|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
What We Will Achieve
With a new five-year plan, “United for
Baylor,”the Baylor Alumni Association sets ambitious goals of service
to the Baylor family
 During
the past 150 years, the Baylor Alumni Association (BAA) has vigilantly
maintained its mission of serving Baylor as the ranks of its alumni
steadily increased. That good old Baylor Line became longer and longer
with each graduating class, and the BAA provided them with a crucial
link to their alma mater as they spread out across the state, the
nation, and the globe.
Now it’s 2009—the BAA’s Sesquicentennial—and the alumni association’s
membership has grown to approximately nineteen thousand life and annual
members. These members enable the BAA, through a wide variety of
programs, to serve Baylor’s alumni and to help boost the university
toward greater heights. In fact, fueled by membership giving, the BAA
provided support for 322 events from June 1, 2008, to May 31, 2009,
serving a total of 24,609 participants. And during the same time
period, through its print and online publications—which include Between the Lines and Baylor Line News in addition to the Baylor Line magazine—the BAA had nearly 1.5 million communication contacts with alumni and friends.
Remarkably, all of this was done while achieving a balanced budget for
the year despite the difficult economic times. The BAA’s membership
revenue increased for the fifth consecutive year in 2009, reaching an
all-time high in excess of three-quarters of a million dollars.
Independently governed by a board of alumni volunteers and separately
chartered as a nonprofit organization since 1978, the alumni
association is financially and operationally independent of Baylor.
This independence empowers the BAA to act with unwavering integrity and
responsible boldness, alumni association leaders say, but it also means
that the organization’s success in serving Baylor through alumni
programs, scholarships, and communications depends upon the ongoing
financial support of members.
“We receive no direct funding from Baylor University,” said David Lacy
’79, president of the BAA for 2009. “As a financially self-sufficient
group, we look to our members and generous donors to provide us the
wherewithal necessary for our operations and programming. As the Baylor
family grows, we must grow with it. Our success starts when each
individual sends in a payment toward a membership pledge or joins
online. Every member makes a difference.”
As rewarding as it has been for the BAA to provide this level of
support to Baylor and the Baylor family—directly due to its members’
generous support—the alumni association’s leaders say they are not
content.
“Our mission calls us to greater service,” said Jeff Kilgore, executive
vice president and CEO of the BAA. “We’re extremely grateful for the
support provided by our members, and we know our life and annual
members—like our organization’s governing board and staff members—want
to achieve even more in the future. That’s why we’ve developed a bold
five-year plan for growth and service. Called ‘United for Baylor,’ it
provides a roadmap for the BAA’s ongoing and increasing relevance and
strength.”
The Goals
United for Baylor, the BAA’s five-year plan, arrives at the conclusion
of the organization’s first 150 years of service and anticipates the
next era of organizational growth and service to Baylor. Its ambitions,
BAA leaders say, are deeply rooted in the BAA’s proud heritage.
The United for Baylor five-year plan calls for the Baylor Alumni Association to achieve six goals from 2009 to 2014:
- Expand the BAA’s support of Baylor
by becoming a major scholarship donor to students and actively
encouraging members to provide $5 million in gifts annually to Baylor.
- Enhance the BAA’s annual revenue base by expanding membership giving and increasing fundraising.
- Achieve long-term financial self-sufficiency through the endowment of all programs through the Sesquicentennial Campaign.
- Increase the involvement and
engagement of the BAA’s constituency while retaining the current staff
size and scope of services provided.
- Maintain a balanced budget annually.
- Maintain the BAA’s role and
prominence as an independent voice for Baylor alumni and an independent
source of information about Baylor and the Baylor family, serving
Baylor and its alumni with integrity, candor, and credibility.
Supporting Students
The Baylor Alumni Association’s strong belief that Baylor should remain
true to the design of its founders has one motivation—to ensure that
Baylor continues to enrich the mind and nurture the soul to prepare its
graduates to best serve God and humanity.
As Baylor has grown and its enrollment has swelled to more than
fourteen thousand students, the cost of a Baylor degree has also risen
dramatically. This has made many Baylor alumni concerned that they
won’t be able to afford to send their children or grandchildren to
their alma mater.
BAA leaders contend that a critical element in the maintenance of “that
good old Baylor Line” is keeping the cost of a Baylor education within
the reach of middle-class families. And it’s just as important, they
say, to recruit students whose families have long-standing ties with
Baylor in order to enhance the preservation of Baylor’s heritage and
traditions while ensuring that Baylor’s mission to serve the church and
society by preparing servant leaders remains robust.
