Five alumni in Honolulu, Kansas City and San Diego created three new AU chapter groups this summer to help students and alumni network within these three cities.
Chapters generally hold community service events, sporting event trips, family-centered events and educational programs. They also organize AU alumni networking events and host freshmen send-off events, such as the Honolulu chapter’s send-off event for incoming freshmen this summer.
There are currently 22 domestic and 12 international alumni chapters.
Chapter directors also pass along students’ resumes to possible summer internship employers. Current students can contact the nearest chapter directors through Alumni Relations to take advantage of these networking opportunities, according to Assistant Director of Alumni Programs Melissa Bevins.
“The AU alumni office recently connected me with a graduate who just relocated to San Diego and is hunting for a job,” said Brook Williamson, a Class of 1996 alum and the co-director of the San Diego chapter. “We met for coffee and have emailed back and forth, and I’ve been able to send her job postings and forward her resume to my contacts.”
Honolulu chapter opens with freshmen send-off
The Honolulu Alumni chapter kicked off with a freshmen send-off event July 16. “They [freshmen send-off events] are a way for incoming freshmen and their parents to come meet other incoming freshmen from the area,” Bevins said.
Class of 1973 alum and chapter director Ken Gilbert started the Honolulu chapter in April. The chapter currently has seven members.
Gilbert hopes to bring more alumni into the chapter since more than 170 AU alumni reside in Hawaii.
“We are all very excited to get off to a great start and look forward to many more alumni getting active in alumni programs and help grow the chapter,” Gilbert said.
Kansas City chapter begins networking Class of 1999 alum Chris Mohart and Class of 1995 alum Jason Dalen, co-directors of the Kansas City chapter, said they have high hopes for future alumni involvement in Kansas City.
“Our goal is to get 50 or so alums active in the Kansas City Alumni Chapter,” Mohart said.
He and Dalen created the Kansas City chapter this August to network with the 170 alumni living in the area.
Mohart said the active alumni have already begun to network in Kansas City by assisting each other in job searches.
San Diego chapter aims to re-active disbanded group AU alumni and chapter directors Brook Williamson and Kimberly Edwards reactivated the San Diego Chapter this summer to reconnect with 450 alumni in their area.
The original chapter disbanded when the previous chapter director Cindy Cesare moved to Las Vegas in 2000.
“We got the idea after attending an alumni event through my other alma mater, the University of Richmond,” Williamson said.
The chapter is great resource and opportunity for the AU alumni community, she said.
“As AU alumni and chapter leaders, it’s important that we connect our fellow graduates, so we can all network, meet new people, reminisce about our college days, and try new adventures together,” Williamson said.
The San Diego, Kansas City and Honolulu chapter directors took the initiative to create an alumni community in their respective cities by forming alumni chapters with Alumni Relations.
Any interested alumnus or alumna can set up a chapter if the alumni population is large enough, based on the geographical area’s size, Bevins said.
Alumni Relations helps organize the chapter’s first event by sending out an announcement email to AU alumni in the area.
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