1. De'Neatria Robinson | Kennedy-King Career Planning & Placement Center | December 1, 2015
Alumni Relations
GETTING BACK THAT 50%

2. PAGE 1
Table of Contents
Overview ........................................................................................................................................................2
Defining Alumni............................................................................................................................................2
For students ...............................................................................................................................................2
For the career planning & placement center..........................................................................................2
Understanding Affinity.................................................................................................................................3
Affinity Matters..........................................................................................................................................3
Why does affinity matter to non-CPP departments? ..........................................................................3
Measuring Affinity.....................................................................................................................................3
Best Practices & Recommendations ........................................................................................................... 4
Newsletter ................................................................................................................................................. 4
Social Media.............................................................................................................................................. 4
Student Integration.................................................................................................................................. 4
Exiting Preperation .................................................................................................................................. 4
Customized Events....................................................................................................................................5
Alumni Website.........................................................................................................................................5
Mentorship.................................................................................................................................................5
References ..................................................................................................................................................... 6

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Overview
This report will address the two main challenges many community colleges face when building
alumni affinity: defining alumni and understanding affinity. The sub-title Getting Back That 50%
alludes to the fact that 50% of students in the United States attend a community college. So how do
we get those students to come back to their educational institutions and build affinity among each
other and the campus? For the purposes of this report, affinity will be defined as “a feeling of
closeness and understanding that someone has for another person because of their similar
qualities, ideas, or interests” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). At the conclusion of this report,
several recommendations will be made, including the utilization of: newsletters, social media,
student integration, exiting preparation, customized events, an alumni website and mentorship
opportunities. These recommendation and challenges will be catered to the student experience at
City Colleges of Chicago (CCC), Kennedy-King College (KKC), and the Career Planning &
Placement Center (CPP).
Defining Alumni
It is important to have a campus wide understanding of the term alumni, for both students and
staff. There is a consistent assumption that everyone knows what it means, thus starts the
miscommunication and poor planning.
FOR STUDENTS
Understanding who qualifies as a KKC alumni, informs students of their own status. The Center for
Community College Advancement (CASE) defines alumni as, “Former students who have eared at
least some credit toward one of the degrees, certificates or diplomas offered by the reporting
institution.” This signals to students that alumni status does not mean completion or graduation.
Which inherently clues them into the fact that at any point in their educational journey, there are
services that KKC will provide to them. A formal definition also allows students to know what
serves are offered to them as CPP continues to grow and cater specific initiative to alumni.
FOR THE CAREER PLANNING & PLACEMENT CENTER
Walla Walla Community College sends a survey to alumni to collect information on their
experience at Walla Walla and their current employment status. One of the questions asked is, “In
what ways can we serve you?” Figure out who your alumni are and build relationships with them,
target your slogans/missions/initiatives towards them. If students who complete certificates or
degrees are the alumni of KKC then CPP should be targeting students in Phase 4 of Washburne
Culinary Institute or students nearing completion. If the KKC alumni definition is more in line with
the CASE definition, then CPP needs to implement more offline and online forms of
communication outside of emails (since it has been proven throughout my experience at KKC that
students do not strongly utilize their emails).

