Engaging Alumnae With Your Collegiate Chapter

Guest Blogger Heather Anderson, Iota Psi (University of Texas/Arlington), National Vice President of Alumnae

 

  

Delta Zeta enriches members’ lives beyond the college years. So often, we hear that Delta Zeta sisterhood took on a different meaning for our members long after graduation. Yet, our collegiate officers struggle with how to build alumnae support and involvement with our collegiate chapters. So how can you, as a collegiate chapter officer, build a relationship with your chapter and local alumnae?

 

Engaging members and building affinity while they are undergraduates are keys to the long term success of any alumnae program. The alumnae experience starts with the experience our Delta Zeta members have while in your chapter. If junior and senior members feel engaged, valued and respected as they prepare to graduate, they will be more likely to be active and participatory alumnae members. 

 

Your Alumnae-Collegiate Relations Chairman is an important part of the equation in building long-term relations with local alumnae. She can coordinate with a member of the local alumnae chapter to host joint events such as Founders Day, football tailgating, chapter anniversaries or even recruitment workshops. When getting to know alumnae, it is important to remember that planning well in advance is vital to alumnae attendance as they may have work and family obligations. Various means of communication such as email, phone calls and newsletters or even Evite and Facebook are all great options to get the information out to everyone. Don’t forget that some generations of alumnae aren’t connected to technology, so be sure to use snail mail or other conventional means of communication with alumnae for whom you don’t have email addresses. The main reason to hold these events is to create the bond of sisterhood across all generations and build relationships that continue long past graduation.

 

As your members prepare to move from one phase of life, as college students, to the real world of a career, job, apartment, etc., you can make the transition to Delta Zeta alumnae status as easy as possible. Provide them with information on how to connect with a local alumnae chapter (you can find our full list of chapters on our website here), make sure to update their information with Delta Zeta using the Manage Members Action on Chapter Inc. when they graduate, and make sure that your chapter has an officer elected or appointed to manage your alumnae relations programming.

 

Ways for Delta Zeta alumnae to become involved:

• Chapter Associations are designed to unite collegiate and alumnae members of a college chapter for the purpose of establishing close communication and advancing the best interests of the chapter and Delta Zeta. Each member initiated into the sorority automatically becomes a member of her own chapter association. Find a current list on our website here.
• Delta Zeta alumnae are served by ten different alumnae areas, listed here. Each alumnae area is led by a volunteer called an Area Alumnae Director (AAD). She supports the work of the alumnae chapters in her area and the volunteers who serve as State Alumnae Chairman (SAC).
• Delta Zeta has over 165 alumnae chapters. There is even a virtual alumnae group, Surfing Sisters, which has members all over the globe. Alumnae members find that their Delta Zeta experience is just as rich and satisfying in the years after graduation as the time they spent on campus.
• Serving as advisors to the local collegiate chapter can be very rewarding. Many chapters look to alumnae for the leadership and knowledge they can provide to various positions. If you have a question of how to get involved, just contact the College Chapter Director (CCD) of the nearest college/university. If the chapter does not have a CCD, please contact the Regional Collegiate Director (RCD).