The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

In Tough Times Public IHEs Reach Out To Alumni For Donations

As state legislatures cut back support for higher education, public colleges and universities across the country are turning to their alumni, hat in hand, as never before — hiring consultants, hunting down graduates and mobilizing student phone banks to raise private money in amounts they once thought impossible. The rush to catch up has placed public campuses in an awkward stance: cutting academic programs and instructors at the same time they are expanding development staffs and investing in a fund-raising infrastructure. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/education/16college.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Latest Issue Of University Business Now Available Online

The October 2010 issue of University Business in now available online. This month's feature article is about alumni, and how IHEs can do a better job of getting new alumni to be more involved. Other articles cover using survey research to better understand constitutents, connecting with the press, and developing a business continuity plan. Read more at:
http://universitybusiness.com/toc/default.aspx

Incoming Students Are Treated As Young Donors

On a growing number of campuses, first-year students are hearing another message. Please give. Not for tuition, but instead as a young donor. With alumni-giving rates at record lows and lagging state support of postsecondary education, public and private schools alike are focusing their efforts on building lifetime loyalty among still-impressionable students. "We are unapologetically laying out expectations for their relationship with Penn," said Elise Betz, executive director of alumni relations. "Before our students enter a classroom, they are given this message." Read more at:
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2010/08/26/colleges_see_prospective_donors_among_new_students/

New Generation Of Alumni Believes They've Already Given Enough

Young alumni of the nation's top universities are not particularly interested in opening their checkbooks for their alma mater, according to a new survey. Interviews with alumni from the nation's top 100 universities found that eight in 10 young alumni -- those under 35 -- feel they have already given enough in tuition payments and don't see the need for further donations. Half of the young alumni believe their school doesn't especially need the money. Read more at:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/college-inc/2010/07/alumni_weve_given_enough.html?wprss=college-inc

Law Schools Inflate All Grades To Help Career Prospects

One day next month every student at Loyola Law School Los Angeles will awake to a higher grade point average. But it’s not because they are all working harder.The school is retroactively inflating its grades, tacking on 0.333 to every grade recorded in the last few years. The goal is to make its students look more attractive in a competitive job market. Law schools seem to view higher grades as one way to rescue their students from the tough economic climate — and perhaps more to the point, to protect their own reputations and rankings. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/business/22law.html?th&emc=th

Grandparent University Offers A Fun College Experience

A record 360 people from 21 states signed up to participate in this year's Grandparent University — a three-day summer camp for children and grandparents hosted by the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association.  Children and their grandparents who enroll in the program choose a major, attend classes taught by Oklahoma State faculty, live in student housing and participate in other college experiences. Activities include a tailgate party, designing a city, creating and editing a video and learning how to sew stitches for an injured animal. At the end of the program, participants receive a certificate during a mock graduation ceremony.

Grandparent University has grown significantly since it started with four majors and 80 participants in 2003. Read morea at http://newsok.com/grandparent-university-brings-together-generations-at-osu/article/3468130#ixzz0qq3PWJmT

Video Campaign Seeks To Promote More Than Athletics

A university is hoping that a campaign evoking its athletic prowess can help educate the outside world on its other types of achievements — not to mention reminding alumni about the importance of supporting their alma mater.  The campaign refers to all students, faculty, staff members and alumni of Michigan State as Spartans, to portray the campus as a community of doers and achievers as well as scholars. “There are nearly 500,000 Spartans on earth,” begins a video clip. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/business/media/01adnewsletter1.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss 

Some Class Of 1970 Grads Will Get the Ceremony They Never Had

With shock and outrage over the May 4 National Guard slayings of four Kent State University students,one by one, colleges closed and students were ordered to pack up and leave. For some graduating seniors of the Class of 1970, there would be no joyful mortarboard tosses, posing for photos with proud parents, or late-night celebration parties. They lost the chance to cram for final exams for a last boost to GPAs, or to say their good-byes to favorite professors and former roommates. This spring, Lownsdale and other members of the Class of '70 will return to Cincinnati -- or to Boston, or to Athens, Ohio -- for the festive commencements they never had. Some will be accompanied by their parents, now elderly, or by grown-up children. Maybe they will find a chance to heal some old wounds. Read more at:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/05/01/special_graduations_set_40_years_after_kent_state/

Admissions Will Be Looking More Closely At Full-Payers

A few well-to-do parents I know have even confessed their hope that hard times and declining endowments may have improved their children's chances of admission, as colleges look for full-paying freshmen. At schools just below this [top] tier, admissions are becoming more "need aware." These schools are now making some admissions decisions with an eye to an applicant's ability to pay, and some are unofficially reserving new seats for those who can pay full freight. Of course, wealthy families have always enjoyed an advantage at the top colleges.Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/08/AR2010010803584.html

IHEs Targeting Young Alumni

More than ever, college alumni younger than 35 are being cultivated as potential sources of money by the universities, which find that their traditional mainstay of support, state funding, is failing to keep pace with needs. Alumni associations are leading the charge, reinventing themselves to connect better with younger graduates. The associations are branching out far beyond the glossy, semiannual magazine and football-watching parties at local bars. They're sponsoring career-networking events and using social Web sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Read more at:
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/10/31/20091031alumni1030.html