Alumni Association Board Meeting Minutes 12/03/22

Pomona College Alumni Association Board Meeting Minutes

December 03, 2022 – 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Board Members Present: Aldair Arriola-Gomez ’17, Soren Austenfeld '15, Michael Bright '10, Andrew Brown '77, Alisa Eileen Fishbach, Robi Ganguly '00, Marcel Green ’90, Jeff Levere ’12, Megan Long '08, Linda Luisi '81, Victoria Paterno '75, Lew Phelps '65, Amy Rhodes '07, Joshua Rodriguez '13, Alfredo Romero '91, Julie Siebel '84, Andrea Venezia ’91, Dominic Yoong '88, Nina Zhou '19

Board Members Absent: Paula Gonzalez ’95, Jason Howie '03, Carol Kruse ’84, Veronica Roman '95

Representatives Attended: Paola Franco ‘17, Kerry Martin, Kristen McCabe Romero, Lucy Takahashi, Vera Berger '23, Dena Negrete

Special Guests Attended: Shalonda Martin, Hazel Raja

Greetings & Call-to-Order: Alfredo Romero ’91 called the meeting to order at 10 a.m. and welcomed all those in attendance to the meeting.

Approval of Minutes: 8/13/22 Meeting Minutes approved contingent on edits/corrections provided by Lisa Beckett

President’s Report: Alfredo Romero ’91 reported that he will have more to share at the January 2023 Alumni board meeting as the Trustee meeting is scheduled for next week. He did mention a few topics of discussions that he believes will be discussed at the next Board of Trustee meeting:

• Labor Relations Update: Although there have been discussions, no updates to report on the labor relations to date.
• Goals for Enrollment: there is a desire to bring in more middle-class students to better reflect the community as a whole.
• Questions/Recommendations: Alfredo asked the board to share with him any questions/recommendations that he can share with the board on their behalf:
• Lew Phelps ’65 asked if Alfredo if he could suggest a recommendation from the AB board to the Trustees, forming a committee to discuss if Pomona’s continued participation in the US News Rankings would be appropriate.
• Andrea Venezia ’91 would love to learn if there has been a conversation with students with Trustees about how the College can fully support students who come in needing additional resources, what areas that might fall under, and how the College would be taking action to do that. 

Alumni & Student Connections with CDO: Special guest Hazel Raja, Associate Dean & Senior Director of the CDO shared a presentation with the board providing a snapshot of the student demographics and the impact increased diversity of our students has had on the CDO’s work/ strategic planning. Hazel briefly discussed the 4 focus areas of the CDO’s 2020-2023 Strategic Plan:

1. Value of their [the students] liberal arts degree.
2. Improving access to industry, information & experiential learning.
3. Developing collaborations with student groups, campus offices & academic depts.
4. Elevating access to further education & prestigious fellowships.

After discussing the CDO’s strategic plan, Hazel shared ways in which the Alumni Association Board can support/ help the CDO within these five focus areas:

1. Sagehen Connect: Increase registration & profile completion; encourage alumni to serve as Sage Coaches.
2. Alumni Weekend Chirp & Chats Event: Encourage Attendance; Help us manage expectations
3. Experiential Learning: Industry Treks & work shadowing opportunities; micro-internships & internships
4. Connecting Sagehens to Opportunities: Promoting Pomona to potential employers; connecting CDO to hiring managers
5. Fundraise for Career Programs: Smart Start, Industry Treks, Pomona College Internships Program, Skill Training & Resources, Staff Development

Standing Committee Reports

Development Committee: Dominic Yoong ’88 reported that we are 3 gifts away from the alumni board 100% participation goal by calendar-year-end. Current projects the DC is working on are:

• An FAQ to help answer some common questions from fellow alums, like “why should I donate?”.
• 22% giving participation goal
• Ongoing Board of Trustee challenge: if we raise 1,470 gifts by calendar-year-end, we unlock $400,070 from the Board of Trustees. We have a little more than 1,000 gifts to go.
• Ask #1: Encourage all alumni board members to reach out to 10 alumni by the end of the year about donating.
• Ask #2: Annual Giving is looking for a social media ambassador; Dominic asked if any board members were interested to contact Lucy, Dena or Dominic.

Engagement Committee: Andrea Venezia ’91 reported on 3 categories of activities the EC is working on currently:

1. Supporting students to join and participate actively in a thriving alumni committee;
2. Building relationships, creating connections for life, sharing alumni resources, and modeling ways of being in the alumni community.
3. Working with the CDO to leverage the power of the Pomona community to explore or guide career opportunities & transitions for alumni.
4. Supporting the CDO in being the go-to place for students and alumni about careers.
5. Alumni /student connection around careers with Senior students as a bridge.
6. “Making small a strength”
7. Supporting Alumni Weekend
8. For the board to be a ubiquitous presence.
9. Create and support events that are meaningful and lasting for alumni

More updates in January, as each of the 3 sub-committee teams meet in December to work on their objectives, desired results, roles/responsibilities, and indicators for progress and timelines, with plans to hit the ground running with activities after the January updates. 

Regional Chapters Committee: Julie Siebel ’84 shared with the board that the committee had some delays due to unforeseen circumstances, but that the Associate Director, Alumni and Family Engagement position has been filled, enabling the local RC committee meetings to resume (some already being scheduled).