It has been a longstanding practice at the BAA to donate a portion of
each annual membership to the Baylor University Alumni Association
Endowed Scholarship Fund, which is managed by the University
Scholarship Committee. This need-based scholarship is given to children
of Baylor alumni, and more than $60,000 in scholarships has been
awarded since 2005.
Under the United for Baylor five-year plan, the BAA will significantly
increase this level of student financial aid with the goal of becoming
a major scholarship donor to Baylor students. Funded by membership
gifts, memorials and tributes, class giving funds, endowed scholarship
gifts, and any budget surpluses, the BAA will begin awarding $30,000 in
scholarships in fiscal year 2009-10, the first year of the plan. In
subsequent years, the BAA will incrementally increase annual
scholarship gifts by $30,000 each year to reach $150,000 in awarded
scholarships in the fifth year.
“We know that in these tough economic times and with Baylor’s tuition
continuing to rise, many alumni are concerned that the kind of
life-changing education that was available to them will be shut off to
their children or grandchildren,” Kilgore said. “That’s why the BAA is
committed to dynamically expanding its scholarship program, so that
families can have more hope that their children will be able to realize
their dream of a Baylor education.”
Stacy Mays Sharp ’76, a member of the BAA’s Board of Directors, echoed
Kilgore in saying, “There are certain items that Baylor alumni and
friends have no control over—such as tuition. However, we do have
control over our giving, and we must step up to the plate with more
endowment money for scholarships. Scholarships need to be available to
all students—especially the average Janes and Joes who want to go to
Baylor and make the world a better place after they leave.”
A Wider Base
With plans to significantly boost its scholarship program, the alumni
association’s staff and governing board know that their commitment to
maintaining a balanced annual budget requires a parallel increase in
membership giving and fundraising through sponsorships and advertising.
Such an enhanced annual revenue base is the engine behind the
enterprise.
“Our plan projects annual memberships and sustaining gifts to rise by 5
percent in the first year and by 34 percent in the fifth year and an
increase of 4 percent in life memberships by the fifth year,” said Beth
Michaelis, director of membership and marketing. “We’re excited about
implementing several new membership initiatives to reach these
objectives, and we believe the opportunity to help fund scholarships
for today’s Baylor students will draw the increased support of our
current members as well as the interest of prospective members.”
Michaelis noted that many of the BAA’s life members have become active
annual givers as well, and she pointed to Jerry ’52, MD ’56, and Patsy
Ruth Vaughan Pentecost ’52 of Point Comfort as shining examples of how
such life members can make a big difference through their sustaining
gifts.
When the BAA launched its life membership program in 1978, the
Pentecosts were among the first to join, becoming life members number
twenty-eight and twenty-nine. Thirty-one years later, more than
thirteen thousand other alumni have joined as life members, choosing to
invest a larger sum than the cost of being an annual member with the
knowledge that their membership will be good for life and that their
gift will be placed in the BAA’s permanent endowment.
In 2001, the BAA created a membership plan that allows alumni and
friends of Baylor to support the alumni association through a variety
of annual giving levels that are greater than the regular $60 annual
membership, including the Torchbearers Society (starting at $1,000) and
gold ($500-$999), silver ($250-$499), and bronze ($100-$249)
designations. Donors who make these membership gifts of $100 or more
are able to do so in memory or honor of someone, whether it’s a former
professor or a family member. These tributes are printed in the Baylor Line, and the person or family being honored is duly notified.
Many of those who have given at these higher annual levels are life
members who have decided to directly assist the alumni association in
meeting its annual revenue goal—on top of the portion of the BAA’s
endowment proceeds that results from their initial life membership
gift. The Pentecosts are among those life members who have become
members of the Torchbearers Society, making annual gifts of $1,000.
“We believe the Baylor Alumni Association, as an independent and
representative organization, is a very important entity,” Jerry
Pentecost said. “It’s imperative to keep the voice of the alumni strong
for Baylor’s overall health. Because of that, it’s imperative to
provide financial support to the alumni association. We believe that
making an annual gift on top of our life membership is an important
thing to do.”
