Alumni Relations Liaison Bridges Gap Between Students, Alums.

If you haven’t already met Grace Jimenez, now is a good time to connect with her. The first-year Master of Public Health student and vice president of the Student Senate is the 2019 alumni relations liaison for the School of Public Health’s Development and Alumni Relations (DAR).

DAR created the liaison position last year to foster greater opportunities for engagement between the student body and the school’s global alumni network. This role builds upon the department’s mission to establish lifelong learning opportunities for SPH alumni, as well as opportunities for career development, engagement with faculty and staff, and continued involvement in SPH events and updates.

Jimenez is utilizing her insight into students’ wishes and career goals to help facilitate networking opportunities with alumni.

“Alumni relations has this connotation that it’s just something you engage with as alumni, as opposed to something you can get involved with as you’re getting your degree,” Jimenez says. “This role helps bridge that gap, and I’m excited and confident that it is something I can fulfill.”

Citing that networking is often an “untapped resource” for students, Jimenez says she is focusing on developing both professional and social activities to maximize ways students can interact with and benefit from graduates of SPH. She attends Alumni Leadership Council meetings to meet with alums, stay informed of post-graduate news and updates, and relay how students would like to connect.

“Since this is a prestigious graduate program, a large portion of the student body is looking for a certain level of professional engagement, such as having alumni attend poster presentations, or interacting with alums during professional development events,” Jimenez says. “But being graduate students, we’re also very busy and stressed a lot of the time, so the student body is also seeking ways they can engage with alumni and the community in a more social aspect.”

Some of those opportunities this year include the annual SPH Talent Show, which features student poetry, storytelling, music, and more; the regional Think. Teach. Do. Alumni Receptions; and the annual BU Giving Day, a one-day, university-wide online fundraising drive, which features a variety of causes, including the SPH scholarship fund.

“From day one, SPH students become part of a lifelong community and global network,” says Jacoba van Heugten, assistant dean of development. “With more than 10,000 SPH alumni and 300,000 BU alumni, we want to make sure that students are continually engaged with that network, before and after their time at the school.”

Jimenez meets regularly with Dean Sandro Galea as well as associate deans, faculty members, and department heads to relay students’ thoughts on a wide range of topics. In addition to alumni engagement ideas, these topics often include feedback on the MPH core curriculum, improving the diversity of faculty and staff, and even minor issues, such as making sure the bathrooms are clean. Students are welcome to submit anonymous comments at any time through an online form, and Jimenez says she is also “happy to sit down with any students in person.”

Studying the Health Policy and Law and Human Rights and Social Justice certificates, and with plans to attend law school, Jimenez says she is committed to ensuring that the alumni relations position remains in place after she completes the MPH program in December.

“Jacoba and I have talked a lot about the overarching legacy of this role that will carry on beyond my time here,” she says. “We want to make sure that a partnership remains established between students and alumni relations, so that students will continue to engage with graduates and get in the mindset of being part of an alumni network before they actually transition into that role.”

—Jillian McKoy