CASE Guidelines for Alumni Relations Professionals on Establishing Vendor Relationships
The CASE Commission on Alumni Relations approved these guidelines in April 2008. They guide member institutions' relationships with vendors that provide alumni programs and services.

Advance Work: Smells Like School Spirit
CURRENTS Article Students and alumni at a handful of universities are lining up to remember their college experience via perfume and cologne.

AdvanceWork: Everlasting Loyalty
CURRENTS Article "Personalized memorial products"—caskets, urns, memory books, and monuments—have become popular since the early 1990s, but industry professionals differ on how much of a market there is for burial products with campus colors and seals. Two casket companies and a University of Kentucky licensing director discuss the demand from diehard alumni. This AdvanceWork item is of interest to alumni staffs who work on revenue-generating and affinity programs.

Top Product Picks
CURRENTS Article To improve alumni merchandising programs, today’s alumni officers are redistributing marketing, order-processing, and fulfillment duties among their staffs, campus bookstores, and—to an increasing degree—third-party vendors. But one thing remains true: Distinctive products with a compelling campus tie are the top sellers and one small way to cement connections with graduates.

AdvanceWork: RISD Goes Retail
CURRENTS Article The Rhode Island School of Design sells the fine art, jewelry, books, and music of alumni and faculty at RISD/WORKS, a combination gallery, design showroom, and retail store near the campus. The store also provides a database of RISD artists and designers on its Web site. Proceeds go to the college. This AdvanceWork item is of interest to alumni merchandisers, development managers, and marketing staff in search of revenue sources.

Raising the Roof
CURRENTS Article The director of public relations at Susquehanna University describes how campus leaders helped a new president adjust quickly to the institution. A committee created a transition plan that included a nine-month schedule of events and meetings with key constituencies. The committee also compiled a briefing packet and included the new president in discussions of important institutional issues even before his arrival.

AdvanceWork: Something's Brewing
CURRENTS Article Johnson & Wales University, which trains students in hospitality and culinary arts, unveils two signature coffee blends for use on its five campuses and three hotel-training facilities across the United States.

AdvanceWork: A Real Advancement Hero
CURRENTS Article Frostburg State University features three superhero comic book characters in its annual fund appeal and exceeds its fund-raising goal by more than $20,000.