Aeolian 2013


From the President’s Desk


NEW TECHNOLOGY, NEW PROGRAMS… NEW ALUMNI


In a presentation I made to the University System of Georgia Board of Regents last year I noted that changes in the technology and the way higher education is structured today is affecting the way colleges and universities relate to their graduates. When I was in college, back before the Dead Sea had died, I lived in a dorm, ate in the cafeteria, played intramural sports, participated in various student groups, and attended classes with the other students. There were no cell phones, no X-boxes, no personal computers, or iPods, no on-line courses, and the only television sets were in the commons areas in the dorms.


As


a result, there was a strong sense of community; we as students did many things together: played cards, studied in groups, had meals with each other and were often joined by members of the faculty, and participated in ad hoc discussions about the great issues of life. As a result, by the time we graduated we had developed strong ties with our friends, the faculty, and the institution.


That


experience meant something and kept us tied to the college long after we graduated.


now, we go back for homecoming to reconnect with old friends, see what has changed at the college, and relive those halcyon days as a student.


Contrast that experience with the experience of a particular young woman who graduated from Georgia Southwestern in December of 2011. She began her college career at Georgia Perimeter College (GPC) and enrolled in a three-year degree program that


And even


was introduced two years earlier. She completed her lower division courses at GPC in one and one- half years. She immediately began taking Georgia Southwestern courses, all of which were on-line. In three years she had completed a four-year degree in accounting. When she came to GSW for the graduation ceremony it was the first time she had ever been on the campus. Unfortunately, it may also be the last time.


As strange as this may sound to those of us who went to school several decades ago, this is in many ways the college experience of the future.


Increasingly, students will


complete their degrees on-line and never set foot on a campus, unless they come to graduation to receive their diplomas. I am proud of the fact that Georgia Southwestern has a wide range of courses and programs on-line. We must if we are to remain competitive.


However, the question remains. If on-line programs are the educational venue of tomorrow, what does that say about the alumni of tomorrow? If they only rarely if ever come to campus; if they develop few meaningful ties with other students; if they never really have the sense of community that breeds loyalty among graduates; why are they going to come back to campus for special events and just as importantly, why are they going to contribute to the GSW Foundation?


This is a challenge that many colleges and universities are facing: nurturing loyalty among the new breed of “on-line” alumni. Georgia Southwestern’s Alumni


Association is working to find new ways of staying in touch with our graduates and giving them reason for staying connected, coming back, and giving. However, we still tend to think of our alumni as those who attended classes on campus and participated in a variety of activities outside the classroom. Somehow, we must devise a method of giving all of our graduates a sense of ownership in the institution and a responsibility for ensuring its continued success.


Again, the nature of the college experience has changed dramatically in the last forty years. As a part of that change, the relationship between the institution and its graduates is being redefined. Georgia Southwestern’s future depends in part on our finding ways to build and maintain ties with our “new alumni.” The question of how we do that remains largely unanswered.


Kendall A. Blanchard President


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