BU Alumni Association Launches Alumni Networks Program
Networks to be piloted in New York, Los Angeles, Boston this spring
新的区域网络项目意味着校友们将更容易找到同伴，计划活动，并与波士顿大学保持密切联系。 Photo by Derek Palmer
BU Alumni Association Launches Alumni Networks Program
Networks to be piloted in New York, Los Angeles, Boston this spring
Boston University has 366,000 alumni around the world, and many live and work near fellow BU grads. But they don’t always know how best to network, make friends, or build relationships around shared interests.
“Our professional alumni engagement staff does a great job of planning events, from webinars to watch parties to Alumni Weekend,” says Erika Jordan, vice president for alumni engagement. “But we realized that we were only reaching a fraction of our alumni that way. Alumni networks really thrive when people on the ground—alumni of all ages, backgrounds, and interests—take leadership roles in bringing people together, and we’re taking steps to make it easier to do that.”
This spring, official BU Alumni Regional Networks are being piloted in US cities, including New York, Los Angeles, and Boston. Each network will be led by alumni volunteer leaders who will work to enhance the University community in each of their cities through events in partnership with BU Alumni Relations staff. Alumni can be part of a Regional Network leadership team; they can also volunteer occasionally or simply attend network events. The overarching idea, Jordan says, is to expand the number and types of engagement opportunities and make it easier for alumni to find one another and get involved.
“We’ll provide the structure and sustained support,” she says. “We want to make it straightforward to get involved. But we also want to make it easy for local networks to thrive and grow independently.”
The Regional Networks program builds on digital networking conducted through BU Connects, which remains available to all alumni and is where most communications within the Regional Networks will take place.
“We have a wonderfully robust and active alumni community all around the world,” says Anthony Harrison (COM’81), BU Alumni Association president. “But having the new structure of the relaunched networks program means it’ll be even easier to find fellow alumni, plan and host events, and generally stay closer to BU, wherever you are.”
Alumni can take several steps to learn more and get more involved, including updating contact information, registering for a local network, or signing up for BU Connects.
“Our ultimate goal is to have uninterrupted engagement from the time a student is admitted to BU throughout their lifetime as an alum,” Jordan says. “We’re launching our Regional Networks program with that goal in mind, and we hope that all of our alumni will take a moment to make that first connection, online or in person.”
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