Alumni Association Volunteer Board Opportunities

> Apply to become a member of the Awards Committee. The Awards Committee helps identify which alumni and non-alumni close to the college should receive awards and honors bestowed by the Alumni Association (Alumni Award of Merit, Volunteer Service Awards), and then oversees the selection process. The committee considers as well whether other awards or honors are appropriate to establish, and makes recommendations to the board. Committee members serve one-year terms and can expect to commit 1–3 hours per month. Members should have a solid awareness of the alumni community, particularly in terms of who is currently volunteering for and supporting the college, or who is excelling in their chosen field. Because members will vet candidates nominated by the alumni body, discretion and confidentiality is a must.

> Become an Alumni Association social media outreach coordinator. The newly created Strategic Communications Working Group (a) facilitates awareness within the Alumni Association Board of the interests and concerns of alumni at large so that it can respond to them promptly and appropriately, and (b) increases awareness of the Alumni Association and its activities among the alumni at large in order to increase alumni participation.

The Alumni Association Board is made up of volunteers who have jobs, families, and social commitments that limit the amount of time we can devote to the Association. We also have varying degrees of exposure and commitment to social media. This has resulted in slow and/or uneven awareness within the Board of alumni concerns arising on social media. We have also seen questions asked and discussions arise over topics where the Alumni Association could have provided clarity had we responded more quickly. In order to be more responsive and to increase the flow of information, we're creating a group of social media outreach coordinators. 

Coordinators are responsible for keeping the Board informed of alumni interests and concerns voiced on social media. Specifically, coordinators identify areas of concern to alumni which appear in social media, summarize and categorize them, and then inform the Board.  This is both on a periodic basis, for low priority items, and immediate if there is urgent need of response from or action by the Board. Coordinators will also facilitate connections between alumni and the Association by answering such questions as “How do I volunteer?”, “Who is responsible for organizing alumni networking events?”, etc. We also review the Association's presence on social media and recommend improvements. We'll sit down with volunteers to figure out the actual organization of responsibilities (i.e. by topic, by social media site, by Board Working Group, etc.), and frequency once we see how many volunteers we have and how much time they can dedicate.

> Become a database adviser. The Nominating and Awards committees of the Alumni Association are responsible for identifying, evaluating, and nominating alumni and friends of St. John's for positions within the Alumni Association and for awards of recognition. A key element of these activities is tracking past alumni activities and awards. Several databases of past alumni participation exist in various formats (mainly Excel) and each must be checked before any person is nominated for an award or position. The president-elect is looking for an alumnus/a with database knowledge who can provide advice on how to best unify these into one database platform to use going forward and what SOPs ought to be developed to keep them current.  

For further information, please contact our directors of Alumni Relations: 

Leo Pickens in Annapolis (leo.pickens@sjca.edu)
Sarah Palacios in Santa Fe (sarah.palacios@sjcsf.edu)