In addition to direct gifts by alumni like the Pentecosts, some
families, upon the loss of a loved one, designate the BAA for memorial
gifts. Such memorial gifts provide unrestricted funds that can be
immediately put to work at the association to support alumni and
student programs. “Of course, we need to build both endowment and
unrestricted funds,” said Allen Holt, the BAA’s director of
development. “But these tributes have a very beneficial, immediate
application.” To make a memorial or give a tribute, Holt said, simply
designate to whom and how your gift is to be applied when you make a
payment, so the proper recognitions can be given.
 Two
other ways of generating annual revenue are sponsorships and
advertising, and the BAA’s five-year plan envisions significant
increases in both areas. During the next five years, Michaelis said,
the BAA is aiming to boost its advertising income by 25 percent and to
secure annual sponsors for a range of programs, including Homecoming
class reunion events, golf tournaments, and the official Class Ring
ceremony (pictured at right) for Baylor students.
The sponsorship program is building on the BAA’s success last year in
televising the Homecoming parade, which is believed to be the largest
collegiate parade in the nation. Working with KWBU-TV as its production
partner, the BAA underwrote the costs of the production with the help
of a lead sponsorship gift from Sadie Jo Black, who taught home
economics at Baylor for thirty-five years until her retirement in 1992.
“People need to enjoy Homecoming, the parade as much as the game,”
Black said, adding that televising the parade also ensures that
enjoyment for those who watch from home.
Built to Last
In 2007, the BAA launched the Sesquicentennial Campaign to increase the
association’s permanent endowment and membership levels with the goal
of achieving an unprecedented level of resources—enough to assure the
association complete financial self-sufficiency for the years ahead.
Named in recognition of the BAA’s 150th anniversary in 2009, the
campaign will achieve the alumni association’s long-term security into
the twenty-first century through the endowment of its central programs
and services.
“The Sesquicentennial Campaign is an important and necessary step in
the maturity of the Baylor Alumni Association,” said Collin Cox ’97, a
member of the BAA’s Board of Directors. “The annual income provided by
an expanded endowment will enable the association to reach both ‘wider’
into new communities and ‘deeper’ with expanded services for all
graduates. These measures will only be possible with the financial
security that can make the association a stronger partner in the Baylor
community.”
During the last two years, the Sesquicentennial Campaign has achieved
success in reaching the endowment goals of a number of its award
programs. It’s no surprise that the opportunity to permanently
underwrite the costs of the BAA’s various awards would appeal to alumni
and friends, with such awards being a wonderful celebration of Baylor’s
success in producing graduates who make a difference in the world.
With nominations from alumni and selections by committees of alumni
volunteers, the association’s awards have developed a reputation of
prestige that is second to none. And now, with the support of endowment
funds, these awards will be sure to “march forever down the years.”
Among the awards that have been endowed are two that were renamed in
honor of former Baylor president Dr. Herbert H. Reynolds, who was one
of the three chairs of the Sesquicentennial Campaign, along with Babs
Baugh and former U.S. Ambassador to Sweden Lyndon Olson Jr.
Following Reynolds’s death in 2007, the Reynolds family designated the
BAA as a beneficiary of gifts in his honor. In the following months,
more than three hundred people made donations ranging in size from $10
to two gifts of $50,000 each. Those two larger gifts resulted in the
full endowment of two of the alumni association’s awards programs.
The gift that endowed the Herbert H. Reynolds Outstanding Young Alumni
Award was made by the Christ Is Our Salvation foundation, established
by Paul and Mary “Katy” Piper. Former Baylor business professor Dr.
Nancy Bowman Upton ’82, MBA ’83, PhD ’92, provided the other gift, to
endow the Herbert H. Reynolds Retired Faculty and Administrators Award.
In addition, to honor Reynolds’s legacy of leadership, the association
renamed its overall Sesquicentennial Campaign endowment fund the
“Herbert H. Reynolds - BAA Sesquicentennial Endowment Fund.”
“It’s not possible to fully state the impact of Dr. Reynolds’s
leadership on Baylor University or his contribution to our
association,” said Kilgore, the BAA’s executive vice president. “A
steadfast champion of religious and academic freedom and a bold leader,
he had a deep faith and unshakable integrity. He exemplified servant
leadership and will continue to serve as an example to us all.”
Among the awards remaining to be endowed is the Distinguished Alumni
Award—the top award bestowed upon Baylor alumni—which has an endowment
goal of $500,000. Presented every January at the Distinguished Alumni
Banquet, the Distinguished Alumni Award honors Baylor graduates who
have achieved prominence in and contributed remarkable service to their
professions and vocations. First given in 1965, the award has been
bestowed upon such figures as former Texas governors Mark White and Ann
Richards, scientist John Paul Stapp, author Robert Fulghum, football
legend Mike Singletary, and business leaders Marjorie Scardino and
Drayton McLane.
