National prominence:
Alumni can play part in accomplishing university goals 
Ohio Today: We talk a lot now about the goal of becoming more nationally prominent, and I am wondering what role you think alumni can play in garnering attention for Ohio University?
GLIDDEN: Well, the way to become nationally prominent is to be really good. I mean, that's my view. Certainly, we have a great advantage with our College of Communication and those grads, and Matt Lauer is a prime example, of course. But we have others as well, who have an affinity for the university and make that known. So, the recognition of the university -- just to mention it in the right context -- is always very helpful, and alumni are very important in that.
ALDEN: I think, for example, prominent people who speak on the campus bring out favorable publicity for the university. Also, people who are recipients of honorary degrees also bring attention to the university. So alumni can make recommendations of people who ought to appear on campus or people who ought to be honored with honorary degrees because that is part of the publicity network of the university.
PING: It goes well beyond the United States, too. I was just thinking that the largest alumni dinner I ever attended was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
GLIDDEN: Yes, that's right.
PING: That was a huge dinner, and I remember an alumni dinner in Nairobi, Kenya; there were 80 people who showed up. And you can go on and multiply this many times over (around the world). The alumni in Malaysia were directly responsible for the endowment -- for opening doors to the government that led to the endowment -- of the The Tun Abdul Razak Chair (in the Center for International Studies, which brings Malaysian scholars to the university) and to library linkages (between Ohio University and collections in southeast Asia).
GLIDDEN: I think I would agree, Charlie. The largest alumni dinner I ever attended was in Kuala Lumpur. I mean, there were hundreds there. Because first of all the population (of the country) is a little bit concentrated right there, but also, we have a lot of alums in Malaysia.
Ohio Today: It is estimated 13.3 percent of alums give money to the university annually, and the university goal is to reach 15 percent within the next five years and ultimately 20 percent. What do alumni contributions mean to the university's future?
ALDEN: Well, I thought it was very important when I came here because I came from a private institution. I had been an undergraduate at a private institution and a graduate student at a private institution, so I thought that Ohio University ought to really get more involved in private fundraising. President Emeritus John Baker set up the Ohio University Fund (to collect private donations on behalf of the university), but not an awful lot was done with the alumni annual fund. (Before) I came here, I had been at the Harvard Business School, and I had been involved with trying to raise money, so one of the things I did was set up categories of givers: If you gave $1,000 you're in this category and $900 in the other category. Also, for the first time, we published the names of the givers. So, in one year we tripled the amount of money that came in simply because we published names, and we also had categories. Somebody would say, "Look, how come my roommate is down here and I am up here?" and so on and so forth. I think it is very important that we give prominence to people who really support the university.
 PING: I think that the creation of things such as recognition levels have really been important, but the answer to your question is a very simple one. We have now had four major (fundraising) campaigns. A very modest Sesquicentennial Campaign was largely alumni based. The 1804 Campaign in the late '70s was very successful, and it was the first really major campaign.
ALDEN: You raised 40 percent over the goal, didn't you?
PING: That's right.
ALDEN: I think Ohio Today plays a very important role.
GLIDDEN: No question.
ALDEN: That magazine is very, very important because you tell stories about what is going on now, and that really gets the alumni all worked up.
GLIDDEN: There are a couple of things about the (giving) percentage that we compare with other institutions. And we should be around 20 percent. For a public institution that would be good. We are not really low among public institutions, but I think we are low considering the real loyalty and affinity that our alums have for the university. And it's partly because we have not done much over the years to help our students, while they're students, understand that it is important to give back. I hope we are going to do that a little bit better in the future. I really think it should be at least five points higher, considering the affinity of our alums. And part of that is figuring out ways to get alumni engaged. If you give, it feels good, and you are more part of the organization you give to. And so, in a sense, the giving is not just a symbol of their affinity; it increases, it enhances their affinity. We have to make people feel good about being part of the university, and you know, if you give a little money every year, you feel like you own a piece of the rock, so to speak.
PING: It's that ownership, as well as feeling good.
GLIDDEN: That's right.
Continue to Section 4: Advice to alumni
Return to the introduction
Posted 09-12-06 |
