Award: Gold

Institution: Austin Community College District

Title of Entry: Alumni + Employee = The Perfect Blend

About this Entry: Austin Community College (ACC) employs 1,081 alumni. Our alumni employees work hard and are naturally our most vocal ambassadors, so the ACC Alumni Network is eager to explore deepening their relationship as Riverbats (mascot/logo). Alumni + Employee = The Perfect Blend is an alumni engagement campaign aligned with addressing ACC’s Strategic Priorities to serve students and help all areas of the college remain focused on reaching common goals that improve student success.

Alumni were invited to complete a survey and the Alumni Network hosted coffee break receptions on their home campuses where ceramic travel mugs with the theme were distributed. The college did not anticipate the extraordinary events that would soon take place: a national lock-down due to a worldwide pandemic, the race to fill emergency care needs for vulnerable students impacted by a plummeting stock market, protests and chaos breaking out in every major city after black lives were lost at the hands of police officers. This pilot, designed to encourage cross-pollination and connections throughout an 11-campus college roughly the size of New Jersey, turned into a very real and necessary social and professional support group that now continues to meet virtually for Coffee Breaks and QuaranTEA’s twice a week. In this isolating time, the group serves as an anchor and beacon to many -- a chance to connect on a personal level while also staying apprised of college decision making. The meetups range from unstructured conversational check-ins, to topic-based workshops, or coffee conversations with key stakeholders.