May 14–16, 2015

The Alumni Liaison Committee (ALC) met in Hanover twice during the 210th Alumni Council meeting. Its first meeting was held on Thursday, May 14. Committee chair Mark Davis ’81 ‘84Tu noted that the ALC has received more email this year to date, than was received during the entire Alumni Council year in 2013-2014. The committee discussed the Alumni Liaison Committee’s annual report and timeline for production. Lynne Gaudet said that the body of the report was reformatted last year to make it more succinct. The committee members discussed alumni feedback they have received to date. Jack Steinberg discussed the next steps for the social media working group. They recently posted three questions on the Alumni Relations Facebook and Twitter sites under the "Alumni Council Asks" headline. The questions focused on professional development, the Alumni Day of Service, and the upcoming 25th anniversary of the Women in Science Project (WISP). The WISP question was the most successful, and we received many thoughtful responses to women who participated in that program. The committee discussed the results of the Moosilauke Forum Admissions survey that Mark will share with Alumni Councilors at the afternoon plenary session on Friday. There is a lot of substantive data, but some of the primary findings are:

  • People are interested in interviewing because they feel that it is good to provide the Dartmouth admissions office with additional feedback about the prospective candidates.
  • People like the idea of representing Dartmouth in an "ambassador" role while interviewing prospective students.
  • Some people stopped interviewing because they weren't asked again and/or they had a change in life circumstances such as moving.
  • Many young alumni don't interview because they are concerned about the time commitment they perceive would be necessary.
  • Alumni want to have more information about how the Admissions office uses the information provided through interviews and how much they value it.

Mark Davis reviewed the agenda for the Saturday morning breakfast meeting with President Hanlon, Laurel Richie ‘81, and Bill Helman ‘80 in preparation for that gathering.

The second meeting was held on May 16, with President Hanlon and trustees Laurel Richie and Bill Helman. Alumni Council president Lou Spelios ’95 provided a recap of the 210th Alumni Council meeting. Mark Davis and Gary Love ‘76 discussed the Moosilauke Forum survey pertaining to Admissions that had recently been conducted by the Alumni Liaison Committee in collaboration with the Alumni Council's Enrollment and Admissions Committee, Jean Romeo and both the Admissions and the Alumni Relations offices. Gary Love, chair of the Alumni Council's Enrollment and Admissions committee, noted that the survey results are very helpful to the admissions effort, particularly in the areas of recruitment and retention of enrollment volunteers. Mark Davis reported on the communications effort of the ALC. There has been a significant increase in the number of emails received from alumni and some of this increase can be attributed to the question pertaining to the Living and Learning Communities that was included in the 209th Alumni Council meeting template and to the email that Lou Spelios and Jennifer Avellino sent to all alumni following President Hanlon's announcement about his plan which followed up on the final report pertaining to Moving Dartmouth Forward. Jack Steinberg reported that the ALC has been exploring ways to utilize social media as a means to gather additional feedback from alumni. The ALC members provided alumni feedback on the various topics they are responsible for.