REPORT TO THE BOARD
JANUARY 2015
The fall activities and tailgates were well attended this year. After we had Super Jay (20’ inflatable Jayhawk)
officially cleaned, he has been getting quite a workout. He made all of the Football Fridays events in the front
yard, several member tailgates at the Union (new this year), as well as a trip to Wichita for The Roundup. Because
of his size, he definitely makes a statement. Getting him back into his travel bag always seems to present a
challenge, but we are getting better.
After mounting the Betty Otto break room plaque, we had the old Coke machine removed and installed a series of
lockers for the student workers to keep their personal items organized and sale while working at the center. In
addition, this helped free up space in the coat closets as well.
At the time of this writing we are re wall papering all of the restrooms. I am not sure when this was done last, but
it is certainly a ‘fresh’ change. The new paper is vinyl, no print or pattern, and much lighter in color. All 6 rooms
are brighter and appear larger in size.
After consulting with our friends at the Lawrence Fire Department and KU Public safety, we decided on a brand of
AED (Automatic Emergency Deflbrillator).. The consensus was that we only needed one unit for the building
which we installed outside the Bruckmiller Room on second floor. Within several weeks we will get some
instruction on how to use it.
With the transition of incandescent light bulbs to the new LED technology complete, we have seen a fairly
substantial reduction in electrical usage for the building, the past 6 months in particular. Some of this may be
attributable to the weather, but with the number of fixtures in the building the LED’s are paying for themselves .
Starting on December 24th we will start the demolition and replacement of the original building fire alarm
system. The majority of the work will take place between Christmas and New Year’s Day, as there will be few
people in the building. The conversion will include a new control panel in the basement, new pull stations and
annunciators. The equipment is being supplied by Professional Fire Alarm Systems in Topeka and installed by
our building electrician (Jayhawk Power Systems). This new system will accommodate any future expansion In
the event we add on to the building.
Other than a few minor fix ups, the mechanical aspects of the building are running pretty smooth.
Tim Brandt
Director, Adams Alumni Center.
Alumni Programs
Happy New Year! Naturally, many of us count our blessings this time of year and set ambitious goals for a
new year! I’m thankful for much, including the great team I work with at the Association. As you’ll see in staff
reports, we’ve made significant progress in academic programs, legacy recruitment, network growth, and laying
the foundation for career programs and services! I’d like to highlight our work on career programs:
Fall 2014 progress:
 Conducted all alumni survey, which highlighted alumni interest in industry specific events, job
opportunities, and online resources
 Rebranded chapters to networks
 Worked with marketing team to enhance messaging for events focused on access to the KU Alumni
Network
 Membership team rebranded Dinner with a Dozen Hawks to Networking Nights, which significantly
increased attendance
 Tested creative industry event in Chicago in partnership with Brite Brite Great, a Marketing and
Advertising Agency owned by KU Alumni
 Launched inaugural JOBs (Jayhawks on Business) program in Dallas in partnership with the School of
Business featuring Forrest Hoglund, e’56
 Signed a contract with Brazen Careerist, an interactive communication platform connecting KU Alumni
through real-time online events around the world.
 Established the KU Alumni Mentor Network for students and alumni, led by David Johnston.
 Lawrence Network Board developed new career/professional series led by Tyler Rockers
 The Kansas City Network Board is developing a career networking series led by Betsy Winetroub
Looking ahead to 2015:
 Partnering with KU Endowment and Autodesk for a new KU Tech Trek career series connecting midcareer alumni in the Tech industry and students interested in careers in computing technology – January
13 (Invitation only)
 We will host our first online networking event by industry – January 29, 12 CST
 Hosting first Lawrence Network Professional series event – February 6
 Launch new Kansas City career series - February
 Launch KU Alumni Mentor Network, engage campus partners in populating both mentors and mentees
 Increase frequency of industry events within our largest networks
 Work with the School of Business to expand JOBs program to largest networks, beginning in the Midwest
(hosting 3-4 events annually)
 Dedicate additional staff resources to increasing career programs and services
We are well positioned to have a great year! I’m excited to work with our team as we continue to provide unique
value through diverse programs and services. I’m happy to expand on any of these topics during our winter
meeting. Thank you for your commitment to the Association and your leadership!
Rock Chalk Jayhawk!
Heath Peterson
Vice President for Alumni Programs
KU Alumni Association
National Network, International Network & Athletic Programs
January 9-10, 2015
Since our last meeting in September we have made a lot of progress and have lots of plans nationally,
internationally & athletically. As we gear up our meeting in January let’s take a look back at some highlights from
the last couple months and take a peek at what we have coming up this spring!

We hosted our first career specific networking in Chicago. The event was co-sponsored by KUAA and
BBG Marketing (owned by a KU grad). This event was intended for all Jayhawks working creative jobs in
the Chicago area. We had 80 signed up for the event. Looking forward we are working on similar events
in LA/NYC/DC/Dallas/Houston/St Louis & Denver.

Our Minneapolis network is working on a company profile & networking event at The Toro Company.
Alumnus and Presidents Club member Mike Happe is a Vice President with Toro and is obtaining
approval for this event.

Dallas, Houston, Phoenix and Denver all host either monthly or quarterly networking gatherings. We are
encouraging our largest networks to host casual networking events.

We partnered with the KU Libraries to bring the “Evolution of the Jayhawk” event to Houston, Austin, DC
& Richmond

This spring we’ll focus on developing strong volunteer support and programming in St Louis, Chicago,
and Houston similar to Dallas, Denver, and Phoenix.

Charles Bunkhart, Assistant Vice Provost reached out to KUAA regarding our efforts internationally. They
see us as a valuable partner internationally and he would like International Student Services (ISS), Study
Abroad, International Student Recruitment & Endowment to work with us on outreach.

In June we will be taking the Chancellor to London to see our alumni network, meet with donors and
partner universities. We are waiting to see if there are opportunities for her in conjunction with the
World University Games in South Korea

Women’s Volleyball made the NCAA tournament again this year and were able to host the opening rounds
in Topeka (due to the KU vs Florida game). We advertised the game to all alumni within a 100 mile radius
of the arena and hosted a pregame reception (60 in attendance).

Women’s Soccer hosted the opening round of the NCAA tournament this year at Rock Chalk Park versus
Mizzou. We hosted a tailgate in the parking lot of the stadium.

