What Is Alumni Council?
"There are people on campus who don't know what we do; I want to change that"
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Kathy Taylor (l) and assistant Lydia Sferra (Photo by Denise Applewhite) |
I see our office as the linchpin in the relationship between the University and its alumni," says Kathy Taylor, director of the Alumni Council.
"We represent alumni needs and concerns to the University, and vice versa. Our responsibility extends equally in both directions."
By "the University," Taylor means "all departments, administrative and academic." Hence, she has spent a good deal of time since her appointment last October "forging connections," she says. "I want to communicate and coordinate with every department on campus. Where connections exist, I want to strengthen them, and where they don't, initiate them.
"There are many people on campus who don't know what we do," she acknowledges, "and I want to change that."
There are two Alumni Councils, she explains. One, an administrative office on campus, located in Maclean House, reports to the vice president for public affairs. This office provides support to alumni classes, regional alumni associations, and alumni committees such as those for Schools or Community Service, and offers educational programs for alumni and parents on and off campus.
The other Alumni Council is a vast body composed of several hundred alumni volunteers throughout the country and the world. While all Princeton alumni are members of the Alumni Association, the volunteer council includes class presidents, regional association presidents, representatives of the Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni, chairs of committees, and presidents of affiliated groups. In addition to reporting to the vice president, Taylor herself also reports to the chair of the Alumni Council.
Taylor aims "to raise the profile of the volunteer Alumni Council among the alumni," she says. "There are many alumni who don't know what the volunteers do, or that there is an executive committee, or that all alumni have the opportunity to be involved in committee efforts in a number of areas."
One of her particular interests is enhancement of her department's technological outreach. Tigernet, she says, "is very useful, but we want to bring it to a higher level, offering information about Princeton and the world to alumni and on-campus users." In addition, the council will continue its efforts at online education, with the Alumni Studies program, online courses, minicourses and webcasts.
Future, past communication
Clearly, there's a lot of communicating in Taylor's future, but there's a lot in her past as well. She has taught at the University of Pennsylvania and served as vice president of the Mellon Bank in Philadelphia (formerly Girard Bank). Most recently, she taught senior English at the Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr, Pa.
She is also well acquainted with the volunteer world. She sits on the finance committee of the Friends School of Haverford, Pa., and on the board of the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, and is a former director of the Princeton Club of Philadelphia and a regional annual giving representative for her class.
"My resume looked disparate to me," she observes, "but when I reflected, it seemed as if everything I'd done was preparing me for this job."
It's a big job, but one for which Taylor is as well suited by temperament as by training. A member of the Class of 1974, she has a "real love of Princeton and its traditions," a feeling enhanced by being the granddaughter and daughter of Princeton alumni and sister of two.
"I want Maclean House to be open to all," she says, "both literally and figuratively. Folks from the campus community can visit us; alumni can come in to see what's happening. I want everyone to perceive us as that vital link between Princeton University and Princeton alumni.
"I'm convinced that people working together get more done," she says, "and the more people involved in our enterprises, the more we all gain. I'll be interested myself to see how it all evolves."
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