Program links students, alumni

The college's new Partnering Alumni With Students program has begun recruiting students to represent the Alumni Affairs office at events on campus and around the community.

The program is designed to foster a strong alumni culture at Buffalo State, something the college has lacked up until this point.

The office can't pay students, but according to Jennifer Heisey, director of the Alumni Affairs office, the experience gained will be worth the effort.

"It's never too soon to start understanding the resources that we have available for students," Heisey said.

The program is still in its early stages, but eventually members in the PAWS program will volunteer to assist at various talks, meet-ups and networking events held by the Alumni Affairs Office. They will serve as the face of the student body, a group that is often noticeably absent on these occasions.

The key to improving involvement, Heisey said, is bringing alumni together with current students.

"I think there's a good student experience, and I think there's a good alumni experience, but the two things haven't been fused together historically," she said.

Ellen Kongphet discovered this when she visited an alumni networking event hosted at Buffalo State College last year. She said she was surprised to find that graduates who had left the college years before had formed life-long friendships, and that they were willing to share their experiences with others.

Kongphet decided she wanted to be a part of this.

"If this is how it is, I'm going to follow up," she remembers thinking.

Now a graduate student in applied economics, Kongphet is working as an administrative assistant in the Alumni Affairs Office and helping recruit new students into the PAWS program.

There are some financial benefits to be had from the program as well. Graduates with a strong connection to their alma mater are more likely to invest in the future of the college, either with their time or financially.

There will be challenges. The Alumni Affairs Office is fairly small, with three full-time staff members working with an alumni network of 96,000 members. Heisey said she would like to create a new full-time position to manage the PAWS student group, but the college's budget may not be able to accommodate this wish.

In the meantime, the office has been implementing parts of the PAWS program individually over this last semester. More events have been held on campus to boost student involvement, and the office has sent out recruiters to seek student volunteers who may eventually be interested in starting a group. Some of these recruits will be helping out at upcoming events, including an alumni networking night at Cole's restaurant this Thursday.

There has been some difficulty finding a reliable group of volunteers, said Landrum Beard, assistant director of the Alumni Affairs Office

"You may have 20 volunteers, and maybe 10 will show up," he said.

Nevertheless the office's list of interested students is growing, and the plan is to create a task force of the most dedicated students before the end of the academic year, Heisey said.

Jacob Tierney can be reached by email at tierney.record@live.com.