CEO of the Calgary Stampede and president of the university’s Alumni Association, Vern Kimball
CEO of the Calgary Stampede and president of the university’s Alumni Association, Vern Kimball (photo: Jay Im)
Moving Alumni Engagement Forward
CEO of the Calgary Stampede and president of the university’s Alumni Association, Vern Kimball highlights opportunities for alumni to connect with their alma mater
It’s a good time to be an alumnus of the University of Calgary. The university’s firstever Alumni Strategy will:
Cause alumni to feel pride in the university and its direction;
Secure meaningful opportunities for alumni to be engaged;
Ensure alumni ongoing access to the intellectual riches of the university
We believe that sharing the accomplishments of your fellow alumni will cause you to be proud of your university. Over the past few months, we’ve expanded the reach of alumni stories being shared across the university and alumni community, and we’ll continue to grow digital communications, through podcasts and a revamp of Arch-E, so we can share more alumni success stories. We hope that these stories will make you reflect on your own accomplishments as an alumnus/a, and the connections that you have made, and maintained, with other alumni.
While there are lots of ways that alumni are already involved in university life, such as sitting on faculty or regional Moving Alumni Engagement Forward alumni communities, serving in mentorship programs, or volunteering for campus activities — you will discover even more later this year, when we will launch an alumni volunteer program. Our focus will be to match interest with meaningful opportunities where alumni can be engaged to make a difference.
With almost 1,000 speakers and panels on campus each year there is literally something of interest for everyone. In the coming months, we’ll focus on providing you with access to more of these speakers and panels. The first task will be to get the word out and let you know about some of these, which we’ll do through the website, e-mails, and our Arch-E newsletter.
Lastly, we are addressing some critical foundational aspects, including greater coordination of alumni and community programming across faculties and improving customer service standards. Some of you may have seen examples of this as we have integrated U magazine with customized alumni content in the form of inserts from the Faculty of Science and the Haskayne School of Business. We have also collaborated on programs with the Schulich School of Engineering and the Faculty of Arts.
There is lots going on that will help to build a stronger alumni community. With the support of the university and under the leadership of AVP Alumni, Mark Sollis, I believe that the university will be successful in connecting alumni in ways that we have asked to be engaged. If you would like more details on the complete Alumni Strategy, please check it out at ucalgary.ca/alumni
It is a good time to be an alumnus. I hope you will join me in supporting the university as it works with us to build a strong alumni community.
— Vern Kimball