Your Alumni

Carleton’s academic departments and individual faculty members serve as a vital connecting point for alumni.  The Office of Alumni Relations and our alumni recognize and appreciate the many ways that faculty keep in touch with alumni. Following are some ways Alumni Relations can help you stay connected. They welcome your comments and suggestions and would also love to learn more about what your department does to stay connected with your alumni.

Communicating with Alumni

• Alumni Relations can provide current lists, spreadsheets, and/or labels for mail or email to alumni. Contact Carla Thomas at cthomas@carleton.edu or x4496. Carla will ask for the purpose and timing of your communication, to coordinate with other things going out from Alumni Affairs and other offices.

• Want Alumni Relations to send an email for you or your department?  Send the text to Sarah Forster at sforster@carleton.edu. They can make it look like it’s coming from your department, or from a specific person, and their broadcast email program has a few advantages: avoiding spam filters, tracking the percentage of people who open the email, and the option to re-send to people who haven’t opened the message.  If it’s a mailing (or if you send the email yourself), please send a copy of the communication to the Alumni Relations office in case alums contact them with questions.

• Carleton has email addresses for 70% of our alumni (85% for ’00s grads), but we are always trying to improve our communications and records. If you receive updates from alumni (such as new contact or employment information, birth announcements, etc), please forward them to addresses@carleton.edu.

• If you are seeking information about individual alumni, the online alumni directory is updated daily. Visit http://www.carleton.edu/alumni/directory. You can search by first or last name, major, range of class years, job codes, and/or geographic areas.

Support for Department-organized Alumni Gatherings

• Reunion weekend:  if your department is interested in hosting a gathering for your returning majors, the Office of Alumni Relations will gladly cover the cost of some light refreshments and beverages. This event would be similar to the popular department receptions held for graduates. Please consult with Sarah Forster (sforster@carleton.edu or x4206) during winter term if you’d like to participate. Departments with fewer alumni may wish to group together. Depending on department preference, gatherings can be purely social, or could feature a brief departmental or college update, introductions of newer faculty and/or a tour of the department. The ideal time for these is generally late afternoon on Friday or Saturday (June 20-23, 2013) of reunion weekend.

• Reunion attendees are listed online beginning in March each year. The list is sorted by class year and by major. Because names of majors and concentrations have changed over time, you may see several listings that are applicable to your department. To see the most recent list, visit  https://apps.carleton.edu/alumni/reunion/attendance/.

• Professional conferences:  if you’re attending a professional conference and would like to invite alumni in your field to a gathering, Alumni Relations can contribute a modest amount for refreshments. This is a great way to connect with our many Ph.D. alums. Please consult with Sarah Forster in advance about your specific situation and the number of alumni who are likely to attend.

• Retirement or other special department gatherings: Alumni Relations has frequently assisted departments with contacting alumni about special celebrations. See Communicating with Alumni section, above.

If you have questions, please contact Sarah Forster in the Office of Alumni Relations at x4206 or sforster@carleton.edu.