With my sophomore year behind me, that is, my second year as director of alumni relations here at CC, it’s constructive to take stock of our program in order to move forward, and I am excited about what lies ahead.

A long overdue redesign to the alumni website is in progress. With the aid of a new web writer on the Advancement team staff, Brenda Gillen, we intend for the website to be easy to navigate, helpful, simple, and designed with alumni needs in mind. Over the weeks and months to come, please take a look and send us your feedback: www.coloradocollege.edu/alumni.

We realize that we communicate with you about many one-off programs, and so beginning in May we launched a monthly email summarizing all alumni programs regardless of location, just in case you have travel plans and can partake in the unexpected. We hope you find it helpful and can join us whenever and wherever you can!

Over the past year, we searched for a tool that would make communicating among alumni easier, especially if you are looking for alumni based on any number of criteria, such as geographic location, industry, title, class year, major. If you haven’t yet discovered it, it’s a mobile-friendly app called EverTrue, usable on Apple or Android devices. First-time users may download the EverTrue app, and then select the Colorado College community. Authentication is easy once we match your email address behind the scenes. When we discovered this product, we questioned other university clients about their experiences with EverTrue and, based on what we learned from them and our own usability group of alumni, faculty, and staff, we moved forward with a launch once we were satisfied with a certain level of privacy. Give it a try if you haven’t already, and we hope you find it useful as many alumni do.

If you’ve been reading the Bulletin or get our event emails, you may have seen notices about travel-study programs with CC faculty that are created specifically for alumni, parents, and friends. You’ll find a complete listing of all of our offerings online. Look for Galapagos/Machu Picchu, Tanzania, Vietnam, Sicily, India, Cuba, and several others. Stateside we still have a few spots for the Arches and Canyonlands National Park hiking trip in November.

You may have noticed that in addition to the traditional classes that we celebrate at Homecoming time, we incorporate special affinity reunions each year, sometimes coinciding with Homecoming and other times not. For instance, 100 alumni and guests just returned to campus for a Tour Choir reunion under the direction of the beloved Don Jenkins. At Homecoming this year, October 8-11, we look forward to honoring CC alumni who have served or are serving in the military. To learn more about the veterans’ reunion, visit www.coloradocollege.edu/veteransreunion

In July we welcomed a block-size class of alumni for a “quarter-block” program featuring Professor of English Steven Hayward and Director of the Innovation Institute Patrick Bultema, who delved deeply into “The Art of the Pitch.” Stay tuned for next year’s summer program for alumni, called Baca Mini-Blocka to be held on the college’s Baca campus in Crestone, Colorado.

Over the course of the next year, we look forward to seeing you in your region or ours. We’ll be announcing our featured faculty for regional visits in January soon, and stay tuned for updates on the reinvigorated OurCC, the online directory of alumni that also serves as a mentor database for students who are anxious to connect with alumni. You have a robust liberal arts education in common, and students are grateful for your insight and advice, if you would like to give it.

Lastly, if you would like to volunteer to help with events in your region, please let us know. The Fifty Year Club, alumni who have celebrated 50 years from graduation or more, has been to date Colorado Springs or Denver-centric. Ideally, we envision a suite of offerings — including those for Fifty Year Club — nationwide. Ideas and offers to help are welcomed and appreciated.

For more information on any of these efforts, please contact me at anita.pariseau@coloradocollege.edu.