A Shot of Confidence

At Morehouse, where the 1,500-member alumni association and school administration appear in-synch more often than not, the association is responding fast to the issue of relevance as fewer and fewer people such as the Class of ’49 populate its ranks.

“It’s not an unusual kind of circumstance,” says alumni association executive director Collie Burnett, referring to the low level of interest in alumni association activity among recent grads. “It took me a good 10 years” to get interested, says the 1972 Morehouse graduate.

Still, Burnett admits, the association must do more than pull together class reunions and promote the school with recruitment efforts and scholarships if it is to remain relevant.

It hopes to do so, he says, with an increased focus on serving the real time needs of alumni. It swung into action late last year providing badly needed financial aid to several hundred students short on cash to complete this past school year. The need is great, too, for many graduates.

“We have alumni who are out of work and out of touch,” says Burnett, a reference to the loss of thousands of jobs by college-educated adults hit hard by the nation’s current economy free fall.

The alumni association is developing several programs to provide services to these men, Burnett says. Among the ideas being explored are an online jobs banks that can be accessed by Morehouse alums only and a series of online continuing education classes that would be taught by Morehouse faculty.

“When you look at what men really need in the 21st century, it’s a shot of confidence,” says Burnett. “By supporting their needs they feel better about giving to the school.”