Alumni Council Executive Committee Meeting Minutes, January 17, 2004
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Welcome—Alex Wilson ’73 Alex 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. Mr. Wilson 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 Janice Wood Parsons '65 reported for Linda Mitchell Potter. Jan reported that her committee heard from Judy Brody, associate dean; and Steve Thomas, dean of admissions and financial aid, who gave an update on the Colby admissions outlook for 2004. They just completed the early decision round one review and are very happy with the applicant pool, with average SAT scores up again this year. They reported they have accepted 142 ED1 students and expect to accept another 40-50 in the ED2 process, with the remaining spaces to be filled in the general process in April for a total of 484 expected members in the class of 2008. The committee is also looking to coordinate legacy events for alumni with high school age students interested in learning more about the college admissions process. The first event was at the Sidwell Friends School in D.C. in the fall, with a second event planned for Fairfield County, Conn., in the spring. There will also be retention events for the recently admitted students in April in eight locations around the country. The committee will be looking for alumni in those cities to attend the events and help answer questions from potential students and their families. The committee then took the remainder of its time to review three actual anonymous Colby admissions cases from the ED1 pool in order to experience the process of deciding who gets accepted. The committee felt the exercise was a very valuable insight into the process and were pleased that their decisions were close to the actual decisions made. In June the committee will tour the campus as part of the weekend's activities. Alumni Fund—Todd W. Halloran ’84 Todd reported that the Alumni Fund Committee sponsored a thank-you event in November '03 for class agents and associates agents, to recognize the work they do for the Annual Fund each year. The event was held in Dedham, Mass., and was a first attempt to recognize them for past service to their classes and the College and to bring them up to speed with what is going on at the College this year. About 90 alumni attended and were entertained by the Colbyettes at this very successful event. The committee plans to make this an annual event to keep those volunteers connected to the College who work diligently behind the scenes. The FY04 Alumni Fund goal is $3.5 million, and they are currently on track to meet both that dollar goal and the participation goal of 52 percent. The committee will continue to stress participation and is looking for ways to recognize consistent donors. Athletics—Art Brennan ’68 Art began by thanking Associate Director of Alumni Relations Buffy Higgins for all her help and support for both the Athletic Committee and the C Club activities. He urged alumni to read President Adams's article "Intercollegiate Athletics and the Academic Ideal" on Division III athletics in the winter issue of Colby magazine, which came out in January. The C Club and Athletic Committee plan to co-sponsor a reception at the Colby-Tufts women's basketball game on February 8, 2004. He reminded members that during FY04 the committee has been celebrating 100 years of the C Club, with special events planned throughout the year. An extra event celebrating the 100th anniversary event will be held in Burlington, Mass., on February 28 to allow alumni in the greater Boston area the opportunity to participate. President Adams will be the guest speaker. On April 25, at the Spring Awards Brunch on campus, the 2004 Carl Nelson Award will be presented to Boyd Sands '59. Senior student athlete awards are also presented at this event, and faculty are encouraged to attend to show their support for these student athletes. Awards—Byrd Allen ’75 Boyd 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. He thanked the committee for their diligent work this past year and the Colby staff for preparing the bio's to review and the citations that are presented to the awardees. 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 classes ending in 5 and 0 for awards to be presented at Reunion 2005. Mr. Allen then announced the 2004 alumni awardees:
Frank began by saying how pleased his committee was that the trustees were interested in supporting career services efforts. The Office of Career Services has recently added another staff member, John Kappes, who has among his responsibilities to look for ways to engage alumni in the work of the career services efforts with current students. He will be focusing on mentoring, networking, and internship opportunities with alumni as well as looking for alumni who may be willing to come to campus to speak with students about their careers. Director of Career Services Cindy Parker shared some highlights of this active year in the Office of Career Services at Colby. In October, alumni participated in a Job Shadow Day in Portland and Boston for current students. Students could select from over 75 opportunities offered by alumni. They also sponsored a Career Week in October, in which Alumni Council Career Services Committee members participated again this year in panel discussions on consulting, finance, and young alumni creers. The staff continue to offer on-on-one appointments with students and have Friday Career Cafes, where students can drop in to talk about careers with staff. The Office of Career Services also sponsored a Career Festival on campus in early January, which was intended primarily for first year students with a focus on network building, resume writing, testing, and internships opportunities. They also hope to bring the internship program to a new level, and John Kappes is writing a formal proposal for support for this program, so there will be more on that soon. Committee members are volunteering to help current students with mock telephone interviews, since 90 percent of initial interviews these days seem to be done via phone. Committee member Sara Dressler '02 will help coordinate that project. Nominating—Barry Potter ’60 Barry reported that his committee would be meeting immediately following lunch and would discuss openings for Alumni Council members-at-large. The Executive Committee of the Alumni Council will formally elect the trustee candidates that were presented in the winter issue of Colby magazine in late February if there are no nominations by petition from the general alumni body by the February 15, 2004, deadline. Mr. Potter looks forward to better coordination between the Council and the Trustee Nominating Committees. Mr. Wilson thanked the chairs for their reports and then introduced Colby's new vice president of college relations, Richard Ammons, to the entire Alumni Council. Richard started at Colby on November 12, coming from Macalester College where he was also VP of College Relations. The Alumni Council Executive Committee had met Richard at their retreat in November and have enjoyed working with him so far. Richard explained that January was his third month at Colby and that he has been impressed with the depth and breadth of alumni volunteers. He is looking forward to learning the nuances of the Colby culture and working with everyone in the coming years. Mr. Wilson thanked everyone for their time and mentioned that he hoped to have more combined informational sessions like the one with Dan Rosenfeld from the art museum at future lunch meetings of the council. |