Road Tailgates: Duke – 200 attendees

Home Tailgates: Presidents Club Tailgate Avg: 175 people; Members Only Tailgate Avg: 125

Basketball pre games: Kentucky – 500, Orlando – 300, Georgetown – 350; we will host pregame
gatherings for the Temple, Baylor, TCU, Texas & OU

Athletics would like to partner with us to get new football coach David Beaty out in the state in February.
Athletics would like to host events in Lawrence, KC, Wichita, Topeka, and multiple other stops throughout
Kansas. More info to follow
Thank you for your support!
Danny Lewis
Director of Alumni Programs
Academic Programs Board Report
Winter 2015
Greetings from the Hill! As always, it’s a great time to be a Jayhawk on campus as finals week is in full swing and
we are in the midst of the holiday season. We even kicked off December with the news that we were awarded a
bronze award from CASE District VI in the Alumni Relations Programs – New Initiatives category for our
partnership with the KU Libraries. It is always nice to receive recognition for work among our peers and we look
forward to receiving this award at the conference in January.
The fall has been very productive on the academic programs front and I am especially excited to share that the
long-awaited Jayhawks on Business program series has finally started. The first edition was held in Dallas in late
October with KU School of Business Dean Neeli Bendapudi moderating a great discussion with Forrest Hoglund
as he discussed his long and successful career in the energy industry. Networking time was provided before and
after the discussion as well as time for Q&A from attendees.
As we hope to take this program series across the country to highlight some of our most successful Jayhawks,
Dallas proved to be a great starting point as Mr. Hoglund proved to be an excellent speaker and huge proponent of
KU that anyone at any stage of their career could learn and take insights from. We were also fortunate enough to
bring back high quality video content for the website so that those who weren’t able to make it to the event could
get a taste of what they missed. If you haven’t had a chance, I encourage you to check out the video and blog post
on our website.
Another highlight every year around the holidays is the annual Kansas City Jayhawk Engineering Reception in
Kansas City. This year it was held at Mission Hills Country Club and again featured updates from Dean Michael
Branicky as well as each department chair. The list of “brag points” for KU engineers is really quite impressive.
Parents of current engineering students from the KC-area were again invited this year and an even greater number
attended than last year. This year’s new additions to the invite list were the current students in KU’s Self
Engineering Leadership Fellows program. Any time current students are added to a program, the feedback is
always positive and this was no different as these are KU’s best and brightest from the School of Engineering and
it proved to be a great chance for these students to network with alumni who may be looking to hire Jayhawks in
the future.
Looking ahead to 2015, my focus will again be on these types of programs that provide quality content, highlight
KU’s success, and provide a chance to do industry-specific networking. As these programs evolve, the feedback I
get from alumni has become fairly consistent in that all three aspects are important and effective in causing people
to attend an event.
We have some great examples of these types of events coming up early next year as we are partnering with KU
Endowment to invite San Francisco-area Jayhawks in the tech industry to meet and network with 22 students that
are taking a trip to be introduced to potential computing careers in Silicon Valley. Brian McClendon of Google
fame is also participating and we expect this to be another great chance to mix current students and alumni in a
productive and fun way.
Of course, the School of Engineering is never to be outdone as we have lined up their annual Texas swing through
Dallas and Houston where we will duplicate the KC program that not only provides some great KU Engineering
“brag points,” but also provides networking and career development opportunities in two of our engineering
hotbeds. We are looking forward to a productive and exciting new year.
Rock Chalk,
Brad Eland
Director of Academic Programs
KU Alumni Association
Affinity Chapters and Reunions Board Report
January 9-10, 2015
Affinity Programs
Black Alumni Network: The Black Alumni Network hosted a pizza party for African-American freshmen on
December 12. The event was held in Ellsworth Hall in order to make the location more convenient for students.
We had approximately 25 students in attendance.
The Black Alumni Network has been planning events for the bi-annual reunion scheduled to be held September
25-27, 2015. The featured event will be the KU Black Alumni Awards Banquet featuring the Leaders and
Innovators honorees. The Leaders and Innovators Award recognizes African-American leaders from the KU
community for their impact on society. The nomination form is available online at
www.kualumni.org/kublackalumni. We will be accepting nominations through March 16, 2015.
The Black Alumni Chapter Scholarship Fund has grown to $150,000. This scholarship campaign is meant to
generate academic support for African-American students.
Hispanic Alumni Network: Heading into the New Year, the Hispanic Alumni Network will be focused on Hispanic
student recruitment and retention at KU. All Hispanic Alumni will be encouraged to sign up as a HAWK volunteer
through KU Admissions. In January, Hispanic Alumni will be participating in a post card campaign to admitted
students. Other efforts that Hispanic Alumni will get involved with include attending local college fairs that KU is
represented at and attending recruitment events.
Veterans Alumni Network: The Veterans Alumni Network hosted a Veterans Meet and Greet in early September
for all students, alumni, and faculty and staff who are veterans. We had approximately 65 people in attendance
representing all of our Armed Services. We have received multiple requests to hold another event to create a social
environment for our local KU veterans. Moving forward, the Veterans Alumni Network will hold a Meet and Greet
at the beginning of the fall and spring semesters. The next event is scheduled for January 30, 2015.
The third annual Veteran’s Day run, co-sponsored by the Veterans Alumni Chapter and the Collegiate Veterans
Association, was held on Sunday, November 9 on the KU campus. We also received support from local veteran
friendly organizations such as Team Red, White, and Blue and CrossFit Lawrence. Approximately 200 Lawrence
and surrounding area community members participated. Revenue generated from the run will go to support the
KU Wounded Warriors Scholarship Fund and the KU Memorials Fund.
The 2014 Senior Advisory Board meeting took place November 14 at the Adams Alumni Center. The Veterans
Alumni Network welcomed 24 active and retired military alumni as part of the Senior Advisory Board. The board
meeting provided Veteran program updates and provoked discussion regarding KU’s higher education outreach to
the United States Armed Forces and veterans. Following the meeting, Senior Advisory Board members attended
the KU vs. UC Santa Barbara basketball game.
Reunions
Upcoming
April 9-11: Class of 1965 50-Year Reunion
April 11: Gold Medal Club Reunion
Class of 1965 50-Year Reunion
The Class of 1965 will be celebrating their 50-year class reunion from April 9-11, 2015.
Reunion efforts have been led by John Mays, Class of 1965 president. Complete reunion registrations will be made
available by mail and online in January. Keynote events for the weekend include a welcome reception, a tour of
the Dole Institute of Politics, the annual Pinning Dinner and Presentation, and a show at the Lied Center entitled
“The Million Dollar Quartet.”
Gold Medal Club
The Gold Medal Club Reunion will take place on Saturday, April 11, 2015. William Benso, e’58, from Lawrence, KS
is this year’s Gold Medal Club president. The first meeting took place on November 11, 2014. The goal of the 2015
reunion will be to create an environment to reconnect with old friends. Gold Medal Club Reunion registrations
were made available by mail and online in January.
Rock Chalk!
Jacey Krehbiel, d’12
Alumni Programs - January 2015
Greetings from a cold and wintery Hill! The fall semester has passed and our focus now has a renewed sense of
goals and aspirations that come with a New Year and semester. The fall semester was a fast paced five months that
included traveling nationally and in-state where we focused on the transition from “chapters” to “networks.” We
believed that the word “network” better describes many benefits Jayhawks can derive from being involved in their
local areas and a part of the larger, powerful alliance worldwide. We simplified our structure to 114 networks
worldwide, enabling us to provide more consistent communications and programs. The response to this transition
was overwhelmingly positive and many are looking forward to future events that focus on increasing membership
and really growing our career and academic programs in all areas and networks.
In state, the beginning part of the semester was focused on conference calls and network meetings to start to plan
our winter and spring events. We had a conference call with our Southwest Network and a group from our Great
Plains Network came up to Lawrence and we hosted a network meeting over lunch. Both of those meetings
resulted in choosing dates for their annual events. The Southwest Tumble (February 23 rd) and the Great Plains
Shrimp Boil (February 7th). For the Great Plains Shrimp Boil, the Biodiversity Institute will join us in Garden City
for a demonstration on native Kansas plants and how some of those plants are surprisingly members of the hops
family. We will be using our partnership with the Biodiversity Institute again in February for an event we are
doing with our North Central Network in Salina at their downtown brewery. We have utilized our weekdays for
travel in-state travel and stewardship. For our West Kansas Network we will be doing a kickoff event with KU
Athletics in Dodge City sometime this spring.
Nationally, the transition to “networks” was met with overwhelming positive feedback and we are hoping to use
that to grow our career and academic based programs. The fall started out with a wonderful event that we used in
conjunction with the Duke football game. We held a dinner for current area Presidents Club members as well as
alumni in the area who had gauged interest in the Presidents Club. It was a wonderful evening full of stories from
people’s time attending KU. In November, we held a kick-off event for our Nashville network. We held a board
meeting beforehand where we had several alumni in the area express interest in joining the board. All those in
attendance were very excited for new events coming to the area that would include career and academic programs.
The board meeting was followed by the KU vs. Kentucky game that didn’t end as we had hoped, but all that
attended walked away with a renewed sense of pride for the Nashville network and what is to come. Our
Richmond group hosted the KU Libraries and their Evolution of the Jayhawk exhibition. There were many
familiar faces, but we also had alumni in the area attended their first event! KU Admissions will be hosting an
event in Boston on January 6th. The event will be tailored to seniors who have been admitted to KU and the
message of the evening will be to “choose KU.” While the spring semester will have many networks busy with
watch parties as the basketball season heats up, we are looking forward to spreading the KU message and helping
to increase membership and really grow those career and academic programs.
While the spring semester is off to a packed start, we cannot forget that our annual ‘Hawk Days of Summer will be
here before we know it. Our hope is that all attendees leave events not only feeling proud of being a Jayhawk, but
feeling proud of the connection they have with the University through the Alumni Association.
Kelsey Hill
Coordinator of Alumni Programs
KU Alumni Association
Coordinator of Alumni Programs Report-Board of Directors
January 2015
Greetings from Mt. Oread!
The fall semester offered many chances to visit Jayhawk friends in both in Kansas and nationally. Through diverse
events and programming we have been able to expand our efforts to engage and involve supporters wherever they
may be. A few of the highlights:

