Alli Davis
Staff Writer
In 1938, Pepperdine yielded its first graduating class. Since then nearly 80,000 students have graduated from Pepperdine University. There is definitely something to be said about a Pepperdine alum. The faculty at Pepperdine greatly appreciate the alumni and desire to keep them engaged and connected to the school.
A recent survey conducted by Alumni Affairs revealed that Pepperdine students had a positive experience at the school but wished for more support after graduation.
In response, Pepperdine has created a new board to make connections even stronger among Pepperdine alums. President Andrew K. Benton recently announced the formation of the Alumni Leadership Council. Bob Clark (GSBM ’79) has been named as its head.
The executive director for Alumni Affairs, Catherine Kort, said the new council is being formed to benefit the students. She believes that “students are the heart of the institution and drive all that we do.” Kort is responsible for advising, educating, facilitating and guiding the actions of the Alumni Leadership Council (ALC).
The new ALC will be replacing the former University Alumni Board. Kort, in a statement, said that :more high-level strategic planning and alignment with the university priorities as well as more clarity on both sides will make the ALC far more useful than the former board.”
President Benton, deans of each school and alumni representatives of each school are responsible for selecting alumni leadership for the ALC. These people represent different age groups and schools, but, they are all committed to Pepperdine and its mission.
ALC members are called upon “to help us educate alumni on the importance of giving back what they can annually to support current and future student needs,” Kort said. She also stated that “the members help us know how we can do a better job reaching out to our alumni and what we can provide to them that is relevant no matter what stage in life.”
The council wants alumni to know that Pepperdine is a home for them.
Clark has three main goals he wishes the board to address. He wants to “create better affinity across all Pepperdine schools by addressing their specific needs; enhance career opportunities for alumni, especially at the time of graduation; and bolster alumni chapters to increase their visibility in their regions.”
Clark wishes to engage alumni in a way never been done before. In order for the council to reach its goals and prove more useful than then previous council, strategic planning has begun. “We are finalizing right now the bylaws and going through a strategic planning process that will take us out five years,” Kort said.
Over the course of the next five years, the priorities and initiatives of the council will be determined. The fundamental priority, as stated by Kort, is to “educate students early on as to what awaits them as future alumni.” If students are actively pursuing jobs now and thinking about their futures, transitioning after graduation will be far easier. The ALC wants to help provide job opportunities for students by utilizing their vast alumni network.
The council is structuring themselves around committees. Committee work will begin to take place over the next few months. The ALC had its first meeting on Founder’s Day and plan on setting a formal launching of the ALC near Homecoming, in February.
12-02-2006