Alumni Relations Programs

2010 Circle of Excellence Awards Program
Judges Report

New Program Initiatives

14 Entries

Gold Award: University of Southern California Alumni Association - USC Women's Conference: Nice event, one that is good for all ages and for easy transfer of knowledge among various generations; the event had a good turnout and accomplished its mandate to engage women. While there was a significant cost, it was worthwhile. This is an excellent way to cultivate women for philanthropy.

Silver Award: University of Michigan-Flint - Flint Amaizing Alumni Admissions Program
The program showed a very strong integration of need and execution; the global mission is consistent with the overall academic mission of the university. The results were very impressive and the program will continue to be a success. The materials ae well produced and attractive.

Bronze Award: University of Houston - African-American Initiative for Scholarships
The program overall was very comprehensive; it demonstrated a good ability to coordinate and involve different stakeholders toward a common goal. The results were impressive in terms of donors acquired and fund raised and the range of events was also very impressive.

Student Alumni Initiatives

6 Entries

Silver Award: Chapman University - The Pride of Chapman Student Band
Very solid program and entry. Good tie in between program initiative and results of games as well as evidence of student and alumni participation. Entry also highlighted internal recognition of key players with awards and showed the continued success of the program was guaranteed for at least the following year. Results were clearly documented and the model is replicable in other schools as Pep bands are an achievable project.

Bronze Award: Nazareth College - Take Flight at Nazareth College
Very creative concept; great idea to tie awareness of the school mascot and alumni association to student engagement from the very beginning. Good sense of the collaboration required between departments and the effort put into developing connections between alumni and students. The program has a lot of potential; value in being able to pass flyers on to other Nazarenes and foster the sense of community. Results of the campaign were not very well communicated. Didn't have examples or a chance of view the social media advertising employed.

Bronze Award: University of Rochester - Freshman Candlelight Ceremony
Great event; skillful inclusion of alumni in freshman orientation, showcased collaboration between university departments and highlighted fun elements of school life (i.e. a cappella choir) while being informative and passing on traditions. Affordable and seems easily replicable. Application would have been helped by a better discussion on results. For example, did more student join the Student Alumni Ambassadors organization after the event? How many students or alumni volunteered to help with the candlelight ceremony for the following year?

Marketing and Branding

Overall, we felt this category was a little weak, which we were surprised by. It was weak both in the number of applicants (7) and the material they submitted. We felt it was unfortunate there were not more entries because there were (2) schools we would have loved to give awards to, but as only 10 percent can receive an award, we could only give (1) based on the number of entries we had.

We chose to award the Gold to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. We felt that though the idea was not exceptionally innovative, they were beyond stellar in their execution. Their collateral materials were top notch and the message "A Whole New Tradition Starts This Year" we found exceptional. Their message discipline was wonderful - every piece of information on their Reunion & Homecoming was connected without matching too much. We were also highly impressed that 1 person was responsible for these marketing efforts. On top of all this, they had incredible results from their efforts - they tripled the number of attendees from the previous year. What a way to re-engage an alumni base.

Creative Use of Technology and New Media

Overall, we felt this category lacked innovation. There wasn't anything presented that we hadn't seen or heard of before. I think also, applicants need to think about how their materials will be viewed - we encountered numerous entries that we found ourselves searching for the right info on school websites, or that we found we didn't have the correct medium to view the CD provided. We were also surprised at the number of schools who thought that Facebook pages, blogs or websites alone would be enough to put them in the running. I think next year the "creative" aspect of this title needs to be stressed. And one thing that we found disappointing was the number of entries that had incredible potential but poor follow through. We found a few that we think should re-apply in a few years once they have either further developed their idea or once they have some measurable results.

We chose to award one gold and two silver awards in this category.

The Gold we awarded was to the College of William & Mary for their Mascot Search. We were very impressed that they were able to integrate the technology across a multitude of channels. Their entry was full of personality and we loved the juxtaposition this was between the formal college William & Mary can be seen as. It was also something that would appeal to a wide range of people (alumni, students, community, etc). We loved that they were so open with their process and that they clearly cared about the input they received. This was by far the most comprehensive entry we received - their media coverage was extraordinary! Their search provided a great impetus to give and get involved and allowed those who hadn't been involved in awhile to re-engage. And the best part was it cost NOTHING to accomplish

The first Silver was awarded to SUNY, Oswego for their Holiday E-Greeting. While certainly not the most creative entry in the category, we were blown away at how they were able to take technology and make it authentic. Two of the judges on our panel actually cried when we watched their E-greeting. So many of the other holiday e-greetings we received were manufactured and sterile - it is so hard to make an e-greeting as a true snapshot of the life of campus without it feeling cheesy and they accomplished it. There was an amazing emotional appeal - it is so apparent how much this organization values community. It was also wonderful because it was an appeal without being an appeal - I didn't even go to this school and I wanted to give! Our bottom line with this entry was while not amazingly innovative, there were able to leverage the technology to its maximum effect.

The next Silver we awarded was Princeton University. Their Princeton Pause e-greetings leveraged the personal and the technological. We love that it is a monthly program - consistent without being annoying - and they have been able to measure amazing results. It's a user friendly site and is extremely cost effective. We also loved that it was an appeal without being pushy.