Academic Affairs

This afternoon I get to spend some time with Judy Cramer, a Keene State graduate from the 1980s. I first met Judy when we became colleagues at Buffalo State College in the mid-1990s. She moved on to a position at another school a few years later, but we’ve remained friends. Last year about this time I received an email from Judy that started, “I opened the new issue of Keene State Today and imagine my surprise….” So, we’ve reconnected as members of the Keene State community.

Judy achieved some degree of fame at Keene State as the first woman to be sports editor of the Equinox and the first woman to be sports director of the radio station. She has since gone on to develop a reputation as an important scholar in the areas of women in radio and women in sports and sports journalism. She’s currently an associate professor at St. John’s University.

So, why is this a momentous occasion worthy of a blog entry? The prospect of Judy’s visit has got me thinking about the role our alumni play at Keene State College. My interest at the moment is a curricular one. Our colleague and Alumni Board president David Gagne speaks often about the interest of our alumni coming back to serve the institution. And they’re on campus frequently. But I wonder about the degree to which we think about our alumni as those who can offer an important classroom experience for our students.

As a faculty member, I was often confronted with this issue. I’d get a call from a dean or someone in advancement that began, “So and so from the class of 19-something or other is going to be on campus next week. Wouldn’t you love to have him guest lecture in your class?” I remember at the time that my thinking along these lines: What am I going to give up if I turn a day over to so and so? Why is advancement getting involved in how I handle my classes? I have a set curriculum and it doesn’t allow for this tangent.

A few short years later, I became the dean who made the phone call to the faculty member. As I began to network with alumni–one of the things I loved about being dean and now about being Provost–I came to realize that these were not just friends of the college who wanted to bring their war stories to classes. These were people who had integrated the knowledge and experiences gained as a college student into successful careers. They were master practitioners who had much to offer our students in the classroom.

It was the theater department faculty who really helped me to change my thinking. They were constantly bringing back alumni, often on no notice, and were marvelously effective at integrating the alumni perspective. Students got a demonstration and testimonial of how college learning is the foundation for post-college success. And they buckled down. The department faculty built a theater–literally and figuratively, by the way–by integrating alumni into their curriculum. They recognized that alumni were a key indicator of the success of their program.

 When we’re asked to engage our alumni in a classroom experience, we should think less about the cost and more about the benefits to our curriculum and to student success. It forces us to be a little nimble, but I like that challenge, too.  And if it supports other institutional goals, well we’re all a part of this community and should support the goals of the institution.

Tags: alumni //