Rutgers Alumni Relations Task Force Report

September 5, 2007

Members of the University Community:
 

Alumni pride in Rutgers—in our academics and research, our award-winning faculty, our stellar graduates, and our high-achieving students—is growing every year. Independent surveys have confirmed what I have experienced firsthand in meeting with alumni: our graduates feel proud of their Rutgers degrees and have fond feelings about their alma mater.
 
Yet for a variety of reasons, those feelings have not translated into the strongest possible partnership between Rutgers and its graduates. The surveys have revealed a tremendous untapped potential among our alumni, many of whom feel they do not have enough ways to participate in the life of the university. This is hurting our graduates and hampering the institution.  Rutgers owes it to our graduates—and to our future—to make alumni feel welcome, involved, and critical to our success. Indeed, we know that the best universities in the nation pride themselves on effective alumni programs and highly engaged alumni. We must strive to do the same. In our effort to move Rutgers to the highest levels of academic excellence, we must forge a solid bond of collaboration between Rutgers and its more than 360,000 living graduates.   

Last September, I appointed a 26-member Task Force on Alumni Relations and asked the members to develop recommendations aimed at raising the level of alumni engagement in the life of the institution and unifying the university and the alumni body to advance Rutgers. I asked Gene O’Hara UCN’62, former chair of the Board of Governors, to serve as task force chair, and Gerald Harvey RC’72, who currently chairs the Board of Trustees, to serve as vice chair. The Task Force on Alumni Relations, aided by the findings of an independent firm that examined all aspects of alumni relations at Rutgers, has produced a thorough study and offered bold recommendations for achieving a model alumni program. At the heart of these recommendations is the concept of an enduring partnership between Rutgers and its alumni. I am pleased to share with you the report, available at http://www.alumni.rutgers.edu/taskforcereport.

The document deserves our thoughtful consideration. Members of the task force and I look forward to discussing the report’s recommendations and conclusions with members of the Rutgers community, particularly with our alumni leadership, in the next few weeks. Let me also invite each of you to offer comments, either online or at one of the alumni forums we will hold in October (see the website for details). After a robust discussion of the report this fall, I intend to use the recommendations and comments as the basis for a formal plan of action that I will announce before the end of the year.

My thanks to Gene, Gerry, and their task force colleagues, as well as to all those who will contribute to this important discussion. Rutgers proudly claims a large, diverse, and highly accomplished body of alumni. Let’s work together to build an alumni program worthy of our remarkable graduates and of our outstanding university.

Richard L. McCormick
President
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey