Outlook: Stuck in the Middle
CURRENTS Article Higher education and alumni associations hold an important key as more and more baby boomers seek help in making transitions to second careers.

Backyard Egg-stravaganza
CURRENTS Article The Michigan State University Alumni Association offered a class on raising chickens in your backyard as part of their Evening College, and the course was one of the best-enrolled of the semester.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T
CURRENTS Article Working with professors to create a strong alumni education program requires savvy internal public relations, common sense, and courtesy. Necessary steps include making the case for the importance of substantive alumni education, taking the initiative to build relationships with faculty, and cooperating on the best ways to conduct adult learning.

Trip of a Lifetime
CURRENTS Article Smith College offers a series of workshops in a program called "Passport to Life After Smith." The workshops focus on skills students can put to use in the real world after they graduate from college.

Advance Work: Travel Program Plus
CURRENTS Article The University of Toronto organized a 12-day alumni trip to Kenya to help a nonprofit build a village school.

Alumni Programming Goes Boom
CURRENTS Article There's a lot of talk about engaging young alumni, but what about older alumni? Some baby boomers are heading toward retirement, and alma mater can provide a lot of what they want. Put some thought into programming for this cohort, and it could pay off nicely for the institution.

Advance Work: Extra Credit
CURRENTS Article Wofford College offers interesting classes for alumni during homecoming. But no homework or quizzes this time around.

This Just In…
CURRENTS Article Some alumni education managers make their programs timelier by covering current events, such as the Iraq war and SARS. Although program formats can include faculty debates, reunion weekend seminars, and lectures series, often these events have an Internet component. Alumni offices promote the events by e-mail, archive audio files on their Web sites, sponsor online chats, and create specialty Web sites for updates about alumni affected by news events.

Industry Watch
CURRENTS Article Alumni relations executives are eyeing a variety of economic factors that have influenced their business plans. Overall, they are reporting a need to contain expenses to offset multiple hits to their budgets. The financial health of key industries also is having an effect on alumni travel programs and affinity programs.

What's Holding Us Back?
CURRENTS Article Although online alumni education offers certain advantages over traditional programs--such as broader reach, easy specialization, and flexible scheduling--institutions have been slow to institute online courses. Shaindlin identifies some specific obstacles alumni officers face in developing online education programs and describes innovative examples from both ends of the cost spectrum.

AdvanceWork: Yours, Mine, or Ours?
CURRENTS Article An exploration of the issue of "course ownership" when faculty produce Web-based distance learning for alumni.

Back to School
CURRENTS Article Retirement communities located near campuses offer such benefits as continuing education and intergenerational contact. Some campuses establish their own communities; others enter into formal or informal partnerships with developers. Tips for a successful project include these: 1) Analyze your motivations. 2) Make sure the community offers shopping, medical care, and other necessary features. 3) Plan on providing assisted living units and a nursing facility as well as independent living units. 4) Choose a site with close proximity to campus. 5) Establish institutional and financial support up front. 6) Consult with professionals in the senior housing industry. 7) Be committed to lifelong learning. A sidebar profiles retirement communities associated with University of Virginia, Iowa State University, and Appalachian State University.