Alumni Relations and Institutional Advancement

by Alicia Sutton ‘09, Program Manager

Current students Dustin Lacey ’10 and Paul Berg ’10 recognized a need to engage Thunderbird students in the “network” as quickly as possible.  Knowing the power of a strong Thunderbird community outside of campus, they looked to build as strong a community on campus.

Their community building efforts took shape in February of 2009 as a mentor program called BirdWatch.  New students have the opportunity to be paired with second and third trimester students.  So far, over 130 mentors are connected to 300 new students.  Mentors and mentees are matched by gender and program.

“We had so much information come our way in Foundations,” Berg said.  “Then classes start and students have homework, clubs to join, informational meetings to attend, scholarship applications to complete, financial aid forms to fill out, Career Management Center meetings, and on and on.”

Lacey says the program’s key initiatives are in cultural help, connectivity and shared responsibility.  Both Berg and Lacey would like to see this effort expand to include alumni in the mentoring process.

This kind of initiative is crucial to strengthening the power of the alumni network.  Students who go through their Thunderbird on-campus experience feeling lost are less likely to take and active role in the alumni network.  Students who feel connected to the school and to other T-birds will feel comfortable embracing the alumni network from graduation day onward.  It is my hope that this program will empower students to interact with the alumni network even while they are still in school.  More connected students = more connected alumni = more referrals for prospective Thunderbird students.  It’s a cycle we want to keep!

Posted: 11|25|09 at 3:30 pm.
Filed under: Alumni Relations, Sutton, Alicia.
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