Grinnell alumna continues tradition of volunteerism
June 27, 2019 — Barbara Hunt Moore’s volunteerism to her alma mater is spurred on by her classmates and ensuring the future is bright for current and future Grinnell College students.
The 1965 graduate has worn numerous volunteer hats during the past few decades, such as class agent, Alumni Council member, and regional network committee member.
Barbara Hunt Moore ’65
“The reason I think it’s important to give back is to support Grinnell’s determination to provide a first-class education to students regardless of their financial resources,” she says. “The primary thing that keeps me doing what I do is the appreciation expressed by my classmates.”
Moore has gotten to know the classmates well the past 18 years serving as class agent. She took over for the retiring original class agent, Sally Wolf Robinson ’65.
“I enjoy keeping in touch with my classmates and helping them keep in touch with each other,” she says. “They lead interesting lives and continue to make contributions to their communities and even throughout the world.
“I’ve always liked writing,” noting that her class prefers printed letters to social media updates, “and it doesn’t scare me, so preparing quarterly class letters has been enjoyable.”
Moore also was instrumental in the planning of the class’s 50th Reunion in 2015. She helped coordinate the efforts of a nine-member Reunion planning committee and a subcommittee that prepared a memory book for Reunion participants.
“I've received direct feedback on my volunteerism in the form of many positive notes from classmates who say they appreciate my class letters as a way to help the class stay connected,” she says. “Class members seem to feel the same way about our 50th reunion, which consumed a lot of my volunteer effort.”
Barbara Hunt Moore with 1963 Class Agent Mary Knuth Otto
In addition, Moore served three, two-year terms on the Alumni Council from 2011-2017 and has chaired Council committees focusing on alumni engagement and communications. She also has served twice on the Alumni Awards Committee, which gave her the opportunity to review nominations of outstanding alumni and participate in the selection of award recipients.
As a member of the Grinnell-in-Washington D.C. Regional Planning Committee, Moore has helped bring together Grinnellians. She’s participated in numerous events, such as summer picnics, presidential receptions, Global Day of Service, and receptions for students who have been admitted to Grinnell.
When Moore moved to Chicago after graduating from Grinnell, she thought she would work a year or two and then go to graduate school. She landed a job as an editorial assistant at a Chicago-based textbook publishing company called Scott, Foresman. Moore was having too much fun working to go back to school.
“I remained in publishing in increasingly responsible positions for editing, writing, and publications management,” Moore says. “When my husband and I moved to Washington, I landed a position with a professional association, where over time I managed departments responsible for publishing, survey research, marketing, and other functions. I was also a member of leadership teams for many years.”
The education she received at Grinnell College has proven to be beneficial in both her professional field and her daily life.
“I was exposed to a lot of new ideas and came away equipped with the intellectual tools to research, analyze, and make thoughtful decisions,” she says. “I also had a lot of fun. The campus was teeming with opportunities to meet new people, enjoy an incredible array of cultural offerings, and simply ‘goof off’ and be silly when the academics became too intense.”
— by Lisa Shapiro
For your information:
Class agents play a significant role in promoting and sustaining relationships between classmates and the College. To learn more about becoming a class agent, contact Molly Campe ’96, senior associate director of alumni and donor relations, at campe@grinnell.edu or 641-269-3234.
To read more alumni news, check out our news archive.