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| Path: Main Street : Resources & Library : Research Articles : Feature Article |
Techno-trends create new opportunities to cultivate alumniJuly 11, 1995; Canadian FundRaiser
John Kobara, Associate Vice Chancellor, Alumni Relations, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, told the CCAE delegates that global techno-trends are moving very swiftly. As Daniel Burrus said "If it works, then it's obsolete." Industries are merging and blurring faster than ever. The speed of change and innovation is increasing. In 1994, Americans bought 50 million PCs.
Commenting that direct mail and telemarketing have peaked and are beginning to decline, Kobara pointed out that the Carleton University (US) Admissions Home Page was accessed by 10,150 users from 39 countries last year. Applications for university admission are now being received by the thousands - on diskette. Athabaska University has an on-line MBA program. At the University of Delaware, freshmen must pass Electronic Citizenship Examinations. Yale has developed a style manual for the Web. Wake Forest University is one of 27 US universities that make it mandatory for students to have a computer. Twelve major alumni associations have signed with Compuserve.
A new kind of reunion
Phoenix University, growing at over 25% per year, will this year become the fourth largest US university, with its 26,000 on-line degree students being the fastest growing segment. The only university listed on a stock exchange, Phoenix stock has already split once. Lehigh University conducted a virtual reunion last year, with people from twelve countries participating. (Reunions have been abandoned by 32 universities as being too inconvenient to organize.) The Home Education Network in California has acquired electronic rights to UCLA's 4900 education courses. They expect millions of students in the next five years.So who controls your image on the Internet? asked Kobara. The privacy problem will be solved (likely by Microsoft) within the next year. The time has come to decide how you are going to cultivate the spirit of community and generosity for your university on the Internet. Alumni magazines are a declining mode of communications, and newsletters are much more effective, but even they will have to go electronic. The head of publications on your campus should be thinking electronically - now.
Start collecting email addresses
"Are you collecting email addresses as part of your biographic data?" asked Kobara. His answer: "You should be." Between seven and ten percent of Americans now have on-line services at home; many more are on-line at work; and the numbers are growing very rapidly. The Internet will make cultivation much easier. Future alumni and donors will have an enhanced affinity for receiving information in this way. "Technology," Kobara stressed, "is not a panacea. It is merely a tool that is challenging us all to be more creative, to connect people with each other and their institutions." But don't just leap in. While many institutions have a home page, they have yet to think effectively about the medium. Wired magazine, Kobara pointed out, "changes its home page every day. It's not just getting on the Web first. More important questions are: Who is accessing your Web site? What are they looking for? And how are they using the information you are providing?"
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