University to invite all grad alums to campus conference in fall ’13

Princeton is moving ahead with several initiatives to strengthen ties with graduate alumni, highlighted by plans to invite all grad alums to the centennial celebration of the Graduate College in the fall of 2013.

The conference would be modeled after the She Roars conference, a weekend event that drew about 1,400 alumnae back to campus last spring, according to Margaret Miller ’80, assistant vice president for alumni affairs. Miller said many details are yet to be determined, including the dates, but said the University is hoping for a large turnout. Other initiatives include:

• The geosciences department will hold a graduate-alumni conference April 30 to May 4 that includes a full day of faculty panels on campus and a three-day field trip to south-central Pennsylvania. The graduate school hopes three departmental reunions will be held in 2012–13, building toward a goal of six each year.

• The University is adding a third staff position to its graduate alumni-relations team. Two staff members, including the lead position, will be based at the Alumni Association, and the third will be at the graduate school. 

• Among the goals for the increased staffing, Miller said, are expanding the contacts between grad alums and their departments, scheduling more regional events and activities, expanding contacts with international graduate alumni, and offering more events targeted to graduate alumni at Reunions and Alumni Day.

• The Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni also is in transition, moving toward an advisory role that offers “strategic advice to the graduate school and the Alumni Association,” according to Rose Li *92, APGA president. “We are very grateful for what the University has been doing,” Li said, “but we do keep pushing because there is more to do.”

The APGA is seeking to raise $100,000 by June 30 for the APGA Fund for Graduate Students, which supports travel for presentations at professional meetings and for field research. Funds will be matched on a two-for-one basis by Ann Harrison *91 and her husband, Vicente Madrigal *89; as of mid-March, Li said, the group was about halfway toward meeting its goal.