Alumni Executive Council Canaras Business Meeting Minutes

June 11, 2017

President Forbes called the meeting to order at 8:26 am.

Roll Call

Mr. Chatterjee called the roll:

(*denotes that the member wasn’t present for the meeting but was present throughout the weekend)

Members present: Abernethy, *Beyer, Catlin, Chatterjee, *Chrzanowski-Sears, Cochran, Colucci, Danielson, *Egbert, Faulkner, Forbes, Hallock, Hann, Hansen, Hughes, Ireland, *Jenkins, Jennings, Kadick, Kallet, Lawler, Lee, Lloyd, MacBrayne, McKee, McManus, McSweeney, North, O’Connor, Patrick, Price, Rood, Russell, *Dennis Ryan, Molly Ryan, *Santini, Sethness, Sullivan, Terrillion, Thomson, Twombly, Wheeler

Members absent: Armstrong, Dana, Murray, Peterson, Scuteri, Taylor

Mr. Chatterjee reported that there were 36 members present for the meeting.

Mr. Forbes declared a quorum was present for the conduct of business.

Approval and acceptance of minutes from the virtual call of March 25, 2017: Heidi Hansen inquired if the typo from those minutes had been corrected. Mr. Chatterjee reported that the error had been noted. The minutes were approved unanimously on a motion by Ms. Terrillion and a second by Ms. Ryan. Heidi Hansen noted that her support was contingent upon the typo being corrected.

President's Report:

President Forbes spoke eloquently about his mother and about the outpouring of support he and his family received from members of council through their presence, notes and texts. He could not have gotten through the previous 8 weeks without that support. He went on to report that the work council was doing was highly valued by senior staff. He spoke of a strong commencement and that “SLU was on fire.” He said there was excitement about our new class and that it would pay dividends for the university citing yield events as an example. He noted the recent $25 million campaign commitment from the Johnsons. He said the 1856 challenge was a success. He indicated that Bob Rood reported that the AEC Endowment Fund had donations and pledges that already exceeded the goal of $250,000. He concluded his remarks by thanking Kim Hissong and Brandy Sanderson for their incredible work and support. Kim and Brandy received an ovation.

Student Delegates:

The student delegates (Ms. Catlin, Ms. Ireland, Ms. Jennings, Ms. Price, and Mr. Wheeler) thanked the members of council for having them and stated they were excited to be a part of the group. They mentioned that they were looking forward to sharing what they learned about council with the student body. They closed
by stating that potential council efforts on hydration stations and laundry machines would be viewed positively.

Treasurer's Report:

See attached slide for details. Ms. North went over the slide and she confirmed that the $10,000 reserve is not included in the balances. She reported that the 2018 budget would be put together in the fall with a vote in December.

Committee Reports

Admissions

Dr. MacBrayne gave the report for this new committee. She was initially concerned about having 12 people but after a successful first meeting she came away convinced there was plenty of meaningful work to be done. She reported that there are 718 students planning to attend this fall well above a goal of 650. She said the university was deploying new software and working on yield events expanding from Darien to 2 or 3 more. She asked council members to volunteer to do off campus interviews and implored us all to work to find new ways to reach out to admitted students. She mentioned how council’s handwritten notes to admitted students were greatly appreciated.

A&E

Ms. Lloyd reported our participation rate continues to hover under 30% and that the committee would focus on ways to get participation up. The committee filled 8 Laurentian volunteer roles last year and will continue to fill gaps with the help of all council. She reported that there would be a focus on affinity groups and that a student intern had been hired in the Laurentian Engagement office to research anniversary dates for campus programs and organizations i.e. 100th anniversary of the hockey program. This will help us be more strategic with future affinity reunion planning. She reported that there were 1,200 people at reunion this year and while that was fantastic it was a challenge for the university to get rooms turned around that quickly. There were 2,600 people who attended events last year including 1,000 first time goers. 46% of alumni who attend events donate. The committee will build off this and work on the campaign kickoff. Some of the ideas included an Alumni Council sponsored engagement challenge as well as working with the communications group on the story corps idea. Heidi Hansen asked a question about the timing of written thank you notes to donors as earlier suggested by Tom Pynchon for the campaign. Ms. Lloyd said she would take the suggestion under consideration. The timing of thank you notes will depend on the University Advancement office. If there's opportunity to thank before the September meeting, council can expect to be asked for their assistance. The A&E Committee is looking at using the resource of our new university videographer for
potential council sponsored projects and campaign messaging.

F&R report

Mr. Rood thanked the members for their generosity on the internship program including new members who contributed over the weekend to help push us over the goal. He reported that the budget was solvent and that the committee would look for ideas for passive revenue streams. He stressed the need for other chairs to communicate their needs by submitting budget request forms before 10 September 2017.

M&H report

Mr. Lee reported that the committee would turn to the second phase of the expansion and would also begin to prepare to start the process for the next officer slate this fall. He also spoke of the need to formalize the nominations process for recruiting new council members and implored council members to get their nominations in. He also listed out what we were looking for in nominees - engagers, connectors, doers, influencers, communicators, those who work well with others and "get it." 

Student Services report

Ms. Kadick encouraged members to sign up for up to 8 important programs the committee oversees. She announced that Mr. Lawler had volunteered to co-host the mock interviews and that Ms. Ryan had offered to work on the career panels. She noted that the fall meeting was a month earlier this year and that we needed to get things into motion sooner rather than later. She concluded by mentioning that Buffalo appears teed up for a SLU Connect program as does Burlington. Heidi Hansen asked a question about Sophomore boot camp which President Forbes answered.

Resolutions:

at 8:53am Mr. Lee proposed a resolution to accept Ms. Terrillion as Treasurer. The resolution was unanimously adopted without debate. At 8:54am Mr. Lee proposed a resolution to accept Ms. North as Vice President. The resolution was unanimously adopted without debate.

Old Business:

Heidi Hansen requested that AEC work on a financial education event for students and new alums.

New Business:

Heidi Hansen asked if there was any way for the AEC to recognize and honor Laurentians who had died in service to our country. Mr. Forbes noted Memorial Hall on campus was for those fallen. Ed believes there is a list in the Chapel for WWI. Mr. Forbes was not certain if there was any list for WWII, and did not recall one for the Vietnam War. However, Mr. Forbes was not sure if any Laurentians had fallen during that time. All agreed it was something we should consider.

Heidi Hansen also read a poem.

The alma mater was sung.

A motion to adjourn was put forth by Dr. MacBrayne, seconded by Ms. Hughes.

Meeting was adjourned by Mr. Forbes at 9:01 am.

Minutes submitted by Secretary Neil Chatterjee.