The Vice President of University Advancement Mary Kay
McFadden and the former Dean of the Law School Kellye Testy commissioned a task
force to report on the need for lifetime alumni e-mail. Susan Ahern from
the Law School served as Task Force Chair. OIT participated on the Task
Force both as team members and technical advisors. The final report of
the team was presented to the executives in June 2009. The Task Force recommendation
offers alumni a lifetime seattleu.edu email address, providing benefits such as:
- To provide alumni with a benefit/service
they value, e.g., the importance of a professional contact as students seek
work; a benefit/service offered by SU to all alumni (alumni can choose if they
want benefit)
- To provide seamless connection as students
graduate and wish to continue to use the e-mail address they have used as
undergraduate or graduate students
- To facilitate increased communication
between alumni and the university – we want to ensure we can stay in touch and
hope that alumni will also want to stay connected with SU
- To encourage electronic communication,
which depends on accurate e-mail addresses, as it is more cost-effective and
“green” than written communication (assuming the audience reads the e-mail;
this will take time but electronic communication is clearly the future trend)
- To market SU – providing visibility for the
“seattleu.edu” brand
- To help in building/nurturing community to
ensure lifelong relationships and partnerships critical to our future success,
e.g., the development of philanthropic resources
- The sentiment that we have the opportunity
to be in the vanguard, helping to raise the standard for alumni services among
our Jesuit peers.
The
recommendation of the Task Force is now in the hands of the University
executives and OIT is looking forward to implementing a solution in the near
future.