This month, the President’s Leadership Council for Southern Utah University focused on increasing alumni engagement, connecting students to future career opportunities and raising money for student events.
Ron Cardon, Assistant Vice President and Alumni & Community Relations head, said the alumni office raised $115 million from donors but wants to increase alumni participants by 10% this year. The increase will include 18,000 new alumni, which is up from 187,000 participants in the past four years.
Members of the council also hope to connect alumni professionals with students for future career opportunities.
Currently, SUU runs a small program called SUU MED Connect where students can access phone numbers and email addresses of alumni medical professionals. Students can apply to the free program in hopes of mentorship opportunities. The options range from a phone call to shadowing at a professional’s place of work.
“That’s how we build campus, by sharing emails,” said Donna Law, Associate Vice President of Regional Services.
Members of the council also said they want to revitalize spaces on campus for student use, like the revamp of the Jon and Karen Huntsman Reading Room at the library.
Some council members said they want to raise money to prevent placing a financial burden on students at SUU, but some departments have struggled to fundraise in recent years.
Michael Schmidt, Dean of the College of Performing & Visual Arts, said the Southern Utah Museum of Art will potentially need to raise student fees after years of struggling to raise enough funding.
“It’s a heavy lift every year,” Schmidt said. “With the costs associated with it, and largely it’s self-raised, we’re about a million dollar budget in the museum.”
Schmidt hopes the new music building will bring in more visitors to SUMA because the two are located across the street from one another. Currently, SUMA receives about 30,000 visitors every year.
“It is our mission to…provide education and cultural opportunities for our region,” said SUU President Mindy Benson. “That’s who we are. That’s who SUU has always been.”
The President’s Council is held every third Tuesday at the Hunter Alumni Center.
Author: Hannah Clove
Photo: Corben Allen
Editor: Payson Davis