Partnership events with the KU Libraries- As in the past, these events continue to attract a faction of our
alumni base that many other events do not. While attendance is typically less than other alumni events,
those who do attend will often mention that these are the first events they have ever attended. Events in
Colorado Springs, San Diego and Atchison have provided Presidents Club stewardship (and recruitment!)
opportunities, volunteer meetings as well as the ability to identify and engage new alumni and supporters.

In Kansas, nearly all networks held their fall board meetings. These gatherings provide a chance for local
volunteers to map out their plans for the upcoming year. While many of the networks have established,
marquee events; there are several groups that have yet to reach their full potential. The Border and First
City networks continue to provide challenges, but by following the growth model that has worked in many
parts of Kansas I am excited about the possibilities in these areas.
The spring holds a great deal of quality programming in every network. With our continued focus on academic
and career based events, I am looking forward to an exciting semester. Some new opportunities to keep an eye on:

Luncheon at the Adams- Our Lawrence network is looking forward to debuting a career and professional
development luncheon series right here at the Alumni Center. This quarterly luncheon will focus on
various topics of interest to Lawrence area alumni and friends. Each event will feature a guest speaker
with expertise in areas ranging from entrepreneurship in the Lawrence community to retirement
planning. The first luncheon will be on February 5th and offer a panel of speakers from the City of
Lawrence, the Chamber of Commerce, and the KU School of Business.

