This entry is to share the metrics, goals, and strategies we took to create innovative virtual engagement due to COVID-19, and the positive impact it has made. Since March 2020 we have developed several virtual programs to keep our alumni engaged. Since our first event, we have had more than 1,600 alumni register to a number of game-themed events, virtual performances, virtual painting parties, and lecture/panel style virtual series. The goal has been to make sure we keep our alumni engaged even in these odd times.
Virtual engagement was very new way of engagement for us, but we have created a plethora of opportunities for our alumni at Texas Woman’s University. The TESSTalk Series was brought about by the need for virtual programming where our Speakers Bureau participants could volunteer their speaking talents as events were cancelled. This series created an opportunity to showcase our alumni, while also engaging those wanting to give back in the way of presentation. The New Graduate Summer Series came as a result of students leaving campus forcing our graduating student programming to transition to a later time and focus on their needs as new graduates. This series successfully provided opportunities for a group of students who had their world turned upside down instead of simply cancelling the original program. The TESSTalk series began in May, only two and a half months after our university went remote, while the New Graduate series began in June with the decision to transition the original program in May.
