The Office of Alumni & Family Engagement at The College of Wooster provides active alumni affinity groups with organizational support to encourage alumni connections with the College and each other. Each of the affinity groups has a structure to maintain these connections.
Affinity Group Structure
Mission
The mission of College alumni affinity groups is threefold: (1) to engage alumni with current students, faculty, staff, the Office of Alumni & Family Engagement, and the campus community, (2) to discover how alumni can help advance the mission of the College and improve the student experience, and (3) to support alumni and improve the alumni experience.
Leadership
Officially recognized alumni affinity groups must always have, at a minimum, one person to serve as the group’s point of contact. This information can be updated at this website, should it change. Affinity groups can opt to have an entire leadership structure, rather than a single person. This can be a governing board or other leadership structure, as decided by the group. However, if that is what the group decides, the group must also establish a succession plan and written guidance for governance, which must be provided to the Office of Alumni & Family Engagement.
Campus Partners
The College of Wooster has many offices on campus, in addition to the Office of Alumni & Family Engagement, which will be happy to partner with or support your affinity group whenever possible. We suggest you start with this website to locate potential campus partners. You can also contact the Office of Alumni & Family Engagement to help get you connected to the correct office(s).
Goals & Action Items
To be an officially recognized alumni affinity group, you will need to have at least two set goals per year and structured action items to reach these goals. Sample goals and action items are provided below for you, but you can also create your own as a group.
- Host an alumni-student event
- Select a topic or topics for the event
- Select a format for the event – panel, roundtable, open mingling
- Host an alumni happy hour or social event
- Select a location (city), venue, date, and time
- Identify interested alumni to invite and/or host
- Consider menu, attire, entertainment, etc.
- Connect with relevant campus partners and student organizations to come up with 2-3 specific ways alumni can improve the current student experience
- Review websites above and/or contact the Office of Alumni & Family Engagement
- Reflect on your experience at The College of Wooster
- Review the mission, vision, and values of the College (on our website) and think about how you can help to advance those
Support Requests from the Office of Alumni & Family Engagement
The Office of Alumni & Family Engagement supports official alumni affinity group activities whenever possible. If you would like to make a request for support for your group to the Office of Alumni & Family Engagement, please complete the following: (1) ensure your group is an officially recognized alumni affinity group, (2) complete the support request form here (3) wait for a follow up email from the Office of Alumni & Family Engagement and respond to that email when you receive it, if prompted to do so.
alumni@wooster.edu | 330.263.2533