Jayhawks Unite- Essentially an alumni reception but with an added purpose, a call to action, and nearly
unlimited possibilities. The invitations to these events will encourage alumni to bring their business cards
and build relationships with local Jayhawks. In late January, Kevin and I will host this event for our
Honolulu Network. In addition to serving as a networking event, prospective and admitted students from
the area will also be invited. This will provide a great opportunity to connect them with fellow “Alohawks”
and to welcome them to the KU family.
As always, it is an exciting time to be a Jayhawk. Thank you for your leadership and support! Welcome back to
campus!
Rock Chalk!
Tyler Rockers
Coordinator of Alumni Programs
Kansas Honors Programs
Every year I am amazed at how quickly the fall KHPs come and go and this past fall was no different. We hosted
24 programs over the course of 62 days but only had programs on 15 of those days. On our busiest week, we
hosted 6 programs in 3 days…I think that’s why it seems to go by so fast! We awarded 2,999 dictionaries to
students from 252 high schools in 64 counties. It’s a lot of work, but luckily we have a great department that helps
staff the programs, lots of support from University staff & faculty who speak for us and 85 volunteers throughout
the state that help organize the fall programs.
While the fall programs have wrapped up for this KHP season, the preparations for the spring programs are just
getting underway.
The schedule for spring 2015 is:
Date
Feb. 2nd
KHP
Iola
Speaker
Kevin Corbett, President
Feb. 11th
Great Bend
Nathan Thomas, Vice Provost for Diversity & Equity
Feb.
11th
Louisburg
Ken Audus, Dean of Pharmacy
Feb.
12th
Marysville
Dr. Mary Klayder, Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies
Feb.
16th
Pittsburg
Bernadette Gray-Little, Chancellor
Feb. 16th
Beloit
Saralyn Reece Hardy – Director, Spencer Museum of Art
Feb. 25th
Holton
Rick Ginsberg, Dean of Education
Feb. 25th
Atchison
David Johnston, Vice President of Internet Services & Marketing
April 1st
Chanute
David Johnston, Vice President of Internet Services & Marketing
April
1st
Oberlin
Don Steeples, McGee Distinguished Professor of Applied Geophysics
April
2nd
Logan
Ann Cudd, Vice-Provost & Dean for Undergraduate Studies
April
8th
Pratt
Lisa Pinamonti Kress, Director of Admissions
Rock Chalk,
Michelle Lang
Director of Kansas Programs
Greater Kansas City Alumni Network
January 2015
Happy New Year! 2014 was an exciting year for the Greater Kansas City Alumni Network, and with a strong,
creative, and hard-working board to lead us, 2015 may be our best year yet!
In addition to our regular slate of programming, which includes the ever-popular Hawktoberfest at Boulevard
Brewery and the Vesper’s performance at Johnson County Community College, we hosted several new and
successful events this fall. On October 16, the Student Recruitment Committee worked with Joy Maxwell to host a
Pizza and Postcard writing event to area students who applied and have been admitted to KU for the fall of 2015.
For the first time, we utilized social media to promote this event and widen our group of participants. We had 15
people attend and hand-write notes to these students, encouraging them to choose KU. This was a fun activity for
our volunteers, and provided a meaningful personal touch to the KU admissions process.
Then on November 20, the Membership Committee hosted a happy hour for all KC area members at the new Rock
& Brews restaurant in the Prairie Fire shopping center. Over 80 people attended that evening to raise a glass to
the holiday’s and network with their fellow alumni.
This fall, our Alumni Network President, Jim Brown, also worked with Teri Harris on a new membership
campaign. While Teri’s report will have the details and the results of the campaign to date, the entire Alumni
Network Board has taken ownership of this campaign by employing their personal Facebook and Twitter accounts
to tell their networks why they are Proud Members of the Alumni Association. We hope that these efforts have
helped to reach a wider audience than those that received the mailing and emails, and helped to boost the success
rate of the campaign in Kansas City. Additionally, I am writing thank you notes to those that joined providing
them with my contact information and encouraging them to use me as a resource.
As we look to 2015, we have some big events in the works! The Greater Kanas City Alumni Network is hopeful to
lead the charge and create a new career series. Our goal is to host three programs in the coming year, and brand
the series with a name and structure that will provide consistency with each of the programs. Networking will be a
large component, as well as a broad theme that will feature one to two successful Jayhawk alums, who are willing
to tell their story, answer questions, and act as a resource for the largest network of Jayhawks. The first program
will be held in February 2015 at the Sprint Accelerator in the Crossroads. We are still finalizing all of the details of
the program, but I hope to have an update to share when I see you all in January.
Last but certainly not least, is the Rock Chalk Ball on Saturday, April 25, 2015 at the Grand Ballroom,
Bartle Hall! This year, we will celebrate the 20th ball, as well as, the 150th anniversary of KU with a “Hail to Old
KU” theme. Kelly and Paxson St. Clair, have generously agreed to host this year’s big event. The evening will
include a revamped silent auction with even more unique KU items, and a live auction complete with a fiberglass
Jayhawk and a custom Jayhawk mosaic painting by local artist Tina Blanck. After the success of last year’s earlybird ticket special, we are going to again extend this offer to members starting January 1. We increased ticket
prices for Young Alumni and our University Friend tables, in order to help cover the expenses of these attendees,
but all other ticket levels will remain the same. I look forward to announcing our status with ticket sales, and the
possibility of corporate sponsorships, at our meeting. I hope you will all plan to join us in Kansas City in April!
Thank you for your continued, stay warm, and Rock Chalk!
Betsy Winetroub, Director of Kansas City Programs
Wichita Programs Board Report
January 2015
As is usually the case, the Wichita Network fall activities centered on the Jayhawk Roundup. The October 25 th
event was attended by 400 guests who dressed in their finest pirate attire for the ‘Hawks Ahoy themed event.
Captain Jack Sparrow greeted guests at the Murfin Stables for an evening filled with live and silent auction items
along with dinner and dancing. With the unexpected event of the KC Royals playing in the World Seriesattendance and auction numbers might not be as robust as desired but the lively KU fans cheered them on in their
quest for the title. Save the date for October 3rd 2015 for the next Roundup.
The KUAA Wichita Network held a blood drive in conjunction with the Wichita Campus on December 3 rd. This
was a very successful as the blood quota was reached. The next drive is scheduled for June 10 th, 2015. The Wichita
Network will also participate in a Habitat for Humanity build in the spring or 2015. This will be a great way to
bring Jayhawks together for a common goal—bettering their community.
Our academic offerings have focused around the Biodiversity Institute and the Natural History Museum. The
Science of Beer and Biodiversity program was held at the River City Brewing Company in Wichita. That program
was such a success that I have suggested the South, South Central and Chisholm Trail Networks look for
opportunities to hold this event in their locations in the coming months. Planning is actively underway as the
networks are always happy to have visiting academic units travel to their locations.
The Wichita Roundball lunch drew over 300 KU basketball fans. Basketball watch parties are being planned for
Wichita, South, South Central and Chisholm Trail networks. The two Big Monday night games have been
scheduled for bus trips up to Allen Fieldhouse. KU fans from Wichita and the surrounding area are always happy
to take advantage of the bus road trips to watch the Jayhawks play.
The regional network meetings this fall highlighted the need to plan programs to increase the KUAA career
progression initiative. This move to help younger Jayhawks in their career advancement was met with much favor
by the local networks. Bringing and keeping young talent in the local communities is a goal shared by all parties.
We are looking forward to a robust 2015 as the Wichita area has been targeted for membership promotions. All
regions continue to push memberships and look for new ways to serve our alumni in meaningful ways.
Rock Chalk.
Lynn Loveland
Asst Director of Wichita Programs
Legacy Relations Update
January 9 – 10, 2015
Board of Directors Meeting of the KU Alumni Association
In-Depth Look at Fall 2014 Enrollment