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Understanding Affinity
" I don't want to be friends with alumni. When our former students were admitted to our
institutions, they became family; therefore, friendship isn't what we should strive for” (Bennett,
2012).
AFFINITY MATTERS
Alumni are the college version of brand ambassadors. They can talk up an experience and
encourage people to join or they can discourage people to join by talking it down and attributing
several factors about their college experience to current frustrations. It may be a stretch but try to
compare this relationship to the biblical story of the Prodigal Son. KKC/CPP (The father) can give
students (the son) all the resources they perceive that they need for ultimate success in the world.
However, unless there is a relationship there (parent-child relationship) or security within coming
back (knowing that the father would not turn him away), why would the students (the son) come
back even after they have run out of those resources (money)? In a nutshell, why should alumni
come back? The answer should not just be to utilize resources but, they should return because they
possess a relationship between the institution and peers. That relationship can spark networking
opportunities with former students who are now employers, or former students who want to
support CPP initiatives for the betterment of the current student experience. CPP has the potential
to offer alumni the opportunity to serve as real-worldindustry focused mentors to current
students. Additionally, the tools to giving alumni access to local employers and providing them
with resources to further their own careers already exist in CPP. The next step would be building
on these and increasing alumni awareness.
Why does affinity matter to non-CPP departments?
The answer is simple: money and time. In The Complete Guide to Fundraising Management,
Stanley Weinstein writes, "Friendraising activities are essential to any fundraising effort. As people
become more involved, they become more committed. Their donations increase as their sense of
belonging grows.” The sense of belonging also comes from volunteering at events and feeling
valued as a member of the Kennedy-King family. People like to see, feel, and hear that they are
appreciated. That appreciation spills over into additional resources (time and money) for the
institution.
MEASURING AFFINITY
Kennedy-King College, as an institution that possess a population reflective of the neighborhood
demographics, has a legitimate opportunity to create a family atmosphere and relationship with
their students. More than ever, institutions are being help responsible for follow through. They can
not simply state their goals and visions and expect students to jump on board; there has to be
intentional action towards creating a culture where students and institution professionals are
aligned. Jim McAlexander, a marketing professor, developed The Building Community Initiatives
survey and discovered that alumni affinity can be measured in four areas: the university's identity
and brand (Do they wear Kennedy-King clothing? Is there Kennedy-King clothing available?); the
institution (Do they like the direction of leadership? For example, the President or Chancellor.);
their peers (Are they in contact with former classmates?); and their education (Has it helped them
in their careers? Was the Career Planning and Placement Center actually useful?) (Bennett, 2012).

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Best Practices & Recommendations
NEWSLETTER
Creating a newsletter does seem cliché but it is useful. The key is making it accessible and relevant.
CPP can include community and campus information in the newsletter to acknowledge the holistic
experience of KKC students. Nevertheless, the bulk of the content should be related to either CPP
or career advancement (i.e. Top 10 tips to keep in mind during an interview). To increase
accessibility, the newsletter can be distributed in a hard copy and online. CPP would also benefit
with sharing the newsletter with deans and other campus partners to build relationships and
exposure throughout the campus.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Everyone is taking advantage of social media. Though Kennedy-King has a population that does not
reflect the stereotypical traditional 18 to 23-year-old who binges on social media, a social media
presence can be critical in increasing student engagement with the office and teaching students the
necessity of social media savvy in growing industries. CPP can benefit greatly from having an intern
or a student worker interested in online advertising create and monitor a CPP Facebook (a lot of
people have one), Twitter (quick and short way to get out information to alumni and students, in
addition to retweeting KKC and City College content), Instagram (to share event photos and flyers
for employer spotlights) and LinkedIn (exposing students to a professional social media presence).
A blog offering tips, items from the newsletter, KKC student experiences, or employer interviews
can also increase online engagement from current and former students.
STUDENT INTEGRATION
Start integrating student opinion and creativity while they are at KKC. Students who can leave
behind something that they created or had some input are more likely to become engaged alumni.
For example, allowing students to create promotional materials for CPP will instill a sense of pride
seeing other students using a resource they helped design. By making this opportunity into a
contest, student buy in and buzz for CPP can increase as well. How can students be integrated in
alumni affinity building: being ambassadors, creating videos for CPP, designing covers for a career
handbook, monitoring social media, and being the lead on event planning. CPP can also use
current student images in promotional material. People like to see themselves in other successful
people. It is hard to spot a flyer or poster around campus that has a current KKC student or recent
alumni. These posters feel generic and though racial affinity is usually demonstrated in the posters,
they feel unauthentic and impersonal.
EXITING PREPERATION
As soon as a student comes to campus for orientation, they are a future alumni and should be
treated as such. They need to know how much CPP values them and is committed to their success.
More than anything, CPP is commitment to developing a lifelong relationship with them.
KKC alumni relations and CPP can benefit from giving students small tokens of appreciation during
the first 3 weeks of school such as T-shirts with the KKC or CPP logo, welcome gifts/swag, and
items that have alumni on it. Make CPP and their dedication to alumni visible at all KKC events,
whether social or academic. Though it may be taxing, making sure that some type of representation

