Message from the President

By Scott Foster ’77
Alumni President

Photo by Leah Nash.

Greetings, Reedies. As your alumni association president in the association’s centennial year, I have the honor of serving our far-flung community with the assistance of a fine leadership team and several dedicated board members and chapter leaders.  All volunteers, we collectively direct the alumni association’s goals, programs, and services, and do our best to represent the alumni in the broader Reed College community.  Our primary mission, however, is simply to increase alumni engagement through a variety of local, regional and national programs designed to create a sustained connection with the college.

Our primary thrust this year will be to further develop career-based alumni connections, particularly for current students and recent graduates.  In our 100th year of existence, we feel it’s time we focused our collective efforts on creating a strong alumni career network beyond the traditional academic ties that have been the hallmark of the Reed community.  The alumni board has been structured to address this, adding to the subcommittees for Reunions and outreach the committee Life Beyond Reed.  This group will have a leadership role in developing alumni career connections through programs with college staff such as Working Weekend each February, career development networks utilizing online, Reed-specific community tools such as Switchboard, and maven networks for specific career fields.

I encourage you to connect with your fellow Reedies through any one of a number of means in your area, whether it be a Thirsty Third Thursday or the annual Reunions on campus.  We have also developed an online book group and a vibrant presence on social media. Finally, should you feel moved to help our community, please consider volunteering either locally or through the alumni board. We are always looking for skilled and hard-working talent.

Thank you for the honor to serve as your association president this year. I look forward to seeing many of you on campus at Reunions in June.