Subject: Recap of the ALC Meeting March 23, 2007

Subject: Recap of the ALC Meeting March 24, 2007

36 alumni attended the ALC meeting on Saturday March 24, 2007. The meeting consisted of two main topic areas: WPI Alumni Association Annual Report and a discussion of the restructuring of the Alumni Association. In this note, I would like to provide a highlight of some of the key topic areas.

Annual Report:  48 alumni events have been held across the country in 2006-2007, an increase of 320% over the events held in 2005-2006.  Gateway Park development continues. You can view the progress at http://www.wpi.edu/News/Media/gateway125.html  A new residence hall is being built on Boynton Street near Founders Hall. This apartment-style housing will accommodate 232 upper class students. Additional information can be found at http://www.wpi.edu/About/NewResHall/  We have launched an on-line community for WPI hosted by iModules. We are currently in beta testing and expect to role out this exciting new communication capability in May 2007.  Career services are once again available to all alumni through the Career Development Center. Chris Pratt, director of the CDC, attended the meeting and spoke briefly with the group.

There were a few items of concern which were discussed. The Office of Alumni Relations is committed to taking action on them all. 1. Concerns about Marketing/Outreach beyond Worcester: Chris Hardwick was informed of the concern and Chris will be invited to attend all upcoming ALC meetings. 2. Concerns about alumni involvement in recruiting students/attendance at college fairs: Mike Smith, director of the alumni admissions program has already had a conversation with Beth Howland about partnering with the Office of Alumni Relations where improved WPI signage is concerned. 3. Having appropriate administrative colleagues present at future meetings to address and discuss similar issues. The Association can invite various VP’s to attend Cabinet meetings and other such meetings for information sharing.

Restructuring Alumni Association: Our main topic of the day involved a discussion of the restructuring of the Association. Ralph Amos, Executive Director of the Ohio University Alumni Association, and a consultant to the WPI Alumni Association, joined our session and shared his experiences in this area and the rationale for why WPI should consider restructuring. According to Ralph, we need to move the Association governing structure away from the tactical decision making into a more strategic organization. As you may recall, WPI has had a number of lean staff years. This resulted in the Association leadership managing a number of activities in an effort to deliver quality programs to our alumni. In keeping with Dr. Berkey’s vision of increased alumni involvement, it is necessary to not only increase the staff in the Office of Alumni Relations but also change the focus of the Association leadership. Dr. Berkey has committed to increase the office staff and the Office of Alumni Relations is seeking to add two new members to the team.

With the above in mind, we discussed a draft organization structure for the Association. A significant amount of time was spent discussing the structure of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors as well as some of the charters for the working committees. Please note that these documents are drafts and will continue to evolve. The feedback received during the meeting was tremendous and the input received will be incorporated into future drafts of the organization structure.

New Steps: The Alumni Association Cabinet will continue to meet and discuss further iterations of these documents and proposed structure with the intention of presenting the new model to a broader audience at the annual meeting of the Association which will be held in Olin Hall on Saturday, June 9, 2007—during Reunion Weekend.