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of staff, or CPP volunteers are in attendance at every graduation offers in person support. Even if it
is something as straightforward as setting up a table with alumni resources outside the ceremony.
Let’s not forget the actual campus. It is imperative to visit classrooms months leading up to
graduation. Tell students that it is an expectation of KKC students to be an outstanding alumni and
offer them opportunities to return after graduation as a KKC testimony. Go into Phase 4 kitchens
and tell students that CPP admires their future accomplishments and wants to hear all about them.
This is also a good time to plug any alumni surveys being developed.
CUSTOMIZED EVENTS
When companies have no clue of how to serve their target audience, they ask. Creating formal and
informal surveys based upon three questions have proven affective for building alumni affinity in
community colleges: 1) How can we serve you? 2) What types of events would you want to attend as
an alumnus? 3) Are you willing to be on an alumni council or board?
If CPP wants to know what alumni will attend, they must ask students before and after they
become an alumnus. This will give you two answers: what students think they need for the future
and what they realize they need. Having a council or alumni advisory board when it comes to
planning alumni events can also provide some insight to planning social events for alumni. Social
events will allow past students to reconnect and potentially network. If the events are customized
to their needs and wants, then alumni are reasonably more incentivized to attend.
ALUMNI WEBSITE
CPP would benefit from creating its own website. Navigating through the City Colleges of Chicago
website is difficult and impersonal. Nothing about the experience is customized to CPP or KKC.
Having a CPP website provides a platform to share exclusive events, career opportunities, and
discussion boards, while making the career network more accessible. An alumni website (or tab in
the CPP website) will serve as a hub for all information related to alumni. This can serve in the
same capacity as a newsletter or operate as a site where resources are provided online.
MENTORSHIP
Continuing from the Understanding Affinity and Exiting Preparation sections, affinity is dictated by
connections built during the college experience. Alumni can be agents of change by creating career
related mentorship opportunities. Here is a hypothetical example, CPP has a program where
current students and alumni can opt-in to a career mentorship. Current students would be paired
with alumni in their field of interest. While the mentor-mentee relationship is highly dependent on
the personalities of the individuals, CPP can coordinate in person workshops or retreats led by
mentors, networking events, brown bag luncheons, and other activities to keep participants
involved and accountable.

7. PAGE 6
References
Bennett, G. (2012). Alumni Relations and Institutional Giving. Finnish Higher Education Experts
USA Study Tour 2012.
Blixt, J., Bottem, L., Fahning, M., and Kangas, R.(2010). Building alumni associations at
comprehensive community colleges. Retrieved from:
http://www.hr.mnscu.edu/training_and_development/Leadership_Academy/documents/T
eam_3_Final_Report.pdf
Cabrera, A. F., Weerts, D. J., & Zulick, B. J. (2003). Alumni Survey: Three conceptualizations to
alumni research. Ponencia del Seminario Métodos de Análisis de la inserción laboral de los
universitarios, Universidad de León.
Riverside Community College District. (n.d.)Alumni Relations. Retrieved
from: http://www.rccd.edu/community/foundation/Pages/Alumni%20Relations.aspx
Russell, P., (March 28, 2013).Comprehensive Look at Community College Alumni Relations Reveals
Growing Pains. Council for Advancement and Support of Education
Texas Association of Community College Foundation. (2015). Community college alumni relations:
part 1. Retrieved from: http://www.taccf.org/Documents/Alumni-partI.pd