by: Dr. Elena R. Catalo
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
School Year 2006-2007 was my first to lead the Alumni Affairs Office. During the period, the Alumni Coordinating Committee which was non-existent since SY 2003-2004 was re-created; the colleges/units where there are no existing alumni associations reorganized their alumni associations; a General College Alumni Homecoming (2007) was held, the first since the homecoming in 2001; the Alumni ID was approved as an inclusion in the miscellaneous fee; the guideline, criteria and nomination forms for the search of outstanding TCQC/TUA alumni was drafted and had been subjected for critiquing by the deans of the different colleges and basic education principal; the alumni website was linked to the university website; the brochure of the Alumni Affairs Office has been drafted; and the linkage for job placement of graduates has increased from 9 companies in June 2006 to 65 in June 2007.
PLANS
This school year (2007-2008) the plans are towards furtherance in attaining the objectives of the Alumni Affairs Office in the areas of operational efficiency, people empowerment, financial viability and customer delight.
To promote quality alumni affairs/relations of the university varied strategies shall be devised and utilized. There is a plan of organizing/reorganizing batch alumni associations per unit/college. The General Basic Education, the Graduate School Alumni Associations and the Federation of TCQC/TUA Alumni Associations need to be organized for consistency with the organizational set-up. To strengthen further the alumni force, alumni chapters in provinces and other countries such as USA and the UK shall be organized. To facilitate communication with alumni here and abroad, the AAO has a request pending for approval by the Administration for NDD/IDD application on the AAO telephone.
Involvement of alumni in school activities is one good yardstick of their commitment to their Alma Mater’s vision and mission. This school year, alumni shall be involved in the preparation for homecoming both unitwide and universitywide. Other activities/programs on which they may be involved are community service as service provider, scholarship as sponsors/benefactors, and alumni enhancement programs as alumni volunteer resource persons or as participants.
To facilitate information dissemination, the alumni information system shall be updated and upgraded. Part of this effort is the production of updated alumni database and directory in preparation for the High School and CAS accreditation this school year. A manual containing a brief history of the AAO, its vision and mission, objectives, programs, activities and its organizational set up shall be finally designed, uploaded to the website and reproduced in hard copies. A newsletter online shall also be created so that alumni with internet access shall at least be posted with the information about their Alma Mater.
To respond to the needs of alumni for enhancement and empowerment, programs such as Enhancement Program for Alumni Recognition for Outstanding Alumni were created but still for consultation with the alumni associations. The Enhancement Program for Alumni is aimed at retooling/retraining alumni for capability building to enhance employability. And an alumnus/alumna shall be given recognition for his/her distinguished professional, academic or research achievement and contribution in terms of leadership and service to the community at the local, regional, national or international levels. There is also a plan to send the AAO staff for training on Dreamweaver/Flash and Adobe Photoshop. This would help her in maintaining the webpage of the online newsletter. The AAO has plans towards enhancing the sustainability of its programs and activities. It has applied for grant eligibility with Ayala Foundation USA, a partnership in fundraising for a priority project of the University and the programs and activities of the Alumni Affairs Office such as the Community Outreach Scholarship, and Alumni Enhancement Programs. The plan for including the alumni ID in the miscellaneous fees for graduating students is already for implementation effective this school year.
Another concern of the AAO is minimizing complaints from our customer – the alumni. Plans towards this end includes sending the AAO staff to TUA-sponsored customer training program an establishing customer service standards for the office.
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