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Faculty-Alumni Interaction and Faculty Fund Raising

Many Emory alumni have extremely positive memories of a favorite faculty member who enriched their lives during their time as students on campus. A strong commitment to excellence in teaching has long been a hallmark of Emory University; the teacher-student bond here is vibrant and robust with small class sizes and senior level faculty teaching undergraduate classes, unlike many of our peer institutions. One consequence of this long tradition of excellence in teaching is a strong desire on the part of many alumni to reconnect with former Emory professors and to recall their student days on campus. Furthermore, many faculty members form lasting bonds with their students, and just as former students benefit from this rekindling so too do faculty members find this reconnection gratifying and fruitful.

Faculty-Alumni Interaction:

The Association of Emory Alumni is very interested in increasing faculty involvement in Emory alumni programming in Atlanta, other cities in the United States where we have concentrations of alumni, and internationally where it is logistically feasible. Currently, we have faculty participation in our Alumni Travel Program. In addition, we have had a number of faculty members speak to alumni as a part of the Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series. While these programs are successful, we would like to supplement them with additional opportunities for faculty-alumni interaction.

To that end, we would like to ask for any interested faculty members to send to Gerald Lowrey (gerald.lowrey@emory.edu) information about your 2006-2007 travel schedules, thoughts about possible topics for presentations to alumni, and an idea of your availability for meeting with alumni (best times). If you are giving a lecture or presentation during your trip that may be opened to the local Emory community, even on a limited basis, we can post information on our website calendar so that local alumni and parents may register to attend. With sufficient notice (6-8 weeks), we can potentially include information about your visit in the local alumni email newsletter.

If budget, staff resources and timing allow, we can also explore the possibility of planning a specific alumni gathering around your visit. This could be an opportunity to give a lecture or presentation to a group of local alumni and parents, or at the very least, a coordinated visit with one or more local alumni. Priority will be given to opportunities in which there is an excellent fit with regards to alumni interest in a particular topic or subject matter.

The AEA may be able to assist with expenses for meals and local transportation for alumni visits or special presentations for the Emory community, but because of budget considerations we will not be able to reimburse travel and hotel expenses that are unrelated to alumni visits or presentations.

We will seek to provide programming first in the geographical areas where the University has a strategic interest in doing so. For best results in marketing and attendance at the alumni event, we will need enough time for planning and logistical coordination. Last minute information from faculty members about their travels, topics, or availability will be more difficult to match up with alumni interests.

We will need travel schedules and availability three months in advance for faculty programming at the highest level of support. This lead time will allow us to help plan, support, and promote events in cities and geographic areas where we wish to further develop alumni participation and interest. Non program-specific contact (for example, a meeting with a local chapter leader) will require 6-8 weeks advanced notice.

Faculty Fund Raising:

While we encourage faculty and departments to develop relationships with their alumni, we request that faculty wait to discuss fund raising directly until they have talked with a development officer. This policy is not meant to discourage fund raising activity on the part of faculty, but rather to allow development officers to help determine the level at which the potential donor might be able to give and to avoid confusing donors who may be approached by more than one department or unit. Emory College has developed a policy and process for faculty fund raising, and faculty associated with that school should contact the College Office for more information.

Many alumni remember their Emory experience as a pathway to self-discovery, growth, and broadened horizons. Faculty members served as their teachers, mentors, friends and guides through this grand transformation. No wonder, then, that Emory alumni seek to reconnect with those faculty members who provide a direct link to their past and who played a role in who they are today. With your help, we will increase the ties that bind our alumni more strongly to their Alma Mater, and achieve success for all of us.