Alumni Council Fall 2019 Summary

The Alumni Council met on campus Thursday, Oct. 10 through Saturday, Oct. 12 for its fall meeting.

President Ryann Haines Cheung ’93 led the meetings, which were attended by 24 members of the Council.

The following is a brief summary of the weekend’s work:

  1. President Raynard Kington met with the Council to provide a campus update and took questions from the Council on a broad range of topics;
  2. Jaci Thiede, vice president for development and alumni relations, along with Adam Laug, director of development, provided an overview on progress to date, and future plans, regarding the recent launch of the Campaign for Grinnell;
  3. Council members participated in informal networking conversations with students at a Friday evening Life After Grinnell reception co-sponsored by the Council’s Alumni Student Connections Committee and the Center for Careers, Life and Service;
  4. The Council voted on a variety of important revisions to their bylaws, including clarification regarding the criteria to be considered an “alumnus/alumna” of Grinnell College;
  5. Each of the standing committees of the Alumni Council presented reports on their work since the spring meeting;
  6. Ayyad Jacob ’20 reported on the work of the Student Alumni Council and the Steven Kent ’67 Memorial Senior Class Gift efforts so far this year;
  7. With leadership from Past President and Committee Chair John “Fritz” Schwaller ’69, the Council approved a slate of 15 alumni for receipt of a 2020 Alumni Award to be presented at Reunion 2020;
  8. The Council met with class agents and class fund directors to discuss the newly drafted alumni volunteer Code of Leadership: A Commitment to Shared Values document it produced to help establish best practices and effective guidelines for volunteer engagement with students, staff, and fellow alumni. This full group of volunteers also broke up generationally to discuss opportunities and challenges related to their volunteer service for the Grinnell community;
  9. The Council ended the weekend with a celebratory meal with all of the class volunteers who were also on campus for the weekend.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Our thanks for your continued interest in the work of the Council.

Warm regards,

Ryann Haines Cheung ’93, Alumni Council President
Jayn Bailey Chaney ’05, Director of Alumni and Donor Relations