Council calls students, alumni to engagement
by Maria Salvador
The process of arriving at Earlham began long before we arrived and our experience will follow us close behind. Graduating from Earlham does not necessarily mean being out of touch with the college, and the alumni council knows this.
This homecoming, the marketing committee within the alumni council is upping the ante by using social media such as Facebook and Twitter to connect alumni to the current Earlham community and vice versa.
According to Daniél Rose (’95), member of the marketing committee, it is difficult for alumni to follow up on projects because the council only meets twice a year. Rose hopes that the Facebook page will help facilitate conversations and planning.
“One of our purposes is to collaborate as a council so that we can keep projects going and don’t have a two-day conversation that has to be revisited six months later,” said Rose, adding that there has already been discussion on Facebook, although not on a professional level.
Steven Lopez (’89), chairman of the marketing committee, said it is difficult to keep working on projects because the members of the council only serve terms for three years. Once these members leave, “the energy that they supplied to the council leaves with them as well,” said Lopez. “We have excellent council members that leave, but we still want them to participate. We want to keep them engaged, even if not as active members.”
For alumni and current Earlham community members to remain engaged in the council’s activities, the marketing committee has started a Twitter page. It is the committee’s intention that Twitter be used mostly while the council is on campus to keep the community informed of their activities during homecoming. They also expect to receive feedback from community members as the activities occur. “Twitter is much more instantaneous,” said Rose. “We will use it while we are actually on campus during our meetings. People can tweet our relevant topics.”
Rose would appreciate if students talked with alumni council members and let them know what questions they have about life after Earlham. “Students will be able to come and talk to us,” she said. “We could then ideally say ‘this is the most current question our students have.’ The alumni community that is actually reading these tweets and posts can then volunteer and help.”
The council is interested in finding ways in which alumni can help Earlham students as they graduate and become a part of the alumni association. “How can we reassure them that they have one of the best educations and that they are prepared for anything they want to do afterwards?” said Rose.
This networking would go further than just professional assistance, and Rose believes it could serve to help students in more practical matters, such as finding a place to stay.
“If there is an Earlham student that needs a place to stay, there are many of us who would like to know that,” she said. “We want to help.”
Lopez expects that as the council includes Facebook and Twitter in their system of communications it will help keep alumni and current Earlham community members engaged. He hopes that this initiative will strengthen collaboration and that alumni as well as current students and faculty will become active through these social media.
“This is a call to action to students and alumni to use the Twitter and Facebook accounts,” said Lopez. “We are looking for feedback and for people to become active on our Facebook pages, realizing that after you graduate you can stay connected to Earlham and participate actively.”
Rose also shares this idea and extends a similar call to action. “We want to educate the community on what it is that we are doing and how it is that they can engage with us, so that we can engage with them as well,” she said.
Mae Turley, assistant director of Alumni Relations, sees this new addition to the council’s communication system a necessary change. Facebook and Twitter are relatively new and there are some challenges associated with using such media. However, Turley believes this push for using social media will benefit Earlham. “As technology changes we need to change too,” she said. “The marketing committee is really pushing us forward and making us more available to people. It is good that they are pushing for this.”
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