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Kayla Price Director, Alumni Relations; Executive Director, Alumni Association

Alumni Golf Classic — June 7
Golfers gathered for the annual tournament at Sand Hills Golf and Country Club.
Harry Icenhower organized a hot dog social. Sam McCord worked his magic with scoring, pairing and other technical processes.
Rheba Icenhower, Diane McDowell, Jonette Almon, Linda Bobbitt and Kayla Price checked in 72 golfing Alumni, Former Students and friends. Later even more joined the group for dinner.

Executive Board phone conference — June 12
Members of the Association’s Executive Board held a phone conference to plan the July retreat., including the schedule and expected outcomes.

Commerce Area Alumni Chapter Board meeting — July 2
Board members met on campus to carry out regular chapter business. Plans were made for an upcoming reception and play. Bylaw revisions also were discussed.

Executive Board meeting — July 2
Members of the Association’s Executive Board met in Rockwall to finalize plans for the retreat. They also discussed updates on the database project, Association finances and other issues.

Athletic Association Board meeting — July 12
Members of the Athletic Board of Directors met on campus, with some members later gathering at Sand Hills Golf and Country Club for a round of golf.

Commerce Area Alumni Chapter reception & play attendance— July 12
For the ninth year, the Commerce Chapter of the Alumni Association continued a tradition of attending a performance of the Alumni Summer Musical.
Approximately 50 chapter members and their guests met at the University president’s home for a wine and cheese reception. A storm caused a power outage at the home, but candles and live piano music set the mood for a lovely evening, which culminated with their attendance at the musical “Gypsy.” The chapter has attended every summer musical since it began in 1994.

Alumni Association Board Retreat — July 19-20
Members of the Association Board of Directors gathered at the Renaissance Hotel in Dallas to hold a regular business meeting, hear reports from University personnel and work on strategic planning.

North Texas Chapter Meeting — Aug. 29
Alumni from Tarrant and surrounding counties were invited to dinner at Joe T. Garcia’s.
Members discussed chapter business, including recruiting for the University. Randy McDonald from Admissions and Kayla Price from Alumni Relations attended the meeting to provide information from the University.

Where has the Alumni Association been and where is it going?

Note: At the July 19 meeting of the Association Board of Directors, I presented the following report. Board members asked that it be printed in The Pride for all members of the Association to review.

I hope you will take pride in the fact that your Alumni Association is moving ahead, forging new territory and facing difficult challenges head-on. No one person can take credit for all that we have accomplished through the last eight years; rather, all of us can take credit. I say eight years because that is the length of my experience administrating the Association. Before my time many hardworking Alumni served our Association, and it is on their firm foundation that we are now successful.
During the last eight years and four months, the Alumni Association and Alumni Office have experienced many changes, challenges and accomplishments. We have had a great deal of progress during these years. We have:
• written the first booklet about the University for new students, The Lion Lexicon;
• erected the only statue of our founder, William Leonidas Mayo;
• successfully weathered the merger into the A&M System;
• twice revised the bylaws ;
• changed the name of the office to represent its global use instead of administrative purposes;
• operationalized the dues membership program;
• established a smaller, committed board of directors;
• established a plan to integrate University traditions into student life by developing a history program presented to freshman during Freshman Success Seminars;
• published two Alumni directories;
• offered two credit card programs;
• sold class rings, signet rings, blankets, chairs, dues, watches, travel programs and other goods Alumni indicated an interest in;
• established the tie and scarf program for the first working day of each month;
• developed a graduation program, including receptions for all the graduates and their guests;
• supported the University’s recruitment efforts by holding five Lion Nights in the last two years;
• held Alumni events in much of the state and in a few other states; and
• committed to serving all Alumni by creating an Association Web page and by maintaining a 1-800 number.

We also have brought back the tradition of graduation receptions, representation of the Association in the commencement platform party, and the Student Alumni Association.
We have had many firsts. A few of these include:
• first female executive director;
• first African-American Association president;
• first Legacy Scholarship recipients, with more than 50 to date;
• first Hispanic board members;
• first executive board meetings;
• first young Alumnus board member.

Also, after much negotiation, we finally get to proof The Pride and have input into its content.
We have established financial security by taking assets from less than $100,000 in 1994 to our current holdings of approximately $1 million. In the last eight years, more than $250,000 has been provided to the University through scholarships, money to subsidize the Alumni Office and The Pride, and through gifts and support initiatives.
In short, the Alumni Association and all Alumni have cared, even when it must have seemed few others did.
It has not been all glory. We have quadrupled the programming, reorganized the structure and updated and modernized the operation, all with the same staffing levels and a smaller operating budget. We have hired and trained 11 staff members, only to lose them to higher paying positions with fewer after-hour responsibilities.
But in all, these years have been productive. However, there are challenges ahead. Our work as Alumni is by no means complete.
American culture is retreating from joining groups. As detailed in the book “Bowling Alone” by Robert Putnam, Rotarians, Lions and Kiwanis memberships are down. Additionally, the Parent Teacher Organization, the American Bar Association, Masons, League of Women Voters and others are experiencing the same. How can we expect people to join chapters, volunteer with the board and attend events when very rich and powerful organizations can’t reverse the trend? We must rethink how we judge the success of Alumni programming and the ways we offer involvement opportunities to Alumni.
In addition, changing expectations from the University will be a challenge.Its need for additional resources and for quantitative forms of analysis have and will continue to alter the relationship between the Association and our Alma Mater.
Current annual Association commitments exceed annual Association income, so another challenge will be the need for the Association to have increased savvy in money management and more aggressive forms of affinity programming for revenue generation.
In the coming year the Association and the office will weather the following:
• First we must try to complete the conversion to the new database, the first new one since the original in about 1965. This venture also represents another first: the forging of a partnership with the University’s Foundation.
• We need to understand the changes required of the Association if the 501 (c) 3 status is approved.
• We must find a means of garnering the resources necessary to handle a culture that has many forms of easy communication, many conflicting opportunities for people to volunteer their time and resources — all while the number of competing fund-raising foundations is on the rise. There will be a $136 trillion transfer of wealth in the next few years. How can we make sure we are included?
• We need to meet the needs of a worldwide Alumni body that demands Alumni resources, opportunities and communications no matter what part of the globe they live on.
• And we will need to recruit and train two new staff members, including

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