand at $144 million. A recent $1.5 million dollar gift was announced. Bill Martin ’67, a North Country native, donated $1.5 million which will go toward supporting theater and performing arts programming at St. Lawrence.
President Fox and wife Lynn will begin Campaign related travel. On December 6th they will be in the Westchester/Fairfield CT area at the Round Hill Club. On January 10th they will be in the D.C. area for a regional campaign launch that coincides with the SLU Connect – D.C. program. This event will celebrate The Power of Connections, big idea number three.
Student Delegate Report
Oscar Acevedo shared that the students are getting excited for hockey season. Oscar will be working at the games. He also shared his involvement with updating the blue safety lights on campus. Students are preparing for finals before winter break.
Sonja Jensen met with the senior class president and performed a brainstorming session focused on increasing giving and participation as well as providing students with an understanding of where donations go. They are working with John Pezdek and Joe Keniston. One idea was a website for students to track their personal giving and/or a revamp of the mySt. Lawrence site. They have a future call to discuss engagement with the Student Alumni Association (SAA) during AEC’s winter meeting.
Ali Price, calling in from China, shared her involved with the Student Athlete Advisory Committee which is working on the idea of a school mascot. VP, Sue North asked if there have been any suggestions for mascots. There have not. They are in the beginning stages.
Finance and Resources
Treasurer, Paul Danielson shared that we will no longer receive University support from the bookstore which is $30,000 annually. This support will come directly from University Advancement. Tracking bookstore profitability has become a challenge and this is a more secure situation for AEC. The F&R Committee is very pleased with this change. Paul thanked the committee and working group chairs for sending their budget request forms in on time. There are no significant changes in our support from the last year. The only change is the separation of the Marketing/Communications line from Advancement and Engagement to a separate line item, which will fall under the newly formed Communications Working Group. The amount is listed as $200.00. Future project estimates are unknown at this time.
The 2019 AEC budget was moved by Ron Thomson and seconded by Laura Patrick. There were no abstentions or votes against the budget for 2019. Paul offered his thanks to both Kim and Brandy for their help and support with this task.
Committee Reports
Admissions
Mike Santini and the committee have been working with Coach Mahoney, Men’s Lacrosse coach, and Lissa Short on two events, one in NY and another in BOS, for St. Lawrence lacrosse alumni, parents, and students. There have been some alumni donors who have offered to help fund the event. They are working through the details and an idea to invite lacrosse recruits that are interested in St. Lawrence.
Advancement
Laura Patrick shared for both Advancement and Engagement. Advancement is reviewing a new document that revamps the Leadership Gift Committee. Historically, committee members were required to give at a certain level. The goal is to broaden this description. A&E Committee is not only reviewing the document but also working on ways to support the Leadership Gift Committee.
Engagement has been expanding connections in support of interest from the Student Alumni Association (SAA). Brian and Laura are planning a call with student leaders, Tarrah Price and Sonja Jensen to keep moving forward with better communication and partnership with the student group.
The committee is still in research mode for ideas to get alumni back to campus for seminars and educational opportunities coupled with North Country experiences during the summer. Additionally, Laura is excited about planning the KDS 50th anniversary in the spring.
Membership & Honors
Kim shared in Dan Lee’s absence. M&H has had a very busy fall and early winter. The committee just finished the review of nominations for Alumni Citation and Sol Feinstone candidates. They received a strong pool. The committee will present a slate to the Board of Trustees for their vote and confirmation in early December. Names will be shared with Council shortly after. There will be openings for AEC in Groups 1, 2, 4 and 5. Group 4 is 1992-2006 graduates and Group 1 is up to 1970 – both of these are challenging years to fill. M&H will be holding nomination review calls through early spring. They will then focus on student delegate recruitment and the Doug Brown award for the senior class.
Student Services
Steve Lawler reported on the committees work on Career Conversations. The format for this year will be similar to last year including breakout sessions with students. The idea is to help them be more comfortable with small talk, elevator pitches and asking questions when networking. Last year there were 40 students involved in this networking event. Any AEC member who wishes to participate, please let Liz Kadick or Steve know.
Faculty Engagement Working Group
Anne McManus and group will be putting together a spreadsheet of alumni faculty resources to be shared with Kim. They will then move forward with outreach if there is no objection. The goal is for outreach to occur between now and our winter meeting. The plan is to have a group of faculty listed that we can work from for second semester. As a reminder, we are hoping to have an item on our winter programming that involves faculty. Annie Montgomery is eager to help and commented on attending classes during the winter meeting.
Marketing and Communications
Beth Russell shared that the working group has had a busy fall with Homecoming and supporting the Campaign launch. They will be working on the next edition of the SLU magazine. The group works with Deb Dudley, Editor of the magazine, to bring AEC presence and goals to the forefront of the magazine. The goal is to highlight Council accomplishments. Deb has asked for Council and other alumni to complete the line “Every Laurentian…” Fill in the blank of what this means to you. Selected messaging will be used throughout the Campaign launch, on the website, and Instagram. Please send ideas to Beth and include a photo of you or you and family and friends. Beth shared two ideas that she submitted: Every Laurentian finds friends for life which was paired with a photo of her and alumni friends with a SLU flag. Every Laurentians knows the strength of the community which was shared with a photo of AEC at Canaras. Please also share any ideas for making our presence more prominent in the St. Lawrence magazine. One idea is to show profiles of Alumni Council or student delegate members.
On a side note, during the holiday season, alumni and fashion designer, Gretchen Scott ’72 has created an athleisure line which came out of women’s initiative meeting a few years ago. Proceeds go to a St. Lawrence scholarship fund.
NYC Semester Task Force
Cortney shared for Penn Egbert: The task force is currently working on the January NYC Semester event. Dates will be finalized soon.
No new business to report.
The meeting adjourned at 10:45a EST by President Cortney Terrillion with movement from Jay McKee and a second motion from Jeff Wells.
Notes submitted by Chelsea Lloyd, Secretary.