Brittan Trozzi, a 2001 alumna and self-proclaimed poster
child for UCSD, swears that she would bleed blue and gold if you cut her arm
off. Under the direction of the UCSD Alumni Association, for which she serves
as Student-Alumni Programs Manager, Trozzi and her colleagues strive to
cultivate this same prided culture to reconnect alumni to the university
and elevate alumni presence on campus.
This push for pride is coupled with the recent revamp of alumni programs intended
to increase membership and donations.
Creating a strong connection to the university is something
other campus entities, like the A.S. Council, are continually trying to
achieve. But the Alumni Association, realizing that student disconnect may
negatively impact current and potential membership and fiscal support, has
recently made this its issue as well, and this new focus may explain minor
improvement in membership numbers.
Currently, the UCSD Alumni Association has 8,067
contributing members registered, up from 7,200 members in January 2006.
Approximately 5,121 alumni donated $1.8 million to the university last year.
This year, 466 first-time alumni donors have already contributed to UCSD,
demonstrating some growth, according to Director of Development Communications
Judy Piercey. These donations have become increasingly important, because only
12 percent of the university’s annual revenue comes from the state, according
to Executive Director of Development Harrie Hughes.
Despite the slight progress, UCSD’s alumni contributions are
eclipsed by more established universities like UCLA, which received roughly $64
million from 5 percent of its 87,000 Alumni Association members last year.
Aside from having a 41-year advantage in establishing both school-instituted
events like Spring Sing and student-instituted traditions like the Undie-Run,
UCLA’s Alumni Association is heavily involved in student life from day one.
Alumni members make calls to incoming freshmen, and a tour of the
is a vital component of freshmen orientation, according to Brian Logue,
director of membership for UCLA’s Alumni Association.
Overall trends for alumni donations to the UC system,
however, have decreased 1.8 percent, according to Piercey, and UCSD’s Alumni
Association is taking steps to boost membership and philanthropic support. This
support accounted for over $17 million of the $1-billion “Imagine What’s Next”
campaign and helped fund 40 percent of faculty research efforts and 33 percent
of academic programs and facilities, according to Piercey.
Executive Director for the Alumni Association Armin Afsahi
hopes to promote support by making the Alumni Association a visible part of
campus life through its new location in the renovated
association to be a more active force in the student experience by simply being
in the center of campus activity.
“We really expect
come back and check out what’s been changing and expanding,” Trozzi said.
“Really successful universities have that alumni home and we get to build our
home now.”
The new
according to UCSD alumna Nicole Vargas, will help remedy the socially stunted
environment she experienced as a student. For Vargas,
proof that the university is acknowledging the social aspect of college life
and making it easier for students to find a social outlet after hours of
dedicated study.
With a physical home in the works, the Alumni Association is
partnering with Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Penny Rue, working to
instill an emotional attachment between the university, students and alumni
through stronger campus traditions. On March 1, the Alumni Association
co-sponsored and co-funded a retreat where seven alumni members and a handful
of current students brainstormed new ideas for traditions — potential threads
to tie students and alumni together in a shared experience.
“Happy students; engaged students with great positive
experiences become great alumni of the institution,” Afsahi said. “That’s why
we’re thrilled with [Vice] Chancellor Rue’s arrival because she has it as her
mission to create a strong student experience for every student and to make
sure alumni are visible in that experience.”
The Alumni Association is also encouraging alumni to donate
more than their money. Because 68 percent of UCSD alumni are under the age of
40, according to Piercey, it is difficult to expect the type of fiscal support
more established universities like UCLA — which have older alumni — receive. According
to Trozzi, potential members may feel that because they cannot contribute
financially, they shouldn’t join. The Alumni Association provides these young
alumni with revived programs to get them to share their time and resources in
lieu of their money.
“We don’t necessarily think everyone can only donate money,”
Afsahi said. “Sometimes what people think about when they think of an alumni
association is, ‘you just want our money, stop calling me.’”
The association stresses a particular part of its moniker
“time, talent and treasure,” emphaszing that an alumni’s “time” and “talent”
are just as valuable as their “treasure.”
Revamped student-alumni programs include Triton Tables and
Life 101. Triton Tables, a program that has been hosted sporadically since
2005, will now regularly occur one weekend a quarter and will be themed.
Students can now choose which event they would like to attend based on the
themes, instead of being assigned to a certain table. Between Feb. 29 and March
2, alumni had the opportunity to enhance their connection to UCSD by inviting
current students into their homes for a social dinner. Topics at the March 2
Triton Tables dinner, hosted by Vargas and UCSD alumni Eric Viglotti, ranged
from internship opportunities for sports writers to UCSD urban legends.
“I love meeting students,” Vargas said. “I really think it’s
important to build a network and to see someone who survived [college].”
Although it has existed for four years, Life 101 has been
altered to provide students with the same chance to speak with alumni, and
alumni with another occasion to reconnect with the university. The Life 101
program will host a “Networking with the Pros” event on April 30 that will
bring 50 alumni from different industries back to campus to answer
career-specific questions for current students.
These programs are specifically designed to promote
student-alumni interaction in the hopes that students will graduate having an
understanding of the value of alumni-university connections and will thus be
willing to come back and give, Afsahi said. Additionally, for current alumni
who did not have access to these programs when they were students, there are
alumni-related avenues in place to entice them to return to the university.
For alumni unable to physically return to the university,
there is the “UCSD Near You” program. This nationwide tour stops at 10 cities
from
and recently brought 600 alumni together. The Alumni Association also funds 16
regional chapters led by volunteers, 12 affinity groups and five constituent
chapters — including the Black Alumni Chapter, Staff Alumni Chapter,
Chicano-Hispanic Alumni Chapter, American-Indian Alumni Chapter and the
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Alumni Chapter — all of which connect alumni with one
another.
“Our largest goal is to make sure that UC San Diego remains
relevant in [alumni] lives and then they can make the best decisions on how
that relevance is translated,” Afsahi said.
While alumni membership has increased slowly in the past two
years, monetary support still falls below what the Alumni Association desires,
according to Afsahi.
Alumni donations and participation are contingent upon
feeling connected to the university, Trozzi said. She added that students who
feel connected to the university while they attend will undoubtedly feel the
same passion once they have graduated.
“Other universities that have exemplary alumni programs are
those where there’s a buzz across the world among their alumni,” Afsahi said.
“We think UC San Diego is an amazing place and we’re creating that buzz.”
