New chapter coordinator promotes purple pride

When Tracey Kellogg joined the alumni office as coordinator of alumni chapters last November, she had only two months to prepare the university's annual February leadership conference for chapter volunteers. "That was definitely a motivational experience," she laughs, "but since my job is to recruit and motivate volunteers to lead chapter programs for JMU alumni, I think I was up to it."

"Up to it" means promoting purple pride among JMU's 25 alumni chapters and 17 clubs across the country. While dashing from chapter to chapter, she empowers chapter volunteers to offer a "JMU away from home" to the alumni living in their regions.

Currently, she is concentrating on the 14 JMU chapters she has identified as the most active. "The alumni relations team wants to help our active chapters to diversify and expand their programs even more," she explains. "We've designated four categories that we want each chapter to focus on with different programs."

The program categories include career and life-planning events, like networking luncheons and recruitment fairs, and "JMU connection" events, like tailgates, happy hours and sports-related programs. Another category is resource development, which includes recruiting new volunteers and raising funds to sponsor chapter scholarships.

"Finally," Kellogg says, "we want chapter leaders to focus on connecting to the greater community via service projects on behalf of JMU. This is an area where alumni can offer different individual talents, resources and interests."

For example, JMU alumni have a long-standing relationship with the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life, which benefits cancer research. And for the first time last year, 10 alumni traveled to Dominica to participate in community service projects and clean up efforts. That project, coordinated by Rich Harris ('77), director of JMU's Center for Service-Learning, was named program of the year by the National Alternative Spring Break Service Program.

"A simple brain-storming session or idea can lead to a wildly successful event," Kellogg says. "Mark Chernisky, a 1992 alumnus who works in marketing and international project development, shared his idea for a JMU job fair. He got together with Metro Washington chapter leader Josh Pringle ('95), and they helped coordinate one of our best programs to date."

The Metro Washington chapter in Northern Virginia won Chapter of the Year and Program of the Year for Chernisky's job fair last January. The chapter brought local businesses and prospective employers to a recruitment fair, in which more than 250 alumni, students and parents participated. The student, alumni and parents' resumes were collected prior to the event by the alumni relations staff, who burned the resumes onto a CD and provided one to each company recruiter at the fair.

"This was a perfect example of the kind of event that we want to help our chapters sponsor," says Kellogg, praising the efforts of Pringle, Chernisky and the entire chapter. "This event combined alumni, parents and students home on holiday break with alumni business owners and other employers in the greater community. Everyone came together because of JMU, and at the same time, the JMU chapter provided a real community service."

Individual graduates can also make a difference in the greater JMU community according to Kellogg. Volunteer opportunities are available through the Alumni Admissions Recruitment Network, where alumni help with student recruitment fairs and make phone calls to accepted student applicants.

Kellogg returns to JMU after serving as director of alumni relations for the Kent School, an independent boarding school in Connecticut. Previously, while completing her master's degree in college student personnel administration, she was the graduate assistant in the JMU Office of Alumni Relations.

"It is great to have the opportunity to come back to a place that I love and work with a team that I learned so much from," she says.

For information on how to become involved in a JMU alumni chapter, contact Tracey Kellogg in the alumni relations office, (800) JMU-ALUM or visit the Web page <www.jmu.edu/alumni/chapters/>.

By Michelle Hite ('88)