Alumni Council Executive Committee Meeting Minutes, January 12, 2003
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Welcome—Lou Richardson ’67 Lou welcomed council members and guests and included a special welcome to past Alumni Council chairs Clifford "Bump" Bean '51, Vic Scalise '54, and John Devine '78. Ms. Richardson asked everyone to enjoy their lunch, with the formal business meeting of the Alumni Council to begin shortly.
Admissions and Financial Aid—Linda Mitchell Potter ’66 Beth Pniewski Wilson '81 reported for Linda Mitchell Potter. Ms. Wilson reported her committee heard from Judy Brody, associate dean; and Parker Beverage, dean of admissions and financial aid, who gave an annual report on the Colby admissions outlook for 2003. They reported there is a five percent increase in applications this year, including a 24 percent increase in international students. The average SAT score is up, and Ms. Brody indicated it was the best pool so far. Colby is watching the University of Michigan affirmative action case very closely for its potential impact on all admissions program. The Posse Program is in its first full year. This program brings 10 students from the NYC area to campus as a group (or posse) and then provides the support system it requires to ensure success. They are happy to report that, so far, 6 of the 10 were on the dean's list their first semester, and all are actively involved in various student and performing groups across campus. Eventually there will be 40 Posse students on campus, 10 each year. The Davis Scholars program, an offshoot of the United World Colleges, has seen a 40 percent increase in applicants from international students, adding increased diversity on campus and in the classroom. They reported that there have been no international student visa problems for Colby students. The college ranking systems continue to be viewed as important to the general public, so Colby must pay attention to where we stand in US News and World Report rankings. Colby works hard to keep the number of applicants up. The Admissions and Financial Aid Committee will be sponsoring a legacy event in DC titled, Demystifying the College Admissions Process. The event is intended for alumni with children/grandchildren/family members of college age. There will also be retention events in early April for students who were accepted to Colby but may want last minute help in making their final decision. Events will be held in nine locations, including: Boston, Chicago, Denver, Fairfield County, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. Alumni Fund—Todd W. Halloran ’84 Mr. Halloran reported that last year's alumni fund (FY02) finished at 3.3 million which was a 7 percent increase and was a great accomplishment considering the state of the economy. Alumni participation ended at 50.9 percent, and he thanked everyone for their part in making the goals. The FY03 goal is just 2 percent over the prior year and will end on June 30, 2003. We have already raised 1.3 million, up 6.4 percent over last year at this time. So far 3100 donors have committed, which is an increase of 13 percent over last year. Mr. Halloran also reported that the director of annual giving, David Beers '85, has been promoted to assistant vice president for college relations and campaign director. Mr. Halloran thanked Mr. Beers for his past leadership in annual giving and reported that the search for his replacement is already underway. The Alumni Fund Committee is planning an event for class agents, to recognize the work they do for the Alumni Fund each year. The event will serve to thank them for their past service and bring them up to speed with what is going on at the College this year. Alumni-on-Campus—Philip C. Wysor ’70 Mr. Wysor reported that he is the alumni representative on the new Alumni and Development Building Planning Committee, which has been meeting once a month since June, 2002. The building will be the first of four planned for the new Colby Green across Mayflower Hill Drive. Ground breaking for the green is expected to begin in August, 2003, with plans to break ground for the building in the spring of 2004. The current timetable includes:
Athletics—Patricia Valavanis Smith ’80 Ms. Smith reported that the Athletics Committee met with officers of the C Club to discuss upcoming events for this spring. There are currently 560 paid members of the C Club, up 22 percent over last year at this time. The club has recently offered members the ability to join or renew their membership online. The C Club and Athletic Committee planned to co-sponsor a reception at the Colby-Tufts basketball game on February 8, 2003. Ms. Smith also indicated that during FY04 the C Club will be celebrating its hindredth anniversary with special events at the Colby Night Dinner during Family Homecoming Weekend in October. They plan to recognize the Alfond and Levine families as the Families of the Century for Colby athletics. Another special 100th anniversary event will be planned for the winter of '04 in the greater Boston area. The committee will be looking for ideas or suggestions for ways to celebrate this milestone in the history of Colby athletics. Track Coach Jim Wescott will be retiring this spring after more than 25 years at Colby, and alumni are invited to help recognize that occasion. On April 13, 2003, at the Spring Awards Brunch on campus, the 2003 Carl Nelson Award will be presented to former Women's Ice Hockey Coach Laura Haldorson. Senior student athlete awards are also presented at this event, and faculty are encouraged to attend and show their support for these student-athlete. Awards—Hope Palmer Bramhall ’56 Ms. Bramhall reported that at the January meeting the Awards Committee takes great pleasure in finally being able to publicly announce the results of their deliberations over the last year. They are also always looking for nominations for future awards and urged everyone to think about potential recipients in their own classes. The committee has begun reviewing candidates in the reunion classes ending in 4 and 9 for awards to be presented during Reunion Weekend 2004. Ms. Bramhall then announced the awardees for the 2003 alumni awards:
