Autumn 2009: from the EAA

Allison Dykes

Allison Dykes, Vice-President for Alumni Relations

Bryan Meltz

By Allison Dykes

Dear Friends,

Get informed. Get connected. Get involved.

That’s what we at the Emory Alumni Association (EAA) can do for you. Or, rather, that’s what you can do through us. The EAA puts Emory within your reach. You can get informed about what’s happening at Emory, get connected to people at Emory, and get involved with Emory. Most important, getting informed, connected, and involved has never been easier.

Please allow me to explain.

We inform you about what’s going on at Emory through our electronic periodical EmoryWire and by email—our most common avenue of communication (if you don’t receive emails from the EAA, please register). We also give you access to Emory leaders, like President James Wagner and top faculty, with our Destinations speaker series.

We connect you to your alma mater and to each other through networking at our hundreds of alumni events annually. In addition, the EAA’s Alumni Career Services can help you connect to fellow alumni, alumni businesses, and professional mentors. Our social media outlets like Facebook and LinkedIn offer a completely different type of connection, as does E-Connection, Emory’s own exclusive online social network.

You can get involved with a variety of alumni leadership or interest groups. In some cities, you can volunteer as an alumni interviewer and help recruit the next generation of Emory alumni, or you can serve not only Emory, but also your home community during Emory Cares International Service Day.

Of all the EAA’s great alumni programs, Emory Cares is truly remarkable. Founded seven years ago by Renelda Mack 83C as a way to bring alumni together for the common good, Emory Cares has grown into an international celebration of service from Seoul to San Francisco, Midtown Atlanta to downtown Birmingham.

And as alumni continue to get involved, we’ve expanded. Last year, twenty-eight cities hosted Emory Cares projects; in 2009, we’re hoping for more. For the first time, Emory Cares is holding a project in Hawaii (if they need more volunteers, I’m happy to go). In Atlanta, the EAA and our partner Volunteer Emory have expanded our reach across campus as units such as the Office of University-Community Partnerships and several Emory faculty will be leading projects around the city.

One of the goals of Emory Cares is for alumni to give back to their home communities, and there really is no better place to start than Atlanta—Emory’s home.

If you live in the Atlanta area, getting involved with Emory Cares is a must. Last year, more than five hundred students, alumni, faculty, and staff in the metro area alone took part in Emory Cares International Service Day—and we hope the numbers will keep growing. Our service projects are coming together right now, and no matter what your service interest, I’m certain you can find a way to contribute through Emory Cares. You can read the full story (including photos from projects dating back to 2006) on our Emory Cares website.

And that only scratches the surface. For the full story about how you can further connect with Emory, please visit www.alumni.emory.edu/portal for a guided tour led by Crystal Edmonson 95C, former president of the Emory Alumni Board, and Jason Hardy 95C. Make sure you have your audio turned up—it’s the best part.

Thanks to the thousands of you who came back to campus for Emory Homecoming Weekend in September. I had a wonderful time and from all the excitement I saw, our guests enjoyed themselves, too. I’m glad we could help you make more Emory memories. Please be sure and visit EAAvesdropping, the EAA’s blog, for the inside story of Emory Homecoming Weekend 2009. The address is eaavesdropping.blogspot.com.

If you have any comments or questions for me about Homecoming or anything else Emory related, please send me an email. It’s always a pleasure hearing from you. My email address is adykes@emory.edu.