Efficiency. Quantification. Communications. These are just some of the areas of focus for the Graduates' Society spelled out by a committee led by past president David Laidley, BCom'67. Using the recommendations of Dan Heinlen, President and CEO of the Ohio State University Alumni Association, as a springboard, Laidley's committee advised on ways to make the Society become more relevant to students, faculty and graduates, to remind the University of the Society's role in maintaining former students' ties to McGill, and to bring graduates closer to their alma mater and to each other.
The Laidley report recommended a new ìcontemporary mission statementî be written, in part to ìrefocus our programs and examine why we are in business.î Some other goals: improve ties with fundraisers; communicate better within the University community; increase awareness of the Society among current students; properly quantify programs to show how many graduates are touched by Society events; and develop relationships between clubs, residences and faculty associations to the Graduates' Society.
The most visible change recommended by the committee is to rename the Graduates' Society. The official name ìThe Graduates' Society of McGill University,î which was chartered in 1880, will remain, but its business will be conducted under the new name McGill Alumni Association/l'Association des anciens de l'UniversitÈ McGill. This will avoid further confusion with the Post Graduate Students' Society and the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research. The word ìalumniî in its present sense is clearly gender neutral and includes all those having a direct connection with a university. Since the bylaws of our Society have always provided membership to past students who have studied for one year or more, ìAlumni Associationî is more accurate than ìGraduates' Society.î
These recommendations are expected to be approved at the Annual General Meeting, September 21, 1995.
