From the moment they set foot on campus during Freshman Orientation, Tufts undergraduates attend events designed to enhance their collegiate experience that are sponsored by the Tufts Alumni Association, which also works to make sure that alumni stay connected to the university and each other after graduation.
"I think the most important thing we want [students] to know is that the Alumni Association isn't just a bunch of much older people with canes and top hats having tea parties. Everyone is alum. Everyone is welcome to be active," Samantha Snitow (LA '02), assistant director for young alumni and student programming, said.
The Alumni Association works to make sure that students have the best undergraduate experience possible while at Tufts. "The alumni put [undergraduates having a great time while at Tufts] as a top priority, from the Alumni Association standpoint in terms of engaging students, building new traditions on campus that are targeting large populations on campus," Associate Director for Alumni Relations Jonathan Kaplan (LA '96) said.
"[The Office of Alumni Relations is] the staff support for the Alumni Association, which is a non-profit volunteer organization," Kaplan said.
Kaplan pointed out that the Alumni Association is one of the main sponsors of Freshman Orientation, the sophomore class Halfway There celebration, the junior class Study Breaks, senior class career programming, Tuftonia's Day and the Senior Awards.
Like many working in the Alumni Relations office, Kaplan was drawn back to the Hill soon after he graduated. Before moving to Alumni Relations about five years ago, he worked for Tufts Career Services. "In the best possible way, I felt like working here is like coming home," Kaplan said.
Kaplan hopes current students also feel connected to Tufts after graduation. "For the Alumni Association, one of the primary objectives is to engage with students and create a lifelong connection with the university," Kaplan said.
Kaplan believes one of the best ways to do this is by tailoring programming to specific class years. "We've tried to connect with the class councils and the Programming Board and the [TCU] Senate to try and shape programming that is targeted to specific classes based on where they are and what they're doing in that particular year," Kaplan said.
He cited the sophomore class Halfway There celebration as an example of this philosophy. The event occurs at the end of spring semester. "It's kind of a celebration that you're halfway to graduation, and also one last chance to be with all your classmates before people study abroad," Kaplan said.
For reuniting seniors, the Alumni Association has a Welcome Back Seniors reception, which usually occurs during the first day of classes. "It's sort of the bookend to the sophomore event," Kaplan said.
Although students attend Alumni Association-sponsored events as undergraduates, it's when they leave the Hill that the Association becomes their primary contact with Tufts.
Snitow's job as assistant director for young alumni and student programming is to make sure recent graduates don't lose touch with Tufts.
"One issue is just sheer competition. As people get involved with lots of other activities, their attention begins to be drawn elsewhere, which is why we're really ramping up the amount of programming that we're doing and the amount of communications that we're doing with our young alumni, because we want to get them engaged right away," Snitow said.
Snitow is also the staff liaison to the Tufts Alumni Boston regional chapter, Tufts' largest alumni chapter.
"We are very heavy on our programming. Tufts Alumni Boston holds anywhere from one to three events a month. We have a great board of volunteers who really make an effort make sure we have family-friendly events," Snitow said.
Snitow emphasized that the Alumni Association works to target alumni of all age groups. "We have happy hours most months … We pretty much try and make sure we're hitting all of our target ages … The board makes a pretty strong effort to make sure to get varied events and get varied tastes covered in all the programming that we do," she said.
Engaging alumni is only half of the challenge for the Office of Alumni Relations. Simply getting in contact with tens of thousands of alumni also poses a challenge. Snitow said a main problem is simply reminding young alumni to keep their contact information up to date, which is often not the first thing on the mind of recent graduates, who move frequently.
"We are really making a move, using social media, to try to go where the young alumni are, to try to reach out to them on Facebook[.com], on Twitter[.com], through LinkedIn[.com], so we're really trying to go to them, because they don't always go to us," Snitow said.
The university still uses old-fashioned tools to keep alumni informed. The monthly electronic newsletter reaches 50-60 people, according to Kaplan. "Tufts Magazine is probably the number one communication tool. It reaches just about everybody in our community," he said.
Aside from informing alumni about university happenings, Kaplan sees shared interest alumni programs, such as the Tufts Lawyers Association and the Tufts Journalism Society, as ways to connect alumni with similar interests. "All of these are vehicles to engage alumni back to Tufts in a way that's really meaningful for them," Kaplan said.
"The Africana Center 40th Anniversary event was a great partnership between the Center, the Students and the Black Alumni Association (which is a chapter of Tufts University Alumni Association) and serves as an example of how many of our programs are created," Kaplan said in an email.