KU has 4,084 freshmen on campus.
o This year’s incoming class is 64% in-state, 36% out-of-state with an average 25.2 ACT score.
o Growth in Architecture & Design, Engineering and Music. Decline in Journalism.
o KU’s freshmen class has grown for the past three years.
o There are 398 Honors students in the Fall 2014 freshmen class.
 Honors students are four times more likely to do graduate research.
 They are three times more likely to study abroad.
 They are two times more likely to graduate on time.
 The KU Honors Program is the #2 ranked academic program of its kind in the United
States.
We yielded 27.2% of the students who applied to KU for Fall 2014 compared to 32.1% in Fall 2013.
o Where are these students going?
 In Fall 2014, 1) 709 of our applicants chose to attend Kansas State, 2) 553 went to
Johnson County Community College, 3) 474 went to University of Missouri-Columbia,
4) 314 to Wichita State, 5) 274 to University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 6)212 to University of
Missouri-Kansas City, 7) 200 to University of Oklahoma, 8) 195 to University of
Arizona, 9) 191 to University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, 10) 171 to University of ColoradoBoulder.
 If you take in-state applicants out of the equation, Kansas State is not one of our top ten
competitors. We are losing out-of-state students to: Mizzou, Nebraska, Arizona,
Oklahoma, Colorado, Iowa State, Indiana, Alabama, Iowa and UMKC.
Overall enrollment at KU is 28,000.
o 4,483 undergraduate legacies are currently studying at KU.
 23.2% of the total undergraduate population (19,322).
o In Fall 2013, we had 4,340 undergraduate legacies.
 23.15% of the total undergraduate population (18,744).
KU’s retention rate of students from their freshman year to Year 2 still stands at 80%.
o Higher admissions standards take place in the next recruitment cycle for Fall 2016.
o Legacy students retain to Year 2 at a higher rate of 87% compared to 77% for non-legacies. In
addition, their average GPA after Year 1 is 2.975 compared to 2.7375.
Spring 2015 Yield/Communication Plan to admitted legacy students
JANUARY + Congratulatory mailing (enclosed w/ campus calendar) to in-state scholarship recipients
who are legacies and 563 out-of-state Jayhawk Generations scholarship recipients: “Make 2015 the year
you become a Jayhawk.”
FEBRUARY + Approximately 2,310 Jayhawk "Be Mine" valentine postcards to ALL in-state and out-ofstate admitted students who are legacies: “Lawrence will soon hold a very special place in your heart.”
MARCH + March Madness mailing (enclosed w/ KU luggage tag) to ALL in-state admitted students who
are legacies and 563 out-of-state Jayhawk Generations scholarship recipients: “See for yourself the pride
in being a Jayhawk.”
APRIL + Graduation mailing (enclosed w/ KU Bookstore discount coupon) to ALL in-state and out-ofstate admitted students who are legacies: “Don’t forget to pay your New Student Fee by May 1st.”
KU Winter Receptions
Events are tailored to seniors in high school who have applied and been admitted to KU. KU admissions
representatives and current KU students who are home for winter break will be looking to drive home the “Choose
KU” message. We have several board members to thank for hosting this year’s events:
Sunday, January 4th
o Austin – hosted by Lori Piening b'92
o Colorado Springs – hosted by Diane Cassidy d’85
o Omaha – hosted by Robin & Rick c'77 l'80 Putnam
o DC – hosted by Ryan c'07 j'07 & Erinn b'07 g'08 Colaianni
Tuesday, January 6th
o Atlanta – hosted by Kevin Carroll
o Boston – hosted by John Weltman & Cliff Atkins (KU parents)
Thursday, January 8th
o Tulsa – hosted by Alan & Amanda c’03 Kilian
Saturday, January 10th
o LA (Westlake Village) – hosted by Aerin Leduc-Wolfe j’87
Sunday, January 11th
o New York City – hosted by Tedde Tasheff c’78 & Robbie Patterson d’71 l’74
o San Francisco – hosted by the Starr family (KU parents)
o San Diego – hosted by Brian & Lisa Brinig j'83
o Phoenix – hosted by the Hilton family (KU parents)
Sunday, January 25th
o Wichita – hosted by Jeff Kennedy j'81
*Kansas City and Houston events are still pending as of 12/15/14.
All of you are our greatest asset in the recruitment of students. Whether it’s hosting an event in your home for
high school students who have been admitted to KU – like Lori, Rick, Kevin and Jeff are doing – or simply
referring prospective students to myself…we need your KU salesmanship to effectively recruit students. Thanks &
Rock Chalk!
KU Alumni Association
Flying Jayhawks Board Report
Tegan Thornberry – January 2015
Flying Jayhawks closed out 2014 strong and making headway for an equally as successful 2015. Since we
last met, we sponsored five trips and several independent travelers. One of the fall trips was the Normandy 70 th
Anniversary that was hosted by Jeff and Jean Briley and accompanied by our very own board members Greg Ek
and his wife Debby, and John Ballard and his wife Cindy. All had a wonderful trip and even sent back a group
photo with our KU flag sharing their KU pride and comradery with their fellow Flying Jayhawks passengers.
The 2015 trips also have picked up since September. We have 128 passengers booked across 17 trips as of
December 17th. There are five 2015 trips we don’t have final marketing materials for at this point. Once the
brochures are finalized, it gives us another opportunity to market and secure more travelers. In addition we have
17 independent travelers that booked 2015 trips with our tour operators that we will earn commission from. These
are travelers that enjoyed their past experiences and booked another trip with our partners. We also have 10
passengers that traveled with us in 2014 that have already booked again with us in 2015!
As reported previously, we are offering new domestic trips on our schedule. We have 21 passengers
booked on our 2015domestic trips, which feature National Parks and Lodges of the Old West, Discover Southeast
Alaska, Passage of Lewis and Clark, Coastal Maine and New Brunswick, the Kentucky Derby and The Masters. We
have seen domestic trips appeal to a few different markets, including travelers that are aging and have already
