Megan Hornbeek Allen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\nMegan Hornbeek Allen (BA Religion ’03) wants alumni to know they have a place, they will be taken seriously, and they have opportunities to get involved, ranging from one-time events to longer-term volunteerism.
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“I think the alumni voice is critical to a long future,” said Hornbeek Allen, OCU University’s alumni engagement director. “There is something immeasurable about the resources that the Ƶ alum provides to current students.”\r\n <\/p>\r\n
The Alumni Association remains free, and the alumni board has been renamed the Alumni Advisory Board to reflect its role of supporting university goals, Hornbeek Allen said. As the board kicks off with newly elected leaders this fall, it is focused on fundraising, student recruitment, and alumni events\/engagement. \r\n <\/p>\r\n
“If you don’t see yourself on one of these three committees, I still want to know where you see yourself,” she said.\r\n <\/p>\r\n
New board President Kimberley Worrell (BS Dance Management ’08) wants to get a diverse representation of alumni involved this year. \r\n <\/p>\r\n
“Alumni engagement is indicative of the health of the university,” she said.\r\n <\/p>\r\n
Worrell and her husband, Erick (BA Public Relations ’07), met at Ƶ, got married in the Bishop W. Angie Smith Chapel, and want to see the university succeed, she said. \r\n <\/p>\r\n
“Almost every professional connection I’ve made since I graduated has been through an Ƶ relationship one way or another,” said Worrell, director of development for the Ƶ Museum of Art. “It’s important for alumni to stay engaged with their university so students can have the same or better experience than they did.”\r\n <\/p>\r\n
Hornbeek Allen has worked to build a sustainable structure for alumni involvement. The board presidency is a two-year commitment, one step down are committee chairs, and volunteer opportunities range from one-time events to ongoing committees. \r\n <\/p>\r\n
“I want to make sure everyone sees themselves as having a place in the Alumni Association and nobody is in a position of burning themselves out,” she said. “You can find a role where you have a skill set. You don’t necessarily have to have a role that’s a long-term commitment.”\r\n <\/p>\r\n
Hornbeek Allen is working to make existing alumni chapters official so Ƶ can support them and provide them with information and so chapters and Ƶ can collaborate. She also wants to create new alumni chapters and establish a liaison at each chapter to share information between Ƶ and local alumni. That will also allow chapters to share ideas.\r\n <\/p>\r\n
Club and chapter kickoff events may shift online for now, and homecoming has the potential to be even bigger than last year with a virtual format, she said. \r\n <\/p>\r\n
As an alumna, Hornbeek Allen values tradition and sees a bridge between history and the future, with diversity and the ongoing progress in race relations.\r\n <\/p>\r\n
“I think there’s something special about Ƶ,” she said. “Ƶ made me. I think these ideas are in me because of Ƶ.”<\/p>\r\n