The First Families of Baylor Award, which has an endowment goal of
$50,000, is an annual honor recognizing families whose names are
inextricably linked to Baylor University—families that have sent
several generations of students to Baylor and whose members often have
been university leaders. Created in 1980, the award is presented each
year at After Dark during Parents Weekend and has honored such clans as
the Abner V. McCall family, the J. M. Dawson family, and the Samuel
Palmer Brooks family.
The final award still remaining to be endowed is the Abner V. McCall
Humanitarian Award, which has an endowment goal of $25,000. Created in
1998, the award recognizes alumni who have exhibited a Christian
response to situations and people around them in ways exemplified by
the life of former Baylor president Judge Abner V. McCall.
A host of key BAA programs and services also awaits the generous
support of the Baylor family. By the fifth year of the United for
Baylor plan, the BAA anticipates having raised:
- $7.2 million to endow the Baylor Line magazine
- $800,000 to endow Homecoming activities
- $800,000 to endow Alumni Clubs and Regional Networks
- $750,000 to endow Heritage Club
- $360,000 to endow the Legacy program
- $50,000 to endow Fling.
Jack K. Dillard ’72, JD ’73, believes it’s important for other
alumni and friends to step forward and provide funding for these
programs and the rest of the BAA’s awards, and he has done his best to
lead by example. It was while serving as president of the alumni
association in 1989 that Dillard began the process to create two of the
BAA’s signature annual awards, the Price Daniel Distinguished Public
Service Award and the George W. Truett Distinguished Church Service
Award. And last year, as part of the Sesquicentennial Campaign, he made
gifts to fully endow both of those awards.
“I believe the Baylor Alumni Association is vital to Baylor,” Dillard
said. “For alumni who are interested in protecting the value of their
degrees and strengthening Baylor, a gift to the Sesquicentennial
Campaign is an important step to take.”
Growing Support
While pursuing its endowment goals, the BAA will ensure the ongoing
quality of its signature programs—as well as increase the involvement
and engagement of the Baylor family in them. It’s a model of growth
based on the successful acquisition of new funding, keeping intact the
BAA’s commitment to an annual balanced budget.
“We will continue to provide the kind of high-quality events for
alumni, students, and friends of Baylor that people have come to expect
from the BAA,” said Lacy, the BAA’s 2009 president. “We also plan to
attract and serve more members of the Baylor family by strategically
expanding the reach of our programs, and that will allow more folks to
understand the significance and unifying functions of the alumni
association.”
The word “family” often pops up in conversations about the Baylor
community. And for good reason—Baylor people are a close-knit bunch who
welcome newcomers, seek out opportunities for fellowship, and take care
of each other. The BAA fosters such connections through a variety of
programs. One of the most popular is the Heritage Club, established in
1977, which honors those who attended Baylor fifty years ago or more.
All alumni are eligible, even if they didn’t complete their Baylor
degree.
 Members
are honored on campus each spring with a Heritage Club celebration that
typically attracts more than five hundred participants (pictured at
left). Much like a Homecoming designed especially for older alumni, the
spring gathering includes interesting programs, campus tours, and
plenty of opportunities for good, old-fashioned visiting. The highlight
of the three-day event is a banquet and the presentation of “Golden
Anniversary” diplomas or certificates to the fifty-year class and
“Diamond Anniversary” diplomas or certificates to members of the
seventy-five year class.
In addition, the Heritage Club has a special reunion during Homecoming
in the fall, and regional Heritage Clubs are supported by the alumni
association in some areas of Texas.
Bill ’53 and Shirley Oliver Brubaker ’52 have attended several Heritage
Club spring reunions in recent years and have made a gift to the
program’s endowment. “We see more of our friends there than at
Homecoming,” Bill said. “It’s smaller and more tailored to the
interests of older alumni. We have found Heritage Club to be a great
place to reunite with old friends and to get to know new people while
also seeing what’s new on the campus.”
Of course, the biggest event for the Baylor family each year is
Homecoming, and the BAA is front and center in welcoming alumni back
home to the Baylor campus. As a Homecoming sponsor, the alumni
association hosts reunion dinners and offers first-pick Pigskin seats
to association members.
