Alumni Council restructures

In September, the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association restructured its Alumni Council to better address the evolving needs of graduates.

Jason Heiserman, PhD, interim assistant vice president for alumni engagement and executive director of the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association, says the restructuring process began in the summer of 2022.

"We took a strategic look at our alumni council to determine if it was the right size and structure," Heiserman says. "By focusing on 16 different peer institutions, including Duke, Harvard, Penn, and Vanderbilt, we learned how they involve former students and the kinds of committees they have as part of their alumni councils."

Based on the findings, Heiserman says a decision was made to reduce the size of the JH Alumni Council from 64 members to approximately 40. To ensure the council was on board with the changes, focus groups were conducted to gather feedback and input.

"Ultimately, the JH Alumni Council helped to rewrite the bylaws and change the committee structure," he says.

Rather than having five standing committees, the JH Alumni Council decided to have two committees, one focusing on membership engagement, the other on awards and grants.

"There are also three working groups: The first will be coordinating the university's 150th anniversary celebration, the second is focused on integrating the Alumni Life Design Experience into alumni engagement, and the third is tasked with graduate student engagement," Heiserman says. "The focus of the working groups will change from year to year."

Heiserman noted that in past exit interviews, members of the JH Alumni Council often expressed a desire to have contributed more during their tenure.

"We believe that fine-tuning the committees and working groups, and reducing the size of the council, allows for every member to contribute value," Heiserman says.

The JH Alumni Council recently held its inaugural meeting, and Heiserman says the group is off to a good start, with discussions focused on topics such as ways to engage alumni from graduate programs.

"There's always been a misconception that undergraduate alumni are the focus of the alumni council, yet graduate alumni make up more than two-thirds of our population," he says. "So, to have a working group dedicated to improving engagement among graduate students and alumni definitely seemed to excite the alumni council."

For the second working group, focused on integrating the Alumni Life Design Experience into alumni engagement, Heiserman sees it considering how to support alumni who are pivoting their careers and how other graduates can support them in their transition.