Week 8/9 Alumni Office

Just when I think things have slowed down they pick right back up. These past two weeks have truly been a learning experience. I had the pleasure to meet the National Board Members of the Mississippi State Alumni Association. In class I stated several times that networking was not my thing but the Board meeting forced me to network and it was great. I was able to meet Board members who lived in Cresswell years ago as well as Board members who started their first career job as an Admission Counselor for MSU. I sat around the table with some very prestige Alumni members. I was able to hear the President of the University speak about Leadership and the Role Alumni members play in recruiting students. The President also spoke about making Mississippi State’s degree worth more. Throughout the SEC MSU is the only institution without Phi Beta Kappa, which is a highly ranked Honors Society. He also stated professors haven’t had a pay increase in 4years. He said, how can we want distinguished professors if we can pay them? He asked Alumni members to continue to give back and support MSU initiatives.  

I also learned in the state of Texas they are now selling MSU car tags and all processed go towards out of State tuition to Texas residence who attend MSU.  MSU is also raising the bar for recruitment. Starting at the age of 12 they send out Birthday cards to children whose parents are MSU Alum.

The Board meeting was very interesting the Athletic Director spoke as well as a professor from Bowling Green, Kentucky who is a graduate of WKU GO TOPs, she has been teaching at MSU for 10 years now, Dr. Abraham, and the SA President.

On Wednesday I met with Dr. Tommy Stevenson who is the director of Diversity and Equity. He spoke about crafting your language, being intentional about the things you want, consistency is key to building relationships, and being transparent.  Dr. Stevenson gave really great advice he told me I needed to learn how to play golf because all major decisions happen on the golf course not in the office. He stated, “You don’t want to be the only one at the table that doesn’t know were making cuts and your office needs to let go two people.”  I also asked him about the African American Alumni Association and if he thinks if should exist.

He’s reply was very political listening to him made me realize sometimes the higher up you are in Student Affairs you don’t get to the real issues due to politics. 

Treptow – Weeks 9/10 – Environmental Collaborative Office

It was nice to have Jeremiah back last week and to be back to working full time! I got the opportunity to attend a campus operations staff meeting this morning and it was fantastic.  Not only was in interesting to interact with all of the people in the room, but they were so friendly and took the time to introduce themselves and explain their involvement.  Tim Muzzi, the campus architect event came up to me after the meeting to ask about my schooling, which was really neat to make that connect.  I would love to sit down with him, and possibly Amy Tuck too (she's the Executive Director of Campus Operations!)

In preparation for another class, and for an upcoming presentation, it was interesting to do a little research about sustainability and to get the feedback of other classmates about the topic.  I feel like sustainability is something that is talked about a lot but rarely is talked about as if we can really do anything.  I know I’m only one person, but I hope to slowly make some changes.

I also was asked to do an assessment this week of how our recycling program is doing in terms of volume, and how the custodial staff thinks that we can better it.  I think it will be fascinating to find out, and even a little fun to use my assessment skills =]

As promised from two weeks ago, here is the website for SSC: http://ssc.org.msstate.edu/ 

Alumni Office Week 8

This past week in the Alumni office has been pretty relaxed. I can’t believe were at the halfway mark! The semester has been full of learning opportunities. Last Wednesday I was able to see another side of the Alumni Office. I viewed contracts and saw how the Alumni Office collaborates with the graduation ceremony.

Wednesday I researched the difference between grad images and Zap photography. The Alumni Office is having a hard time deciding which company to commitment to. The Alumni Office has developed such a strong relationship with Zap photography, 20 years to be exact and breaking that rapport is challenging. What the Alumni Office is looking for is a company who offers more. Even though they have a relationship with Zap, they still have to consider other options and what company offers the best deal.

This past Monday I worked with Alumni Delegates during Fall Preview. The crowd wasn’t as a large as the Scholars Preview Day but we still continued to engage students and encouraged them to consider Mississippi State University.

Upcoming events that I’m excited about is the National Alumni Board meeting held on Friday. Attendees of the Board meeting include the Alumni President, Vice President, and other Executive Board members. I’m still unsure of the agenda for the meeting but I was told to be prepared to take notes.

See you all Thursday

Gretchen

Treptow – Week 8 – Environmental Collaborative Office

The results are in!!  After much waiting the results of the Energy Wars for September are in.

It's great to see results of all of the work that's been put in.  Now we are pushing to make this initiative more widely known and get students really involved. Since Jeremiah is gone all of this week, a lot of my time will be spent working with the 2 student groups, Students for a Sustainable Campus and Community Service and Sustainability, on coming up with a strategy and implementing it.  I've been looking at what other SEC schools are doing and hope to use some of the information for my presentation  in November at MAHO.

Treptow – Week 7 – Environmental Collaborative Office

This week has been interesting to me.  For Practicum on Monday, I got a lesson about Old Main and it was really interesting to discuss what it would be like if it were still standing.  I can’t even imagine a hall that big!  How would it function and how would it look?  What would the community be like?  Here are a few pictures (finally!) so that you can imagine with me!

Outside of Practicum I’ve had a particularly hard week.  I’ve really been doing a lot of thinking about what I want professionally and personally.  After Dean Bourgeois came to talk to our Intro class today I was left wondering about balance, professionalism, and connections.  I’ve been reflecting a lot about the conversations we’ve had in class and about my experiences over the past 3 years.  I feel that it is important to reflect every once in a while but it really struck close to home this time with graduation so close.  I have to say though that I am grateful every day for the friends and loved ones that I have around me, that help me keep my focus.

But… back to Practicum!  This next week I will be finalizing details of the recycling program for each building.  And have also submitted a program proposal for the SEAHO conference and can’t wait to hear back!  Jason B., Dante, Joe and I are doing a presentation about the sustainability efforts that have been taken here at MSU and are hoping to gain insight about what others are doing too!

Alumni Office week 7

This past week was full of information. As I stated last week in class I visited with Dan Coleman Associate Director of Admissions and Scholarships. The conversation was based on the topic how the Alumni Office is connected with Admissions and Scholarships. Dan informed me that the recent connection with the Alumni Office is a major contribution to the increase of enrollment. He also gave a little insight on Housing and Residence Life and the challenges they face daily with bed space with enrollment increasing.

With the latest MSU football record the Alumni Office is trying to remain in high spirits. One valuable lesson I learned during my 1:1 with Michael when the football team is down its hard to one get Alumni excited and when there not happy people start to point fingers. The last thing the Alumni office wants is upset Alumni members. Angry Alumni members don’t give back. Even though a great majority of Alumni members are faithful, there is enough who are not, that may affect the amount of money the Alumni office raises each year. Not to say Alumni members only give back when the football team doing well but it does help when they are. After sitting in on a conference call I began to understand, even though the football team plays a role in  Alumni members giving back, there are other reasons why faithful Alumni members continue to give back.

The conference call took place Monday morning.  Michael spoke to members of the Pearl Co. Alumni Chapter. This Alumni chapter is currently inactive. They are in the process of revitalizing the chapter and I am helping them create a facebook page to find past members. While listening to the phone conversation one of the Alums stated, “we have to get this chapter back after, I remember when I was a little boy and my father brought me to meet the head coach of the MSU baseball team. That same day I knew I was going to be a MSU student.” Those words spoke life into other listeners and influenced other members to get back active and help keep the chapter alive.

See you all Thursday
Gretchen