Alumni Executive Council Winter Meeting Minutes

February 10, 2018

President Forbes gaveled in the meeting at 1:52 p.m.

Secretary Chatterjee called the role.

In attendance: Abernethy, Beyer, Catlin, Chatterjee, Chrzanowski-Sears, Cochran, Colucci, Danielson, Faulkner, Forbes, Hallock, Hansen, Jenkins, Jennings, Kadick, Lee, Lloyd, MacBrayne, McKee, McManus, Murray, North, Patrick, Peterson, Russell, Dennis Ryan, Molly Ryan, Santini, Sullivan, Taylor, Terrillion, Twombly, Wheeler, Willis

Not in attendance: Armstrong, Dana, Egbert, Hann, Hughes, Ireland, Kallet, Lawler, McSweeney, Price, Rood, Scuteri, Sethness, Thomson

Once a quorum was established, we proceeded to the consideration of the slate.

There was a brief discussion and a recap of the straw vote. Dan Lee spoke to the open, transparent process then went into the procurement of the slate.

Twombly moved to adopt the slate; MacBrayne offered a second. The slate was unanimously approved.

President’s Report - Ed Forbes:

He recapped the great weekend which included fun, quality engagement with the faculty, and a great dinner with students and staff. He went over the Princeton review, recapped the story of our success and how our network had brought national acclaim. He thanked Kim and Brandy for a thoughtful schedule and looked ahead to Canaras. He referenced the annual assessment and how it was critical to future planning and developing a leadership pipeline. He discussed the standing committee on faculty engagement and reported that he would be briefing the board of trustees in two weeks’ time. At the conclusion of his presentation, Twombly asked if copies of the Princeton review could be distributed.

Campus Report - Kim Hissong:

Kim gave an update on the comprehensive campaign. She discussed the Center for Student Achievement project in Madill Hall. This will allow us to remove the Whitman annex (trailer) and move other student service programs to Madill Hall such as academic advising, FYP, HEOP and others. She said the IT staff have already moved out of Madill and into ODY. This is a multi-million dollar fundraising project as part of the Campaign. Two anonymous donors gave $3 million towards the project but will redirect their gifts elsewhere if we can find other donors to the project. There are naming opportunities in both the Center for Student Achievement and in ODY. They range from $50,000 on the low end for a group study space in ODY to $5 million to rename Madill Hall. A $2 million gift can name the Center for Student Achievement. Kim gave a confidential update on the Appleton renovation project, mentioning the architects would be coming to campus this week with hopes for a final plan by early summer. A gift from the Dolan Foundation has funded the study of Appleton, which will result in a suggested renovation plan. There will be available naming opportunities. At the conclusion of Kim’s report, Dennis Ryan asked about temporary naming opportunities, Hansen asked about long-term contracts and their length and Jenkins asked about the history of Madill (it used to be the field house).

Student Reports:

Wheeler thanked the group for the learning opportunity and the forum to share information and reported that he was encouraged by the direction in the business program. 

Jennings discussed the Senior Leadership Society and the opportunity to put on paper the lessons learned by seniors – what they love about the school but also what they feel could be changed. The students want to work with faculty to get a final document formalized and capture the work that has been ongoing since 2016. Jennings mentioned some specifics – she loves the counseling center and wants to see it expanded. She said it can be hard to get in there and there is insufficient funding. She also wanted to see more diversity on staff. 

Wheeler mentioned a lack of Excel training and thought there was merit to adding a class and making it a requirement for business majors. 

The group started with 50 people was then cut to 30 and now down to 15. They will conclude with a dinner with the Foxes and a meeting with Dean Tolliver. A wide net has been cast and there will be an effort to hand off the group to younger students to carry its mission forward. 

Dan Lee went over the selection criteria and process for selecting student delegates. 

There was a salute to the student delegates and gifts were presented.

Treasurer’s Report - Cortney Terrillion: 

Cort reported that $2,100 has been spent to date. She reported that the committee was looking at budget optimizations and working on a forecast version with an improved format.