traveled internationally, as well as people who want the access to domestic places, but difficult to do on their own,
i.e.: National Parks during peak summer travel and the Campobello Cottages. Lastly, the international attention of
terrorist acts and Ebola incidents has caused some people to stay stateside.
Currently we have earned host spots on two 2015 trips; and we are a close to earning hosts on a number of
others. This helps our goal of earning hosts and using those positions as a stewardship opportunity to thank
travelers for their membership/contributions and show the continued value of our programing.
We are continuing to work on new ways to market travel. With the help of Debbi Johanning, we developed
a member e-news Flying Jayhawks travel edition. We wanted a way to tell our story and share blog posts from
recent trips to allow potential travelers a way to get a more personal view of alumni group travel rather than just
reading brochures. We emailed this Flying Jayhawks version to all members that included links to stories, photos
and trips that are similar to those we are offering in 2015. It also was a way to get our 2015 schedule out in front of
a different audience. We had 73 people opt in to become Flying Jayhawks subscribers, and 46 people requested
trip brochures. The plan is to distribute another similar email to all members in the spring announcing our 2016
trips.
We are in the process of selecting and finalizing our 2016 trips. The plan is to continue with our recent
transition and stay around the 20-24 mark for our number of total trips. It is a manageable number of trips, and
our total number of travels continues to be steady. Stay tuned for our 2016 lineup!
Communications Report
December 2014
As we wrapped up a busy fall, we received good news from the regional competition of the Council for
Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). We won five communications awards in the following categories:
Recruitment videos: Silver for our Student Alumni Association video
Invitation design: Silver for Jayhawk Roundup 2013
General interest magazines: Bronze for Kansas Alumni
Editorial Design: Bronze for “Masterwork,” the James Gunn profile, Kansas Alumni issue No. 6, 2013
Periodical Staff Writing, Bronze for Kansas Alumni
Periodical Staff Writing is a new category for the regional competition; it honors the collective writing of the team,
based on the submission of five stories. In other good news, the Association’s alumni programs group also
received a CASE honor, as you will read in Brad Eland’s report.
On the legislative front, the news is not so good—mainly because of the huge state budget deficit. However, we are
encouraged by the dedication of our alumni advocates in Jayhawks for Higher Education. As Jeff Kennedy
requested last spring and we reported in September, we have formed a JHE Steering Committee, which met Nov.
14 to hear presentations from Chancellor Gray-Little and Lindsey Douglas, director of state relations. Lindsey
shared an in-depth analysis of the legislative outlook and the University’s funding priorities for the session, but
considering the severe budget shortage, the chief task for our advocates quite likely will be to protect KU from
drastic funding cuts. Lindsey and our team will meet with Steering Committee members via conference calls, and
we will send regular email updates to the entire JHE membership.
As always, our communications team has continued to assist with numerous projects for membership, alumni
programs, the Adams Alumni Center, and special events—most recently the Wichita Jayhawk Roundup, which
this year included leading the effort to create pirate décor for the ’Hawks Ahoy theme. Work on our next special
event, the Rock Chalk Ball in Kansas City, already is underway. This year’s edition, Hail to Old KU, will celebrate
the University’s sesquicentennial.
We have concluded interviewing candidates for a new communications coordinator, following the departure of
Leah Kohlman. We expect to make an offer before the holidays and hope the new coordinator can begin work
January 20.
Warmest holidays wishes from the Hill!
Jennifer Sanner
Senior Vice President for Communications
Editor, Kansas Alumni
Susan Younger
Creative Director
Internet Services & Marketing Board Report
January 2015
Team Update
Since joining the team in September, Kara Schwerdt has proven to be a valuable member of the team, adding
expertise in digital media and email marketing. She is leading a project to improve our email template system and
make email production more efficient. Along with Debbi Johanning and Mike Wick, our digital media team is in
high-demand, serving every part of the organization. Goals for 2015 include optimizing workflow and efficiency to
meet increased demand.
iModules Contract & Special Projects
Our current agreement with iModules expires at the end of June 2015. After meeting with our contract partners at
KU Endowment, we have countered iModules’ proposal for a 3 year renewal. The relationship has been a good
one, and a renewed commitment will allow us to proceed with planned efforts to transition our membership and
event processing to iModules. We should have an update at the board meeting.
Career Services
Our digital media team has been hard at work developing Internet services to support our career services
initiative.
 To date, more than 200 alumni have signed up to be alumni mentors in our new KU Alumni Mentor
Directory, searchable by members.
 Our online Career Center now includes a live Linkedin widget providing direct access to the 100,000+
Jayhawks on Linkedin.
 January 29 at noon we will host our first online/virtual networking event for alumni using a web-based
platform from BrazenCareerist.
 We continue to add to our catalog of career-oriented articles, including event recaps, on our blog at
http://www.kualumni.org/category/career-life/.
Proud Member marketing update
In addition to the Proud Member alumni testimonial videos and social media feed extending our reach with
earned media, we’ve invested in paid media advertising online, including:
