After serving 24 years in different roles in the Tufts University Alumni Association (TUAA), Ann Palmieri took office as president on July 1.
Along with a strong love for Tufts and a five-year "strategic plan," she hopes to help the association in "becoming a more vibrant part of Tufts to people all over the world."
Palmieri was nominated and then elected as vice president and president elect of the TUAA in 2002. When former TUAA president Alan MacDougall finished his term after working with Palmieri on the five-year plan, she took the organization's helm.
While serving in her previous posts, Palmieri led a committee in developing her five-year plan over a period of several years. Now, as president, she hopes that its implementation will positively affect both current and future Tufts alumni.
The five-year plan includes the goal of "broadening the alumni involvement" in career opportunities for current students. With more than 80,000 alumni in 140 countries and all 50 states, Tufts has the resources to offer more research opportunities and "winterships," internships that take place over winter break.
Palmieri hopes that pilot programs for mentoring between alumni and students with something in common will "increase participation of alumni" and offer students a guide through the challenging four years of college. These additions will make the TUAA to "reflect the Tufts of today," she said.
The five-year strategic plan is also designed to encourage alumni from many different backgrounds to participate in alumni activities. "We also want to be a very inclusive organization," Palmieri said.
Palmieri also encourages students to bring new ideas to the TUAA in order to help the association's "advance Tufts - that's what we really want to do." As part of the strategic plan, she wants to make herself more available to the student body.
Palmieri finds her "volunteer job [with TUAA] incredibly gratifying," and recognizes "a lot of [continuation] is needed ... on what great [TUAA] members have accomplished in the past."
The TUAA post is perfect for Palmieri, a lifetime Jumbo, she says. "I've been going to the Homecoming football game probably since I was ... in utero," she said. Palmieri, as well as both of her parents, her great-aunt and great-uncle, and all three of her siblings, have graduated from Tufts.
In her four years on the Hill, she double-majored in English and political science, played field hockey, and was the youngest student and the first woman elected president of the Tufts Community Union Senate. She later attended Boston College Law School and is now a trial lawyer.
