Penn revamps efforts to integrate young alumni

For an increasing number of young alumni, graduation day is marking the beginning, not the end, of their relationships with Penn.

Over the past year, the Office of Alumni Relations has been leading a revamped effort to reach out to recent graduates through a series of innovative engagement events — most recently through two California alumni events that took place this past weekend.

The Los Angeles and San Francisco “Engaging Minds” events — which featured academic lectures from Penn professors — saw 200 and 260 alumni attendees, respectively, according to Executive Director of Alumni Relations Elise Betz.

yPenn — an initiative which hosted events for young alumni in both cities this past weekend — attracted 61 and 78 attendees, respectively.

Timothy Carlsen, a 1992 Engineering graduate, wrote in an email that he attended Engaging Minds in the past because it “was as close to a university classroom as I could get at this point without going back to school.”

According to 2007 College graduate Dvorit Mausner — the associate director of the Penn Fund — giving rates among young alumni have been on the rise as a result of recent programming.

In the 2011 fiscal year, which ended on June 30, 2011, 2,073 donors within the four youngest alumni classes donated $170,036 — an 18.9-percent increase in donors from comparable classes in FY 2010, Mausner said.

She added that she has noticed young alumni to be more willing to donate to Penn when they attend events like those put on by yPenn.

“This illustrates how our alumni who are engaged with Penn are more likely to give, or that those who wish to give are more likely to attend an event,” Mausner said.

For some, alumni involvement at Penn extends beyond events and donations.

According to Director of Career Services Patricia Rose, Career Services draws on more than 300 alumni over the course of the year for its programs and services, such as industry-specific workshops and mentoring programs.

Alumni also utilize the Penn Alumni LinkedIn site, as well as the Penn Alumni Career Network, to connect with former peers and current students seeking employment or job advice.

“Alumni want to hire other Penn people because they know that [they] are very well-equipped to apply what they’ve learned … in a work setting,” Rose said.

While 2007 College graduate Laura Hoensch has not attended an Engaging Minds or yPenn event, she participates in the Alumni Career Network and makes a financial contribution to Penn each year.

“I like feeling as though I still have some connection to the school,” Hoensch wrote in an email. “The fact that the school has so many programs available to attend and the fact that I still receive emails does influence me to contribute — even though I haven’t really taken advantage of many programs, I like knowing that I could if I wanted to.”

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