Reunions begin the Friday of Homecoming with special dinners for the
twenty-five-year and fifty-year classes, and they don’t stop until
Sunday morning, when the Homecoming Worship Service concludes the
weekend’s activities.
 Homecoming
reunion picnics and class meetings for each five-year class (pictured
at right), sponsored by the alumni association, are held on Saturday
after the parade and before the game in tents at Floyd Casey Stadium’s
Touchdown Alley. In 2008, more than one thousand alumni and friends
took part in the picnic. There is plenty of good food, and each reunion
class is assigned a separate tent.
Baylor alumni are well known for their inclination to gather for
fellowship, to share memories about their alma mater, and to develop
ideas for supporting Baylor through gifts and service in their
communities. The first known Baylor Club meeting occurred at the turn
of the century in Lancaster. That same year, in 1900, a club meeting
was held in Temple. By 1986, the Baylor Alumni Association supported
more than fifty-five active Baylor Clubs in cities across the state, as
well as thirty-six in other states and seven abroad.
Today the Baylor Alumni Association supports the activities of alumni
chapters and networks in several Texas cities and regions, such as the
East Texas Baylor Club, and special-interest groups, such as the
Central Texas Baylor Women’s Club and the Baylor Black Alumni Club. As
part of the five-year plan, the BAA is aiming to widen the scope of its
work in this area with the use of online social networking tools,
thereby drawing alumni together for meaningful activities and
fellowship and energizing them to serve as ambassadors for Baylor in
their local communities.
 Some
alumni events are “family-wide.” Others have a narrower focus. One such
program is Fling, a special two-day gathering of female graduates that
occurs every other spring (pictured at left). Billed as a “Baylor event
for women,” Fling reconnects Baylor alumnae to each other and to the
university. In 2008, the event marked its twenty-fifth anniversary.
Over the course of two relaxing days, Fling provides plenty of
opportunities for fond reminiscing and catching up on the life of
Baylor, with on-campus events including seminar presentations, guided
tours, and piano recitals enjoyed while sipping Dr Pepper floats.
Perhaps one of the BAA’s most successful programs, in terms of widening
the circle of the Baylor family, has been Alumni by Choice. This
program provides a unique opportunity for alumni to honor their friends
and family members who love and support Baylor even though they didn’t
attend the university—designating them as an alumnus or alumna “by
choice.” Nominees are honored at a fall event, where the BAA and
Baylor’s president present them with official “Alumni by Choice”
diplomas as family members and friends look on.
Begun by the alumni association in 1986, the Alumni by Choice program
has now welcomed thousands of longtime, green-and-gold-wearing Bears
fans into the Baylor family. The first ABC recipient was Merrie
Beckham, and she continues to be the ceremony’s featured speaker more
than twenty years after her first performance.
In appreciation for what the Alumni by Choice program has meant to
them, and in recognition of its ongoing value to the Baylor family,
Merrie and her husband, Sparkey Beckham ’49, have made a gift of
$10,000 toward the program’s endowment as part of the BAA’s
Sesquicentennial Campaign. Beckham said he hopes that his and Merrie’s
gift will prompt others to join them in underwriting the Alumni by
Choice program. “I particularly hope that past recipients will continue
to show their excitement about Baylor by contributing to this program’s
endowment,” Beckham said.
Along with creating opportunities for fun and fellowship, the alumni
association has a deep commitment to the traditions that have made
Baylor a special place. In 1997, the BAA created the Legacy program to
support the tradition of multi-generational Baylor families by
assisting Baylor’s efforts to recruit the children of alumni. Built
around special birthday gifts for boys and girls, the Legacy program is
designed to encourage the children of alumni to think of Baylor as
their school—not just Mom’s or Dad’s. Having served thousands of
legacies over the last decade, the program is being enhanced as part of
the United for Baylor five-year plan.
In 1996, the alumni association helped launch the official Class Ring
program, which was a new Baylor tradition at the time. Students who
purchase the official ring can participate in a ring ceremony with
Baylor’s president, during which the symbols on the ring are explained.
Each ring provides a tangible reminder of the impact Baylor makes on
every student’s life. More than six thousand alumni have purchased the
official Class Ring since its introduction.
Trusted Communicators
In October 1946, Baylor alumni received the first issue of the Baylor Line, published by the alumni association. Since that time, the Line
has achieved a remarkable record of success in supporting Baylor
University by strengthening the bonds between alumni and their alma
mater.