The committee has identified “recapturing that sense of urgency we were trying to build last summer” as a goal. To get the process started, the committee will schedule outreach catalyzing meetings to connect with alums in each of the regions with Regional Chapters via zoom. The goal is to begin these outreach meetings soon after the holiday break. Julie encouraged board members to attend their local Regional Chapter meetings, in support.

The Washington D.C. chapter is moving forward with re-launching. Amy VB Rhodes ’07 shared more on the D.C. chapter’s informal mixer where a handful of local alums gathered to discuss what it looks like when the group restarts, ideas for events, and a winter break party planning for January.

Sagehen Connect “Tour”: Alisa Fishbach introduced Shalonda Martin, Senior Director of Advancement Services to the board. Alisa shared some background history on how Sagehen Connect came to be at Pomona, then proceeded to walk the board through a visual tour of Sagehen Connect.

Representative Reports: 
ASPC: Vera Berger ’23 shared a few updates regarding a few main discussion on-campus:

1. Discussions around affinity groups on campus has pretty much been resolved, but is on going
2. On-going Dining/Union negotiations:
3. How the dining halls can improve options for students with dietary restrictions.
4. Ways the college can support students during religious events that may involve fasting during certain hours.

Vera shared that she received questions from a few students inquiring about being involved with AW ’23 and would like to discuss more ways the board can advertise student volunteer opportunities.

CDO: Kerry Martin shared that the CDO is wrapping up programing for the Fall and are working on the PCIP applications that are being submitted. In terms of students and alumni appointments, the CDO is continuing to assist students looking for summer internships and to aid students who have been recruited in negotiating their offers, while also looking for new opportunities for those students who did not. Kerry shared that they have been very successful with internationally known fellowships offers. Last push for First Destination survey results from the class of 2022 is underway with the survey closing at the end of December 2022.

Advancement Communications: Kristen Romero shared her excitement about the welcome mailers for Reunion Classes; the mailers have been arriving in mailboxes. The Alumni Weekend webpage is up and running, showing the “Lost” in Reunion list of alumni. Kristen encouraged the board to review the “Lost” in Reunion list to notify and fellow alums to contact Pomona for Reunion information.

Kristen also shared that ACE is working on two important annual reports:

• Endowment Report: goes out to endowment donors
• Annual Giving Impact Report: Shares details on the impact all of the the gifts made during the previous academic year – spotlighting a few students and faculty talking about what those gifts mean to them/how the annual fund gifts contribute to the classroom, on-campus activities and student experiences. This web report will be available for viewing after the first of the Year.

Kristen provided the board with an update on the magazine; it will publish in January 2023, and will feature a special story about Trustee Paul Eckstein ’62, and information highlighting the Alumni & Family Attitudinal Survey results.

Faculty: Lisa Beckett asked for the board’s assistance in providing her questions or items that she could bring to the faculty in a number of ways:

1. As she engages with faculty every day on campus.
2. This Spring or each semester the faculty is divided in to 3 groups; 3 different divisions for departments. These are small meetings that Lisa can be involved in where she can generate discussion that are important to the board to help/inform the work of the board.

Admissions: Paola Franco ’17 shared that Admissions has been busy; physically and virtually traveling, seeing over 30 states, with virtual programing reaching students across several countries. This work has contributed to building the Class of 2027, which is coming along nicely, with the Quest Bridge Match Scholars being the first to join the group. ED1 International committee ran yesterday, with the domestic committee happening this week. Admissions is also gearing up for the Highschool Flying High program.

Director’s Report: Alisa Fishbach shared with the board that Ryan Kolter is the new Associate Director for AFE, mainly focused on Alumni Weekend and Regional Chapters. Ryan comes from CMC and has a deep level of experience of event planning. AFE has a coordinator role they are looking to fill that will report to Ryan.

Alisa gave an update on upcoming events:

• The Pomona College Choir Concert and Winter Tea, December 4
• Family Matters webinar on December 7, focused on conveying information regarding Study Away program to help parents understand the process.
• Smart Start Program – a cohort of Sophomore FLI students; AFE is partnering with the CDO on this program. When students go to San Francisco in January to meet with alums in their workplaces and have a robust 3 days of exploration of different industries, AFE will be hosting a small alumni mixer on the first night, and one of our Trustees will host a more formal diner the second night.
• Next Alumni Paths Event is set for January 24 at 5 p.m.
• Alisa informed the board that December 24 – January 3rd our offices will be closed for the holiday break.

Alisa updated the board on the upcoming office changes happening very soon, with Advancement moving off-campus (except for AFE which will remain at Seaver House). Seaver House will be undergoing a refresh/facelift that should be complete in time for Alumni Weekend. In closing Alisa shared a few final notes:

• Alumni Award nominations – an email will be going out to encourage all alumni to submit nominations online by December 31st. The committee of Past Presidents of the alumni board will begin the selection process in January.
• The LDC – Don Swan and Alisa have been in communication; the committee has been constituted to begin their work in earnest in January. Alisa will email those board members on the committee with details on meeting times and dates, to begin the work in selecting the new alumni board members, as well as the new president-elect.

Update re: January Board Meeting: Alfredo Romero ’91 talked about the possibility of having this meeting hybrid. A consultant will attend the January meeting to facilitate a workshop on community and inclusion. More details on this will be forthcoming.

Alfredo adjourned the meeting at 1 p.m.

Next Alumni Board Meeting:

Saturday, January 28, 2023, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. (virtual)