TRU Alumni Association Co-Chairs Report
Respectfully submitted by Cathy Ferguson & Mary Ellen Grant, January 19th, 2010
Welcome to the New Year for the TRU Alumni Association. It is an exciting time for our organization as a number of good changes will be implemented over the coming year - changes made from diligent research and sound consultations. Your Executive, Cathy Ferguson, Susan McIntyre, Wilma Price and Mary Ellen Grant have been meeting monthly, in some cases weekly, to establish the organizational foundations that will serve as guide posts in the interim and over the long term future. Heartfelt thanks go to Christopher Seguin, Arlene Olynyk and the entire Advancement staff for their hard work on our behalf.
We begin the New Year by inviting our first ever "Friend of the Alumni Association", Mr. Hoberley Hove, a retired NorKam Secondary Principal. Our Governance and Nominating Committee, moved forward after our October vote to increase the number of Board members from 9 to 15. A plan was created that will see, succession security for our society, and also create an invigorated board that has the requisite "bench strength" that properly reflects the broad diverse demographic of our TRU community.
Decisions have been made to open up membership on our board committees to encourage interested community individuals to assist us in our efforts to promote the Alumni Association and the university. Alumni status will not be required, but desired. Participants to begin their volunteer experience with our Society gradually, discovering their place in our collective future. We're also inviting TRU students to join the committees so that we can better fulfill our student advocacy role. Exciting times!
Our defined future plans can be seen in the draft Operations Plan, presented by Christopher Seguin at our December Executive Meeting. Your Executive will be meeting early in February to provide final decisions that will allow this plan to be implemented immediately. Our new committee structure will allow us to create expanded volunteer opportunities so that the weight of Alumni activities do not fall consistently on the shoulders of the few. Instead, each Board members' involvement will be enhanced by their ability to recruit individuals they know from the community that have the strengths required to complete our projects and events with the sense of satisfaction of a volunteer activity done well.
After meetings with President Roger Barnsley, and planning sessions with Advancement, we are excited about the guaranteed budget of $15,000 for each of the upcoming two issues of "Bridges". Paralleling our organizations' movement to operate more under a Business Model with operations planning, the magazine will now have an Editorial Board filled with key professionals from around the university, including the President and the Provost. Instead of the responsibilities for producing the magazine, TRU's Marketing and Communications have taken on the lead role, with Diana Skoglund and Advancement's Creative Services writing and designing "Bridges". Our Society's role on the magazine will be to provide an Alumni Association Representative, Mary Ellen Grant and an Alumni Association Technical Representative, our new member, Jeff Kilduff, of Graphic Depictions.
And finally, we challenge Board members to make contact with your Faculties or Schools on campus. Get out and meet or renew acquaintances with key decision makers, especially Deans. Choose an area of study that is of interest to you and visit their departments. For example, Cathy Ferguson will be liaising with Nursing and Mary Ellen Grant will be establishing Alumni relationships with Science and Tourism. By doing this, we will help raise the profile of the Alumni Association on campus and continue our Mission "To promote excellence in Alumni Relations for the benefit of the TRU Community."