 KUsports.com in December (David Beaty was hired, KU vs. Florida) achieving 166,700 impressions during the
site’s heaviest traffic spike of the year.
 Working with Jim Brown and MBB+, our online ads re-target visitors to kualumni.org who live in KC with
Proud Member ads featuring KC native Rob Riggle. More to report, including performance analytics, in
January.
Digital media and marketing highlights
 Our staff manages and builds150 email projects per month on average, including 191 in September 2014
(Kara’s first month).
 With 2 weeks remaining in the year, the volume of email we have facilitated has grown to 1,780+ projects, up
10% over a year ago.
Student Alumni Association Board Report
January 9-10, 2015 Board of Directors Meeting of the KU Alumni Association
SAA had a great 1st semester and our numbers continue to increase!
Member Recruitment
We have been actively recruiting student members all semester through the following action items:
 Tabled at all Home Football Fridays—collecting emails and promoting our programs.
 Hawksoween on campus—gave out cider, coffee and candy on Halloween on Wescoe Beach to increase
awareness of SAA and reward our current members.
 Sent gift solicitation letters to all parents who are members of KUAA and have students that are at KU but
are not members of SAA. We had a great response. Please see membership report for response rate and
numbers.
 Sent an email invitation to all Sports Combo ticket holders who are not currently SAA members to join
SAA. This list was given to us through our partnership with Williams Fund U. This promotion also had a
good response. Please see the membership report for response rate and numbers.
 Allowed SAA members to bring a guest to Finals Dinner, with incentives to join that night. Three hundred
students attended the dinner and two joined. I followed up with an e-mail invitation to the approximately
160 guests that attended to encourage them to join.
Member Programs
SAA programming during the first semester proved to be very successful. We have developed partnerships with
other groups on campus (Williams Fund U, University Career Center and Kaplan) that have helped strengthen our
programs. We went on a Behind-the-Scenes tour of Rock Chalk Park, hosted social events, networking events,
participated in the Etiquette Dinner and more. All of our events were well attended and I have received positive
feedback from both students and alums who attended.
The following is our Spring Program lineup:
 Career Preparation Workshop with top HR Professionals—in partnership with the University Career
Center.
 ‘Hawk to ‘Hawk Mentoring program—we have been populating data for the mentors and at the beginning
of the semester we will match students with mentors.
 Networking Night—featuring 10-12 alumni.
 Behind-the-Scenes Tour of an athletic venue (in partnership with Williams Fund U).
 Finals Dinner—pasta bar, shoulder massages and therapy dogs for SAA members.
 Quiet study space—hosted in the pub at the Alumni Center, free wireless and snacks for SAA members
during Finals week.
 Grad Grill and Commencement Open House—for graduating seniors
Student Alumni Leadership Board (SALB)
The members of SALB have done an excellent job this semester. They have been an active, dedicated group. My
decision to have our maximum number of 40 members on the Board proved to be a wise one. These leaders have
volunteered at all SAA events, tabled at senior days, helped at the Chancellor’s tailgate, assisted with legacy
recruitment, wrote postcards to Presidents Club members, volunteered as a group to serve the homeless, attended
KHP’s (they now have a speaking part) and have continued to promote membership in SAA. They also continue to
contribute creative ideas as we grow our membership and programming. They are a pleasure to work with.
Rock Chalk!
Paige Hofer
Coordinator of Student Programs
KU Alumni Association
Membership Board Report
January 9, 2015
The following is a summary of the membership numbers as of November 30, 2014 compared to November 30,
2013.
Membership Category
Annual Regular
Annual Jayhawk Society
Life Regular
Life Jayhawk Society
Student Alumni Association
Senior Class (KUEA Gift)
Future Jayhawks
TOTAL
Nov. 30, 2014
9,925
3,159
18,336
1,474
1,336
6,762
1,185
42,177
Nov. 30, 2013
11,166
3,405
17,775
1,375
1,219
6,393
1,224
42,557
+/(1,241)
(246)
561
99
117
369
(39)
(380)
%
(11.1%)
(7.2%)
3.2%
7.2%
9.6%
5.8%
(3.2%)
(.9%)
Membership Revenue Trends – Annual comparison (budgeted FY15 Dues Revenue goal - $1,537,000)
FY13
FY12
FY11
FY10
FY09
FY08
435,236
457,388
530,400
530,187
610,519
682,560
595,965
149,095
407,435
395,957
398,833
413,915
434,088
446,685
494,428
8,415
16,710
14,460
10,155
6,955
7,140
5,275
5,500
231,825
572,401
481,250
351,584
398,487
371,741
403,095
353,163
SAA
21,680
26,896
40,931
41,662
27,821
31,956
32,436
28,339
TOTAL
570,550
1,458,678
1,389,986
1,332,634
1,377,365
1,455,444
1,570,050
1,477,394
Annual
Jayhawk
Society
Future
Jayhawks
Life
Membership
FY15
Thru
Nov.
FY14
159,535
We continue to see growth in Life, Life/Jayhawk Society and Students. Our fall promotion focused primarily on
recruitment of annual memberships, which continues to be the most challenging category. I will provide updated
numbers as of Dec. 31 at the board meeting in January. We should see increases in all categories with the
recruitment and retention activities we conducted Oct. through Dec. Please see below for the full report of
numbers and response rates for each of the promotions.
Although we ended the month of November at $156,700, which was $1,700 over our budgeted goal, we are still
$72,400 behind budget for the year. We have an aggressive goal of $195,000 for the month of December. I will
provide updated revenue numbers at the January meeting.
I’m looking forward to the full board discussion on membership. With the help of an outside facilitator, we will
have the opportunity to talk about how we position ourselves as a successful membership organization for the
long-term.
Summary of Membership Promotions
Program
Fall Promotion –
Lapsed and Never
Member fall solicitation
(recruitment)




