George Washington University officials announced this week that the university will launch a new alumni association housed under the GW Office of Alumni Relations.
“Alumni engagement is one of the university's highest priorities,” said Matthew Manfra, senior associate vice president for alumni relations and annual giving. “As of Oct. 1, the university Office of Alumni Relations will establish a new, fully-integrated volunteer-led alumni association. This association will work to advance GW by building a strong community of alumni, both current and future, through programs, services and communications and by providing alumni with positive, lifelong, and meaningful engagement and volunteer opportunities wherever they may live and work.”
For more than two years, the university engaged in talks with the GW Alumni Association, a non-profit organization that operated separately from the university, to merge their efforts into the university.
“We decided it was important to independently move forward with a new alumni association to deliver the best possible alumni experience to the GW community,” Mr. Manfra said.
The GW Board of Trustees Volunteer Engagement Task Force will be responsible for the creation of the structure for the new alumni association.
An email sent from Mr. Manfra and Roslyn Brock, chair of the Board of Trustees Volunteer Engagement Task Force, announced the new association to GW alumni.
“As we embark on the creation of this new model, we are grateful for the thousands of volunteers who currently support GW through more than 100 alumni networks,” the email read. “This model will lead to a stronger connection with you, our best ambassadors. We welcome your comments, questions and ideas as we work to serve you better and continue to make you proud.”
GW has more than 290,000 alumni worldwide.