Reinvigorating Alumni Programming at Education Abroad
At the end of each school year, the Education Abroad team gathers together to reflect on how the previous year went. We look at what offerings we provided to our students and how they fared, so that we can improve that support in the years ahead. At this year’s meeting, we identified a number of initiatives that could provide a more meaningful education abroad experience for our students. One that we are particularly excited about is our renewed commitment to our recent returnees, and alumni spanning the decades.
Accordingly, our office will be ramping up the number of activities and events geared toward supporting education abroad alumni as they return to campus (and eventually, depart campus to become global citizens outside CU). Program Manager Stephanie Pund has taken on the role of Alumni Coordinator, and will be organizing a new calendar of monthly alumni events in conjunction with the rest of the Education Abroad team.
This fall, we held an alumni reunion for recent returnees. This provided an incredible opportunity for students to catch up with other Education Abroad alumni, connect with our office, and take advantage of resources for their return to campus. It was so successful in connecting alumni across countries, we now look forward to hosting this event every semester going forward. We also sponsored our returnees in attending the Rocky Mountain Lessons From Abroad conference in Denver, and really enjoyed hosting our exchange program alumni for a brunch during the Homecoming weekend to reconnect with us and each other (you can see highlights from the brunch here).
Next semester, we look forward to hosting a number of additional events (including Traveler’s Tales, where students have the chance to share their abroad stories over coffee, as well as a workshop on going abroad again, and a senior grad party where we’ll present our alumni with cords for graduation)! As always, we’d also love to hear from you – if you have any ideas of events you’d like to attend, future books for our Global Buffs Book Club to read, or any other services you think we should be offering, don’t hesitate to contact us at AlumniEA@colorado.edu. Until then, happy reading!
This fall, we held an alumni reunion for recent returnees. This provided an incredible opportunity for students to catch up with other Education Abroad alumni, connect with our office, and take advantage of resources for their return to campus. It was so successful in connecting alumni across countries, we now look forward to hosting this event every semester going forward. We also sponsored our returnees in attending the Rocky Mountain Lessons From Abroad conference in Denver, and really enjoyed hosting our exchange program alumni for a brunch during the Homecoming weekend to reconnect with us and each other (you can see highlights from the brunch here).
Next semester, we look forward to hosting a number of additional events (including Traveler’s Tales, where students have the chance to share their abroad stories over coffee, as well as a workshop on going abroad again, and a senior grad party where we’ll present our alumni with cords for graduation)! As always, we’d also love to hear from you – if you have any ideas of events you’d like to attend, future books for our Global Buffs Book Club to read, or any other services you think we should be offering, don’t hesitate to contact us at AlumniEA@colorado.edu. Until then, happy reading!
Last Updated December 2017