2009 Recent Grad
promotion
(recruitment)



JHS 5+ Year Upgrade to
Life Promotion
(retention)



Life Member Year-end
Solicitation
(retention)


SAA Promotion
(recruitment)




Future Jayhawks
(recruitment/retention)


Details
Combo mailing labels/”Vote for Your Favorite
Jayhawk” direct mail promotion to 87,917
lapsed and never members followed by four
email reminders and continual exposure via
social media using our network volunteers to
help market this promotion. Promotion
focused on annual membership and targeted
Kansas City, Lawrence, Wichita and all other
markets.
Promotion runs Oct. 24 – Dec. 31
Incentive to join by 12/31/14 – 2015 KU
calendar
All members who joined from KC, Lawrence
and Wichita received personal thank you notes
from Betsy, Tyler and Lynn to welcome them
to their local alumni network.
Sent 4,883 recent grads an initial Proud
Member email solicitation and direct mail
featuring the mailing labels and “Vote for Your
Favorite Jayhawk” interactive component,
followed by three additional emails and
continual promotion via social media.
Promotion runs Oct. 17 – Dec. 31
Incentive to join as a Life member by 12/31/14
– Proud Member license plate frame
Sent combo mailing labels/Vote for Your
Favorite Jayhawk” direct mail promotion to
1,142 JHS members that had a minimum of 5+
years followed by four email reminders.
Promotion runs Nov. 1 – Dec. 31
Incentive to upgrade by 12/31 – Proud
Member license plate frame
Sent the combo mailing labels/”Vote for Your
Favorite Jayhawk” direct mail promotion to a
total of 13,966 Life members followed by four
email reminders to solicit a year-end JHS, PC
or other contribution.
Promotion runs Nov. 1 – Dec. 31
Sent a personalized letter from Paige,
“invoice,” and holiday gift flier to 500 parents
who are current members, but their students
are not members of SAA.
Targeted 5,827 non-SAA members who have
an All Sports Combo package with an email
solicitation and included a suggestion to
forward to family/friends to request the
membership as a gift.
Promotions run Dec. 1 – 31
Parents received SAA gift packet to present to
their student for holidays.
Sent a variety of direct mail and email
promotions to a targeted group of 406 lapsed
and never members.
Sent holiday gift packets (by age group) to all
current members to say thank you for their
continued involvement and support.
Results
As of 12/17, recruited a total of 923
members for a 1% response rate.
KC – 301 (264 Annual, 25 JHS,
12 Life) – 1.1% response rate
Lawrence – 88 members (74
Annual, 5 JHS, 9 Life) - .8%
response rate
Wichita – 59 members (53
Annual, 1 JHS, 5 Life) – 1.1%
response rate
All Other Markets – 475
members ( 409 Annual, 42 JHS,
24 Life) – 1.1% response rate
As of 12/17, recruited a total of 28
members (12 Annual, 16 Life) for a
.6% response rate.
As of 12/17, upgraded 86 members
to Life, renewed 6 expired JHS
members as Annual and renewed 8
as JHS for a total of 100 and an
8.8% response rate.
As of 12/17, 131 Life members
upgraded to Life/JHS and 13
upgraded to Presidents Club for a
1% response rate. We’ve also
collected nearly $7,000 in
additional contributions to the
unrestricted fund.
As of 12/17, we’ve signed up 38
members from the parent mailing
(7.6% response rate) and 12
members from the All Sports Combo
promotion (.2% response rate).
As of 12/17, we’ve recruited 136
new/lapsed members for a 33.5%
response rate.
Program
Endacott Society
(recruitment/retention)

Holiday Promotion
(recruitment/retention)

KU Endowment Calls
(recruitment)

Upcoming Promotions







Details
Over the past 90 days, we’ve sent invitation
letters to new retirees to attend a dinner/join
the Endacott Society, transitioned to a new
renewal notice specifically for Endacott Society
members and tabled at the annual Retiree
Luncheon hosted by KU Endowment.
We’ve promoted “Give the Gift of
Membership” via email, member e-news, ad in
magazine and social media. We also had Black
Friday and Cyber Monday email promotions
for all members and non-members. For every
gift purchased we send a holiday ornament to
the purchaser.
Working with KUEA call center to contact
lapsed members 60 days after they receive
their post-45 day final reminder.
Deadline extension email promotion to 2009
Recent Grads – mid-January - March 2
(promote new Career Services)
Early Bird offer to 2010 Recent Grads – midJanuary – March 2 (promote new Career
Services)
Valentine’s Day promotion to members who
have a single membership and are married to a
KU grad who is a non-member to upsell them
on a joint membership/spouse add-on as a gift
– mid-January to Feb. 14
Valentine’s Day promotion for Future
Jayhawks
Spring Proud Member promotion
w/basketball theme: Member-Get-A-Member
promotion and direct recruitment to targeted
group of lapsed and never members –
February – April. Targeted Indianapolis
promotion tied to the Champions Classic KU
vs. Duke – Sept. – Nov.
2015 Grad promotion to parents and students
– April – May
SAA promotion to past members and current
one-year members to sign up for next year
through optional campus fees when they enroll
in the spring for the fall semester
Results
As of 12/17, we have nearly 380
members, which is up just slightly
from when we started the
promotions this fall.
As of 12/17, we’ve sold 281 gift
memberships. Please note some of
these gifts are included in the
promotions above.
KU Alumni Association
Finance Board Report
January 9-10, 2015
The accompanying financial statements present results as of and for the five month period ending November 30,
2014. The statements reflect a modified cash-basis loss from operations of $184,763 compared to a budgeted loss
of $146,066 before capital expenditures – a negative budget variance of $38,697.
Year-to-date capital expenditures of $10,984 compared to year-to-date budgeted capital expenditures of $20,833
yield a favorable variance of $9,849. This leaves an overall year-to-date loss from operations of $195,747 and an
overall negative budget of $28,848.
Total net assets decreased by $832,292 from June 30, due to the above operating loss but more so due to
depreciation expense and decreases in our long-term investments managed by Endowment. Although we have
received over $100,000 in new restricted gifts, unrealized losses in our long-term investments of over $700,000
unfortunately swamp those gifts.
The overall $38,697 negative budget variance from operations results from a negative variance of $127,431 for
revenue and a positive variance of $88,734 for expenses. Contributing factors include:
REVENUES:





Although November itself trended better, membership dues are $72k behind budget for the year and $33k
less than last year at the same time.
Sales and commissions are behind budget in several areas (Flying Jayhawks; Banquet Services and
Advertising).
Fundraising events, including October’s Jayhawk Roundup, are $27k less than budget.
Presidents Club/Unrestricted contributions are $28k less than budget but exceed last year for this point
by over $25k.
University Support of Records shows no variance to budget as yet, but revenue deficits for the State of
Kansas may result in mid-year budget “adjustments.”
EXPENSES:



Supplies and small equipment is under budget by $18k. This is likely a timing difference, as several PC
replacements are expected later in the year.
Printing reflects a favorable budget variance of $56k. Although several departments have variances, most
is attributable to Membership.
Professional fees exceeds budget by $19k. This is partly a timing difference, but we also experienced an
unbudgeted $6k fee increase (University overhead).
It’s worth emphasizing that employees with expense management duties continually challenge their budgets.
Because of those efforts, our expenses remain under budget. Although we’d much prefer black ink to red, an
operating loss at this point in the year is not atypical and reflects the seasonality of our programs.
Rock Chalk!
Jodi Nachtigal
Controller
Dwight Parman
Senior Vice-President for Finance and Human Resources