Roll out the red carpet, the Big Changes are here

Well, I’m doing something I swore I would never do.  But I want to go on record that I am doing it under extreme pressure and a belief that BrandonTaylor knows what he is doing.  I am submitting my first Blog!

In this day and age of over-bombardment of communication from TV, radio, iPads, iPhones, emails, blogs, mail and who knows what else, it amazes me how difficult it is to get information out.  We feel like we are sending out information all the time, but when you talk to people they don’t have a clue what you’ve been up to.  So, we will press on in trying to tell you what new and exciting things your alumni association is up to.

Last summer we decided to take a break from our usual running as fast as we can, to find out if we were actually running in the right direction.  We get so busy trying to get through our daily assignments that we hadn't really taken stock of all the changes that had be happening, not only on campus, but in society in general, to find out if we were providing our alumni what they actually wanted and needed.

So with the help of an MBA student group and with the input from over 2,000 willing alumni we began to ask some tough questions and you gave us some great answers.  With that information we were able to look at our current programs and determine which were still relevant and beneficial to our alumni.

Two areas of need that became apparent were 

1. services that would help our alumni connect or stay connected once they left campus, and
2. assistance with starting or finding new careers 

I am so excited to tell you that we've listened and will be rolling out two new programs coming July 9 that will help our alumni in these two areas.

The first program, Career Aggie Network , will be of benefit to you not only as you look for that first job, but through the coming years as well. 

Our other program is Aggie Reps.  This network will be a group of alumni representatives throughout the country who are willing to share their knowledge and expertise not only about their careers but about the companies for which they work, the communities in which they live, and their personal experiences as an Aggie since graduation. 

Both of these programs feature Aggies helping Aggies, because that is what Aggies do!  Over the coming weeks and months we'll be telling you more about these new programs and how you can participate.  We are excited to hear your feedback and hope you will stay in touch.

So I guess I can sign off now, and mark off one of those items on my Bucket List - post a Blog…NOT!  We may be asking some of you to even post a blog.  I’m sure there are people out there you’d much rather hear from than me.  But do check back often.  We mean it when we say we want to stay in touch!

Patty Halaufia

Executive Director, USU Alumni Association