Events at the Fulbright Center
MIT's Matthew McGann about Alumni Cooperation:
Matthew McGann illustrated alumni engagement by his personal perspective wearing three hats: “I am a proud MIT alumnus, I am an alumni volunteer, and I work with alumni volunteers.”
For Nora Rahnasto (left) the lecture sparked new ideas. She is the Head of Alumni Relations at Aalto University and she also heads the Finnish alumni cooperation network.
“Now is the right time to start working on alumni cooperation! Don’t worry about catching up if your institution does not have a long tradition of alumni cooperation. Even some of the best American universities are just beginning alumni programs – it’s not too late to do it right. Just recognize the potential and the opportunities for your institution and get started with new initiatives!” encouraged Matthew McGann in his lecture on Alumni Cooperation at the Fulbright Center in April. Alumni cooperation is of key importance to all universities but still often underutilized. What are the new ways to activate and enhance alumni cooperation? What are the different ways in which alumni can contribute and serve? What is the "market value” of alumni within the home institution? What are some of the new and creative ways for alumni cooperation? The Fulbright Center and the international EducationUSA network jointly organized a guest lecture on Enhancing Collaboration with a Global Alumni Network. Matthew McGann who serves as Associate Director of Admissions at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, spoke vividly about MIT’s innovative solutions regarding alumni cooperation including utilizing alumni in MIT’s recruitment efforts worldwide.
Don’t Do It Alone!
Audience from around the country had lots of questions for Matthew McGann. Virpi Nurmela from the University of Lapland was interested in the information that MIT collects from and about the alumni.
McGann emphasized the importance of connecting with partners at one’s own university, particularly making connections with the university faculty. Alumni offices should not try to do things alone. Furthermore, alumni should not be seen as potential sources of donations only. Alumni volunteers can build the university brand and contribute to the university’s goals in significant ways. Universities can make a significant difference in their advancement efforts by building leadership capacity among alumni by finding the right people to be alumni volunteers and training them properly. “There are many
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Now Is the Right Time to Start
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Lecture materials and m ore photos
low hanging fruit out there” McGann Fulbright.fi > Kv-asiantuntijat reminded. “Many > Luennot alumni are waiting to be asked!” Alumni offices often have limited budgets. McGann noted, however, that good does not need to be expensive. According to McGann, many of MIT’s best alumni programs are run on very small budgets or are selffinanced by alums. In the end, no matter what kinds of alumni programs one chooses to engage in, alumni cooperation should always be an integral part of the university. Every student is a future alumnus/a. Therefore, it is of great importance that a university focuses on providing a positive experience for current students and faculty.
University Alumni Coordinators Met at the Fulbright Center In connection with the public lecture, the Fulbright Center also facilitated a meeting for the national network of alumni coordinators of Finnish universities and universities of applied sciences. The members of the network had an opportunity to share experiences from their own institutions and to present further questions to Matthew McGann. The Fulbright Center’s alumni outreach program receives support from the Office of Alumni Affairs at the US Department of State.
“USA and Great Britain are the front runners and bench mark countries in alumni matters. It is good to listen to them and bench mark best practices as we create our own systems”, says Karoliina Kekki, Alumni coordinator from the University of Oulu. She is a member of the national alumni cooperation steering group and participated also in the alumni network meeting that the Fulbright Center organized in connection with the lecture. www.fulbright.fi
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