Career Services—Frank Finizio ’66 Mr. Finizio announced that 16 committee members attended the morning meeting, which is a great indication of how far they have come in the last year, and they are still growing. They had a presentation from Director of Career Services Cindy Parker, who gave the shared highlights of the year. The Career Services Office had recently sponsored a Career Festival on campus, intended primarily for first-year students (about 130 attended), with a focus on network building, resume writing, testing, and internship opportunities. They also sponsored a Career Week in October in which Alumni Council Career Services Committee members participated in panel discussions on consulting, finance, and young alumni careers, all of which will be repeated next fall. Also that week, alumni participated in a Job Shadow Day for current students in Portland or Boston, and 27 students were matched up from over 90 spots offered by alumni. The committee also looked at how Career Services can help alumni. They learned that, due to limited resources and areas of expertise, it is easier to focus on alumni within 1-3 years of graduation. Their main focus continues to be supporting current students and their career needs. Topics the committee will review for future meetings will be
Communications—Eric F. Rolfson ’73 Mr. Rolfson reminded everyone that the Maguire survey of alumni indicated that classmates valued the communications they received from the Alumni Council in their class representative letter, and he urged those who had not yet done their annual letter to comply before June 30 this year. The Communications Committee will send a committee representative to each of the other subcommittee meetings to try to facilitate getting information to the class representatives to include in their annual letters. He indicated that only 35 percent of the class representatives sent letters out this past year, and he hoped they would do better this year with the addition of more sample letters and bullet points. Nominating—Barry Potter ’60 Susan Jacobson Nestor '88 began the report for Barry Potter. She reported that the committee discussed the need for a new class representative for the class of 1995, due to a recent resignation. Robert Hoopes '89 will be working with the class to find a replacement candidate. Chair Potter then continued the report by indicating that the process of approval for the candidates for alumni trustee has begun. He placed in nomination the names of Andrew A. Davis '85 and Kate Lucier O'Neil '85 for election for a second, three-year term, and William H. Goldfarb '68 and Timothy B. Hussey '78 for a first term as alumni trustee. The candidates were accepted unanimously, and their nominations will be announced in the next issue of Colby magazine. The candidates will be formally elected by the Executive Committee of the Alumni Council in late February if there are no nominations from the general alumni body by the February 15, 2003, deadline. Mr. Potter indicated that we have nine alumni trustees who serve 3-year renewable terms, but this year one alumni trustee was unable to renew for a second term, so there are four vacancies to fill. Academic Affairs Informational—Rebecca Birrell Smith ’92 Ms. Smith reported that her committee heard from Dean of Faculty Ed Yeterian, who spoke about the new Center for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement. The program's mission is to cross academic disciplines in a systematic way. Eventually the center will be housed in one of the buildings planned for the new Colby Green. The focus will be on public policy, international studies, and community and civic engagement of the entire world community. Dean Yeterian talked about projects for the center, including ways to interact in the local community, one of which may be to help create an AP world history class at Waterville High School. The center will also increase opportunities for student and faculty collaborative research. Student Affairs Informational—Susan Maxwell Reisert ’86 Ms. Reisert reported that her committee heard from guests Janice Kassman, dean of students; and Bernadette Buchanan, coordinator of multicultural student programs. They presented an overview of new diversity initiatives at Colby. Ms. Buchanan described the Posse Program, which is new for Colby but has been in existence for many years at other colleges. This program is organized by the Posse Foundation, based in New York (with offices also in Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles). The foundation identifies, recruits, and selects motivated students from public high schools to form multicultural teams called "Posses." These teams are then prepared, through an eight-month program, to enroll in a college or university that is connected to the foundation. This is the first year that Colby has participated in the program, with our Posse coming from New York City. Colby chose ten students (out of a group of twenty). These students were interviewed extensively by four Colby administrators, including Bro Adams. Once the students were on campus, Ms. Buchanan served as their mentor, providing both group and individual meetings. Colby recently began the process of bringing another Posse to campus in the fall of this year. Dean Kassman informed the group about other diversity initiatives on campus, including
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