Alumni Council Fall 2022 Summary

After a year of pandemic-related disruptions, we were so pleased that the Alumni Council met on campus Thursday, Nov. 3 through Saturday, Nov. 5  for its fall meeting.  President Robert Gehorsam ’76 led the meetings, which were attended by 24 members of the Council, including 8 new members joining for their first meeting. 

A group photo of the Alumni Council taken fall 2022.
Alumni Council photo taken in November 2022.

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

  1. President Anne F. Harris met with the Council to provide a campus update and took questions from the Council on a broad range of topics; 
  2. The Council met with Ellen de Graffenreid, the new vice president for communications and marketing to discuss opportunities and challenges related to alumni communications;
  3. Council members participated in informal networking conversations with student participants in Prof. Henry Rietz 89’s Learning From Alumni Class and at a Friday evening reception sponsored by the class of 2023 and class of 2024 class ambassadors; 
  4. The Council joined in a special surprise gift announcement honoring Nancy Schmulbach Maly ’61, former Alumni Council President; 
  5. The Council met with Monica Chavez Silva and Caleb Elfenbein, co-leads of the College’s strategic planning efforts, to offer feedback on emergent themes developing from faculty, staff and student workshops focused on Grinnell’s strategic planning process;
  6. Each of the working task forces and committees of the Alumni Council presented reports on their work in this fiscal year. With leadership from Past President and Committee Chair Lester Alemán ’07, the Council approved a slate of 15 alumni for receipt of a 2023 Alumni Award to be presented at Reunion 2023;
  7. The Council heard a presentation from Paul Chrisman ’99 and Jennie Jackson from the Office of Development and Alumni Relations (DAR) on ways the College is measuring and evaluating alumni engagement. Following this presentation, the Council engaged in a workshop to explore the breadth of alumni relations programming with consideration to both programmatic impact and resource allocation. Their work will help to shape and inform DAR’s continued efforts to diversify and strengthen alumni engagement opportunities;
  8. The Council ended the weekend with a celebratory meal with the selection committee for the Joseph F. Wall ’41 Alumni Service Award.

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,

Robert Gehorsam ’76, Alumni Council President
Jayn Bailey Chaney ’05, Director of Alumni and Donor Relations