Through the Line, the BAA
has endeavored to keep alumni connected to Baylor through a magazine
they find relevant to their interests, respectful of their
intelligence, and reliable as a source of information about their alma
mater. And the BAA’s leaders are taking steps to make sure this
service—now provided through both print and online
communications—continues as strongly in the future. Indeed, one of the
goals of the United for Baylor five-year plan is to maintain the BAA’s
role and prominence as an independent voice for Baylor alumni and an
independent source of information about Baylor and the Baylor family,
thereby serving Baylor and its alumni with integrity, candor, and
credibility.
The Baylor Line has
experienced its share of change over the years. The slim,
black-and-white issue that marked the magazine’s beginning has evolved
into a many-paged, four-color glossy that packs a ton of class notes
and Baylor news between its covers. But over the decades, the Line’s
mission has remained the same: to enable alumni to maintain their
emotional, intellectual, and social bonds with the university and with
each other.
“Just as a university primarily exists for the sake of its students, an
effective magazine primarily exists for the sake of its readers. And
just as a university strives to be student-driven and student-oriented,
a magazine strives to be reader-driven and reader-oriented,” said Todd
Copeland, director of communications for the BAA and editor of the Line.
“That’s how a university creates a much-loved campus environment, and
that is how an alumni magazine builds a much-valued community within
its pages.”
Long considered a flagship program of the BAA, the Line
is empowered by its editorial independence to provide balanced coverage
of the entire Baylor story—from accomplishments to controversies, from
campus life to class notes, and from alumni profiles to school history.
“All alumni should be proud of their alma mater and speak highly about
their school at every available opportunity. However, loyalty to Baylor
should include constructive criticisms about the university—its
direction, leadership, and development—for it to continue to be one of
the top-tier schools in America,” said Marie Brown ’92, a member of the
BAA’s Alumni Council and president of the Baylor Black Alumni Club.
“There should be a check-and-balance system for growth and development
of the university, and the group that best serves in this capacity is
the alumni because of their previous and ongoing financial and
educational investment in the university.”
Entertaining and informative feature stories about professors, students, alumni, and important events have earned the Line
a permanent spot on alumni coffee tables. Whether it’s the truth about
Willie Nelson’s days as a Baylor student or a behind-the-scenes account
of the building of a Homecoming float, the Line offers its readers stories that bring the world of Baylor to life.
And the Line’s signature
“Down the Years” class notes section, keeping alumni in touch with one
another for more than sixty years, has earned the Line
its highest honor—a permanent place in the hearts of Baylor alumni. The
magazine also has an online presence, with “Web Exclusives” regularly
added between issues, on the magazine’s website.
In July 2001, the association launched the first general-interest online newsletter for Baylor alumni. Aptly named Between the Lines,
the monthly newsletter quickly demonstrated its value, bringing alumni
timely news of fellow grads affected by 9/11 and chronicling the saga
of Heather Mercer ’99 and Dayna Curry Masterson ’93 as they were held
as prisoners by the Taliban in Afghanistan and eventually rescued by
American troops.
Eight years later, Between the Lines
arrives in the e-mail boxes of more than seventy thousand alumni each
month, providing original campus news stories, Q&A features with
interesting personalities, and updates about alumni happenings
nationwide.
More recently, in 2007 the association added Baylor Line News
to its online communications program, enabling more frequent
communication between the BAA and the alumni association’s membership.
During the last two years, Baylor Line News
has helped the Baylor community stay up to date with all the latest
happenings at Baylor and the alumni association through timely,
quick-read stories.
The two publications are part of an integrated online communications program that’s centered around the association’s website, BaylorAlumniAssociation.com,
where alumni can find a wealth of information about the BAA, make a
membership or endowment gift, and participate in interactive discussion
boards.
“We believe that a fully informed alumni body is a loyal, supportive
alumni body—even when keeping alumni fully informed requires the
communication of Baylor’s challenges and alumni concerns over the
university’s direction and governance,” said the BAA’s Kilgore.
“Covering such topics in alumni publications reflects the university’s
history as an institution dedicated to truth, diversity, inquiry,
honesty, and accountability, and it provides more credibility to the
stories of celebration and Baylor pride that occupy the bulk of our
magazine’s pages and our online publications’ stories. Telling the
Baylor story is something we take seriously, and it is something we
will strive to do better and better as we pursue all of the exciting
goals of the BAA’s five-year plan.”
|
|
|
|
|
.jpg)
