Engagement

Proud alumni often serve as powerful ambassadors for ASU’s brand and speak glowingly of their ASU experience. Alumni are nostalgic and love opportunities to return to ASU. We are the backbone of ASU. We are campus ambassadors proudly wearing the name of ASU on hats and shirts. We are supporters cheering at sporting events. We are recruiters helping to place new graduates into good jobs, and we are lifelong students staying active within our fields.

1. ASU leadership plays a vital role by fostering lifelong partnerships with alumni and will provide an infinite number of opportunities to advance ASU programs.
2. Mentor students during their undergraduate years and teach them the value of giving back to ASU.
3. Encourage others to find a way to give back to Ole Mother Dear in some way; however, be sensitive to recent graduates. Many former students are paying off their student loans and other educational expenses.
4. Share alumni successes with ASU.
5. Recommend those alumni that best represent ASU for recognition.
6. Participate in local communities’ organizations, activities, and events.
7. Represent ASU by wearing the university’s paraphernalia. Official apparel can be purchased from the ASU Book Store: Official Alabama State University Bookstore Apparel, Merchandise & Gifts (bkstr.com).
8. Visit the ASU website to keep updated on university’s policies, procedures, and rules. Alumni can also find updated admission, residential, and financial information.
9. Visit the ASU website to find out alumni chapters’ locations and contact information for membership. Alumni can also call the Office of Alumni Relations to join chapters and obtain chapters information.
10. Contact the Office of Alumni Relations and provide updated information so that the university can contact you.
11. The Office of Alumni Relations may ask that you text your personal contact information to their office during football and basketball games. This will also allow the university to stay in contact with you and provide valuable and updated information with you.
12. The ASU National Alumni Association offers a one-year free membership to all ASU graduates during graduation convocation. The association may offer a reduced price for life-membership for those alumni interested in life-membership during their first five years after graduation.
13. Encourage ASU students to join FAM.
14. Participate in the ASU fundraising campaigns, e.g., ASU Giving Tuesday and the ASU President’s Gala (Annual Fund Raiser), normally held the weekend of Labor Day. These fundraisers will demonstrate the financial strength of the University students, supporters, and most importantly – ALUMNI. Keep in mind, our involvement in the fundraising campaigns impact the future of ASU.
15. Make connections with alumni in your area.
16. Always respect each other – Especially the elders, who are our most seasoned alumni.
17. Get an updated contact list from alumni and provide it to the Office of Alumni Relations.
18. Develop Group chats, e.g., Incoming first-year students, graduation classes, fraternities, sororities, colleges, department, sports, and other organizations.
19. Encourage alumni to share their ASU experiences. Not only will it appeal to existing students who want to learn from their predecessors, but also investors are looking for evidence of ASU’s potential and prior alumni searching for ways to relive their glory days.
    — “My personal experience: Two fraternity brother asked to hand-out with me at the ASU President’s Gala and the Turkey Day Classic to see what it’s like being an alumnus at that event – I abide. ”
20. The ASU Office of Alumni Relations – Marketing Team and University Leadership Team perform an excellent job using technology in sharing real-time information with ASU students, alumni, and constituents.
21. Recommend alumni and the ASU leadership partners connect incoming and current students to maintain strong relations with alumni. In the Washington DC Alumni Chapter, I created a pre-college enrichment workshop as a requirement for incoming first-year students receiving scholarships to bridge the relationship between students and alumni. Response from students have been overwhelmingly positive.
22. The ASU Office of Recruitment and Admission also performs an excellent job engaging alumni in the ASU recruitment process. The student who received personalized communication, which was a substantial percentage, said that those communications are a key factor in their enrollment decision: on the other hand, those students that were contacted indicated that they applied, but didn’t hear back from the University and enrolled in another college or university.
23. Recommend that ASU partner with local alumni chapters and alumni to establish mentor programs (like Big Sister/Brother of America). I have personally asked alumni of the ASU Basketball Team to invite current basketball players to church with family or out to lunch or dinner.

If you are a recent graduate or longtime alum, you should know that you can still play a vital role on campus. Colleges and universities pride themselves on the accomplishments of their alumni and their willingness to give back in any way they can. While we’ve all received the annual call from our alma mater asking for a monetary donation, there are certainly other ways you can ensure students have the right resources and educational tools for their future. If you find yourself in this situation and can’t donate money regularly, here are a few other ways you can give back with your time rather than your wallet:

One of the most rewarding ways for you to give back to ASU is by volunteering  to become a mentor or career coach to current students. Being able to guide students through the ins and outs of starting their careers or traversing the job market can be extremely helpful for them. Putting yourself in a position where you can impart knowledge and critical career advice to young professionals is an invaluable experience to share with a mentee.

As technology and social media continue to change the ways in which we can communicate, there are a few ways you can establish a connection with students. For example, using platforms like Twitter, Instagram, FaceBook or LinkedIn allows you to connect with a broad audience (i.e., current students, recent graduates, etc.) on a variety of topics. On the other hand, using programs like Skype allows you to have one-on-one conversations with your mentee from your home or office. The more opportunities you must coach current students through such important stages of their collegiate and professional careers, the more inspired you might be to find ways to play an even bigger role as an alum.

Networking events are some of the best ways for alumni to reconnect with their alma mater. However, you can take this a step further by creating your own events specifically geared towards alumni, current students, or young professionals in your area. Using sites like  Meetup for networking events can serve as a better platform for like-minded professionals to come together to share their advice and experiences.

Similarly, participating in career panels can be just as helpful for students who want to hear from graduates working in a profession, they’re interested in. Not only can volunteering as a panelist help educate students about a particular line of business, but it might also enhance your reputation with your school as well as between professionals throughout your industry.

For a soon-to-be graduate, one of the best ways to get a taste of what life could be like after graduation is through direct exposure to a professional environment. Finding ways to help a student gain this professional experience through a shadowing program, for instance, can be another wonderful way to give back as alumni. Offering students, the chance to shadow you for a particular amount of time can give them insight into what a day or week in life is like for someone in their field of interest. This experience can help students make a more informed decision on whether this profession would be the best fit for them.

Similarly, if you started your own business, creating an internship program geared towards recruiting students from your alma mater can help position young professionals for success. Not only will you be helping students gain a competitive edge through professional experience—something that can be essential to landing a first job—you might also inspire some aspiring entrepreneurs.