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An Update from the Cornell Association of Class Officers

The Cornell Association of Class Officers (CACO) represents more than 1,700 alumni volunteers spanning some seventy classes. We’ve asked president Rob Rosenberg ’88 to provide an update on the organization. This fall finds CACO busy with initiatives in each of our five strategic focus areas. Communications—The CACO website has been redesigned and updated to ensure […]

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The Cornell Association of Class Officers (CACO) represents more than 1,700 alumni volunteers spanning some seventy classes. We’ve asked president Rob Rosenberg ’88 to provide an update on the organization.

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This fall finds CACO busy with initiatives in each of our five strategic focus areas.

Communications—The CACO website has been redesigned and updated to ensure that class officers can readily find reference materials such as training webinars, resource manuals, and tip sheets. Board members recently spoke with class presidents to gather information on class officer efforts; mentor calls to help CACO shape initiatives will take place later this year. In light of Cornell’s upcoming sesquicentennial celebration, the “Preserving the Past” project—a collection of audio and video interviews of alumni from the classes of 1922 to 1950—has been digitized. More than 150 interviews will be edited so they can be shared with the Cornell community.

Diversity and Inclusion—Upcoming initiatives include sponsoring more student leaders from multicultural student groups at the Cornell Alumni Leadership Conference (CALC), sponsoring a multicultural leadership reception during Homecoming, and holding a program on leadership training for student organizations. Tools and resources to connect with alumni, processes for nominations and succession planning, and other initiatives to increase the effectiveness of these already successful organizations will be reviewed.

Leadership—We continue to implement our class officer leadership development curriculum through training delivered via webinars and sessions at CALC. Sessions cover a broad range of topics including class budgets, membership, planning effective events, nominations and succession planning, Reunion, young alumni best practices, and training for new officers. We will also continue to recognize outstanding class leadership through the Bill Vanneman ’31 Award and some new initiatives.

Rob Rosenberg

Membership—Our biggest effort in this area includes the launch of the Cornell Big Red Marketplace as part of the Class Dues Payer Rewards Program, which offers Ithaca-based discounts as well as those from national retailers, including a significant discount on insurance through a partnership with Liberty Mutual. CACO also recently implemented a new version of the Ezra Plan for class membership solicitations, saving money for class treasuries while streamlining the dues solicitation process.

Students and Young Alumni—Current efforts focus on developing a new program with undergraduate affinity organizations to train student groups to interact with their alumni and better integrate with the Office of Alumni Affairs, as well as sponsoring CALC attendance for representatives of the Senior Class Campaign, Class Councils, multicultural student groups, and more.

CACO thanks all class officers for making these programs so successful and applauds their continued volunteer efforts on behalf of their classes and Cornell.

 

MD Alumna Accompanies Undergrads to Honduras

Kelly Westbrooks Joyce

Kelly Westbrooks Joyce ’91 has always been an engaged alumna, but last spring she got to see how passionate and hard-working current Cornell students are. In May, Joyce was one of two alumni doctors—the other was Janice Pegels ’82—who gave up time from their busy schedules to accompany a group of more than thirty premed students on a medical aid trip to Honduras. The mission was overseen by Global Brigades, which bills itself as the world’s largest studentled global health and sustainable development organization. Students had raised money to cover the doctors’ room and board, as well as the cost of medicines and supplies.

mission group

The first couple of days were spent teaching the students the basics of medical care, from taking blood pressure to prepping medications, as well as how to take a medical history and create the proper documentation. Then they traveled to some of the country’s more remote, impoverished areas. “These students were able to get real-life experience,” Joyce says, “something many don’t get until medical school.” For Joyce, the trip not only offered the chance to engage with Cornell students but also to take a step back from her suburban Cleveland pediatric practice. “When you have a practice, you’re spending a lot of time in the business side of being a doctor,” she says. “This took me out of my comfort zone. It was a wonderful trip.”

 

Alumni Association to Present First ‘CAA Cup’

In an effort to recognize the hard work and creativity of Cornell alumni volunteer organizations, the Cornell Alumni Association has created a new award, the CAA Cup. “The goal of this award is to honor alumni groups and leaders for specific programs they have created in the name of Cornell,” says CAA president Stephanie Keene Fox ’89. “Even more important, the group receiving the award will be determined by volunteer leaders.”

All Cornell alumni leaders were sent information over the summer encouraging them to submit an entry form, along with a posted YouTube video that highlights their organization’s success, by the November 1 deadline. This month, a committee of CAA board members will determine the top entries. When volunteer leaders register for January’s Cornell Alumni Leadership Conference (CALC), they will be asked to review the finalists and vote for a winner. Says Fox: “This award will not only recognize one group, but showcase the time and commitment Cornell volunteers give to their alma mater.”

 

Alumni Send Off the Class of 2016

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Each summer, Cornell’s regional clubs and the Cornell Alumni Admissions Ambassador Network host parties for first-year Cornell students and their parents. This year saw an increase in the number of send-offs in Asia, with the Cornell Clubs of Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, and Taiwan all hosting successful events.

 

Class of ’16 Alumni Recruitment: The Numbers

Each year, alumni around the world volunteer to meet with applicants, work at college fairs, and host summer send-offs through the Cornell Alumni Admissions Ambassador Network (CAAAN). With a record number of applicants for the Class of 2016, Cornell alumni volunteers rose to the challenge.

Number of CAAAN volunteers:
Some 9,500 alumni from fifty states and fifty countries

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Number of CAAAN Committee Chairs: 350

Total Applicant Count:
37,771 (up 4 percent from the previous year)

Applicants assignable to active CAAAN committees:
31,477 (CAAAN volunteers do not meet with Hotel or Architecture, Art, and Planning applicants)

Number of alumni assignments made: 24,472 Number of reports submitted by alumni after meeting with individual applicants: 19,645 (a record)

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