Much has been shared of Williams’ strategic plan. I encourage you to read it—I’m particularly excited about the Engaging Alumni section, which complements my work with the Executive Committee of the Society of Alumni (SoA) to develop a strategic plan to guide the society into the future. I’m delighted to share with you the process and some of the top-line areas of focus we’ve gleaned from research guiding the SoA strategic plan.
The process began in early 2020 and was driven by an intellectual and curious fervor from SoA leadership to understand the breadth and depth of the alumni experience. An all-alumni survey was distributed in the fall of 2021. Your answers helped the planning committee better understand your experiences as alumni of Williams, your engagement with the college and with one another, your preferences for future engagement and your overall satisfaction with the SoA.
In the true spirit of diversity and inclusion, we invite and celebrate the involvement and support of all alumni.
The survey’s use of open-ended questions was intentional: We wanted to hear from you in your own words. I and my partners in this work eagerly read each of the 3,438 submissions you shared. Individually and collectively, you provided rich and detailed stories of your experiences as students, as alumni or both. These narratives are heartwarming and heartbreaking, and they reveal a tapestry of the alumni experience that is both complex and multidimensional.
Based on quantitative and qualitative insights from the survey, the Executive Committee identified four pillars that serve as a framework and direction for SoA engagement with alumni going forward:
• Lifelong Connection: Continue to foster broad-based, relevant opportunities for connection throughout the alumni life cycle;
• Career Mentoring and Development: Leverage to the best of our ability Williams as a conduit for professional opportunities for growth, development and mentoring among alumni;
• Lifelong Learning: Cultivate our vibrant intellectual community through virtual and in-person programming and experiences that foster continued intellectual and personal learning and growth; and
• Intentional Cultivation of Belonging: Ensure that the wide range of experiences alumni had as students, and continue to have as alumni, are recognized and validated, including opportunities for reconciliation and repair where harm has been done.
Strategic planning will result in the development of new engagement mechanisms, outreach methods and programming that reflect the college’s strategic goals and aim to meet alumni interests and expectations. In the true spirit of diversity and inclusion, we invite and celebrate the involvement and support of all alumni. Such engagement is critical to the success of our efforts for the SoA as a whole.
—Brent E. Shay ’78, President, Society of Alumni
