Have you visited www.holycross.edu/alumni?

By Deirdre Gillin ’02

Current Holy Cross students rely on the Internet for almost every aspect of their College experience. From registering for courses to online class discussions, technology defines the collegiate experience. For alumni, the power of the Internet in relation to their Holy Cross connection varies significantly. Even if technology did not dominate a graduate’s college experience, today’s Holy Cross Web site and Online Community provide numerous resources to all alumni.

One of the goals of the College is to create interesting, regularly updated Web content that will drive more alumni to visit the site often. Through the efforts of the offices of Public Affairs, Alumni Relations and Career Services, the Web site now offers ways for alumni to learn firsthand about Holy Cross happenings, to maintain connections with other alumni and to create career-networking opportunities.

Up-to-date news stories

Recently, the College conducted a comprehensive alumni survey, which confirmed a long-standing strength—alumni give Holy Cross Magazine high marks. As it continues to be a highly read publication, the Office of Public Affairs will be placing more of its features on the Web site—to increase accessibility and to give alumni another way to read about campus and alumni happenings; the alumni section of the site includes links to the online version of the magazine and the features and events Web page.

Staying connected

The Holy Cross Online Community provides a method for alumni to stay connected with classmates as well as the entire alumni community. The Online Community, which is open to all alumni, gives a directory of individual graduate contact and, also, biographical and employment information. After logging into the Online Community, alumni can search the directory for graduates, set up a permanent e-mail forwarding account, chat in discussion groups or check out career opportunities. Today 30.6 percent of our 36,000 alumni are registered online community users. Joining the Online Community involves acquiring a unique ID number from the Office of Alumni Relations—which may be obtained by sending an e-mail request to alumni@holycross.edu.

The Web site also provides opportunities to stay connected with the happenings of classmates and other alumni. Within www.holycross.edu/alumni, the sections Reunion Information, Class Notes, and In Memoriam have the highest number of visitors.

In addition, the Office of Alumni Relations strives, through the Web site, to keep alumni apprised of upcoming events such as fall and winter homecoming, regional events and reunion weekend—which proves to be a high traffic area as June approaches each year; these pages allow alumni to see the schedule of events, find answers to frequently asked questions about reunion, register online—and, most importantly, find out who else will be attending. The posting of photos from past reunion weekends also creates alumni interest.

The class and regional club sections are maintained by volunteer class leaders and regional club board members—with volunteer Webmasters solely responsible until recently, for the sites’ design and upkeep. In 2008, the Office of Alumni Relations will be providing enhanced Web support for these pages and will help with keeping the sites up-to-date. All class and regional club Webmasters interested in learning more about this assistance should contact the Office of Alumni Relations at alumni@holycross.edu.

Career-networking options

Potentially the most powerful—yet most underutilized—aspect of the Holy Cross Web site is the career-networking opportunity. Whether an alum is looking for career advice, networking contacts, or the chance to hire or work for a Crusader, Holy Cross Online Career Services can be a valuable resource. The Holy Cross Alumni Online Community serves as the cornerstone of the philosophy that “providing alumni with the tools and understanding of career networking leads to more effective networking, either now or in the future—whenever the need arises.”

One of the largest networking groups within the Holy Cross community is the Career Advisor Network. The more than 4,000 graduates who make up this group are willing to provide career advice and assistance to other alumni; career advisors are identified on the site with a career planning volunteer indicator. The Online Community’s advanced search feature is a valuable networking tool that enables an alum to tailor a search according to specific criteria, including career category, career specialty, region, employer and job title—it then displays the names of Career Advisors who match these criteria.

Younger alumni take advantage of the career-networking opportunities—however, the benefits of Holy Cross networking are not limited to recent graduates. The Online Community job postings—where alums can seek to hire or work for a Crusader—have shown promising growth in the past several years. The contact for learning more about alumni career services is Bob Wally ’68, coordinator of the Holy Cross Student/Alumni Career Network, who may be reached, by e-mail, at rwally@holycross.edu or, by phone, at 508-793-3758.

Deirdre Gillin ’02 is a member of the General Alumni Association board of directors Communications Committee.