The UC Board of Regents Special Committee on Student Life and Alumni Affairs met Wednesday afternoon via teleconference from various UC offices across the state.
The committee discussed ways to improve University of California alumni relations, how to better serve student veterans and how to implement the newly created President’s Award for Outstanding Student Leadership.
Increasing alumni support and giving has always been a challenge for the UC system, said Penny Rue, UC San Diego vice chancellor of student affairs via teleconference. To alleviate this problem, Rue said that philanthropic support from alumni could be best improved by improving current students’ engagement at the university.
“Alumni won’t come back unless they felt really engaged when they were in college,” Rue said.
Looking at other large academic institutions such as the University of Virginia and the University of North Carolina, Rue said that an increased focus on the rites of passage of college, such as Welcome Week and commencement ceremonies, can help students create a strong emotional connection with their university.
“Commencement needs to encourage a “˜Triton for life’ mentality,” Rue said in regard to UC San Diego alumni.
Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have also proved to be useful ways of cultivating such connections, said Geoff O’Neill, UC assistant vice president in charge of institutional advancement.
“Technology helps tremendously to identify who is donating and why,” O’Neill said.
The UC currently maintains databases that house alumni information, such as season ticket holders, addresses and careers that alumni have entered into since graduation.
Currently, these databases are campus-based, but the UC hopes to create a streamlined system-wide database in the future.
The committee also reviewed the annual University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey.
The survey received a 38 percent response system-wide this year, said Judy Sakaki, UC vice president of student affairs.
The survey provides the UC with information regarding students’ feelings about their campuses and the services with which they are provided.
But student Regent D’Artagnan Scorza, who tuned into the teleconference from UCLA’s James West Alumni Center, said that the survey costs more than $20,000 for the administration and processing of the results.
Funding challenges, especially in the current California budget crisis, threaten the continuation of the survey, Scorza said.
The committee also expressed concern about services provided for veterans who are returning to college. Many veterans do not identify themselves, which makes it difficult for the UC to provide the additional financial aid incentives for which they are eligible.
“Many veterans do not want to associate themselves with an unpopular war and want to avoid the stigma that all veterans have post-traumatic stress syndrome,” Scorza said.
The final issue that the committee discussed was the implementation of the new President’s Award for Outstanding Student Leadership.
The award recognizes student organizations that work between two or more campuses. The award will be given to three organizations per year.
A committee of student leaders, which will be appointed by UC President Mark Yudof, will determine the award recipients.
The award currently consists of a plaque and an honorary dinner with the UC Regents.
Scorza said that hopefully in the future, an endowment would be given enabling a scholarship to be given to the winning organizations as well.