Committee Reports

Admissions

Pam MacBrayne gave the Admissions report. She stated that the committee met with Jeremy Freeman who reported on the class of 2022. Early decision was up 11% to 329. Students who were admitted and had made deposits were actually on campus today. 64 students in total who participated in a mini orientation. Those students will be invited to participate in yield events. Pam reported that applications were up 9%. There were 306 legacy applications. 85% of early decision applicants accepted early. The college age population in New England is shrinking but applications increased from every northeastern state. There is a desire to have boots on the ground in the field. We want to increase our name recognition in some states and are asking alums to help with that. With a new VP coming in there will be changes. The retention rate is currently 92%. Graduates who are employed or in grad school 7 to 9 months out an impressive 97%. We have a class size goal of 674. 4,232 applicants from the northeast. 1,039 from other regions. Students of color increased both in NY and countrywide. But we had fewer international students. We will be repeating the yield event in Darien as it was very successful. There will be a yield event Sunday April 8th in Wellesley. 2 sessions. Looking for a keynote speaker for the event. Also looking for Alumni Council volunteers. We must continue our project of writing to selected students and should target students in the second quartile academically who provide SLU better value.

A&E

Campaign for Every Laurentian - The Campaign Kick-Off will occur Oct 25-28, 2018 - in which our goal will be announced. We hope to be at 50% of our goal by this time. Key volunteers, donors, prospects and all alumni will be invited. We expect to have 250-300 people back on campus. Council will participate in a (Power of Connections) dinner on Thursday evening with selected students. There will be programming throughout the weekend highlighting the Big Ideas and Council will have a 60-90 min session. Please be thinking about this session and in what ways Council can use this time to highlight the work that we do – what we hope to do – etc.

Spring Challenge - The 1856 Challenge will occur April 25-26. The focus will be on scholarships and the most recently accepted class, 2022. The goal is for 2,022 donors from 10:04a on the 25th to 5p on the 26th, ending with chapel bells. The Spring Challenge historically brings 5% to our annual participation rate.

Brainstorming continues on a larger Alumni Council Sponsored Donor Challenge for possibly Spring or Fall of 2019. How do we utilize all of Council and our span of class years for this challenge? How do we involved today’s students in this challenge, including our partners in the Student Alumni Association?

Finance & Resources

Jay McKee reported that we have not expended much of our Council budget to date, and have not received revenue from the bookstore yet. Best practices need to be developed for the budget. Forecasting difficulties and earlier event overage problems were encountered (e.g., sales tax charged, ordering from the menu caused increased costs). "Host Event Instructions" and an "After Event Action Report" form will be developed in the future. Terri Selby and Mary Peterson will outline tax parameters by state. Young alumni stipends will have a request deadline.

Laura Jennings discussed the Senior Leadership Society. What SLU does well: SLU listens to students; all want to help students' success; there is mutual respect. Challenges: Example - The Counseling Center - There is a need for more counselors for mental health issues and alcohol and drug counseling. Laura shared some specifics of this with the committee.

Alumni Council would like a copy of the Senior Leadership Society report.

M&H

Dan Lee spoke to the new slate and the need to find quality student delegates and to use our existing group to recruit. April 1 is the application deadline. He spoke to new member recruitment and reported that there were many good options. This year will bring the second phase of the second year of the expansion. He also reported that the committee had identified and the board had approved winners of the Alumni Citation and Sol Feinstone awards. He read out the winners and their bios (please refer to the website for the full readout).

Student Services

Mary Peterson reported on the career connections in the fall and the networking event in the winter. She said the committee needed feedback on structure. She went into detail on SLU Connect which is becoming a powerful new tool. Several SLU Connect events –
•  Albany – 15 students and 80 alums
•  Mountain States – 23 students, 50 alums and an additional 20 parents and alums
•  DC – 25 students, 120 alums, 45 alums who agreed to meet one on one
•  San Francisco – First time – capped at 20 students. March 18-22
•  Boston – targeting Senior Week
Desire to add one more for next year – maybe more (Burlington being considered)

She also reported that the Laurentian in Residence Program will focus on younger alums with the goal of getting more active donors.

Conclusion of Committee Reports.

There were no items of new or old business

Dave Murray thanked the group for scheduling the meeting on Saturday afternoon.

Hansen asked to recruit more singers.

Dennis Ryan made a motion to adjourn.

Twombly seconded. The meeting adjourned at 3:18 p.m.

Minutes submitted by Secretary, Neil Chatterjee.