Nanci Isaacs ’79
President, Alumni Association Board of Directors
alumni@emerson.edu
THANK YOU.
Thank you for showing up. For sharing your experiences and giving us the opportunity to create an even better future together.
Because everything we do is to improve the alumni experience—your experience—earlier this year, we launched what was perhaps the most comprehensive alumni survey in Emerson’s history. We want to know what you think, what you’ve experienced, what you hope for, and how we can help. And we wanted to hear that directly from you.
As you always do, you showed up. Wow, did you show up! We were blown away—2,332 alumni, from all corners of the globe, years of graduation, majors, and fields responded to share your honest feedback. You came from everywhere, responding to emails, invitations from volunteers, and social media posts, to make sure your voice was counted.
We hear you. You matter. You’re proud of each other and we’re proud of you. And we’re going to do even more to share your stories and give you ways to be seen, be heard, and make an impact.
You gave us a lot to think about, and, as we promised, we are sharing what you said. We’ve dedicated the next few pages to your responses.
We’re sharing these responses with you, and also working side-by-side with our partners in the alumni office and beyond, to respond thoughtfully on what actions we take next. Please be patient with us. To do this right, it will take some time, but we are committed.
Thank you for letting us know what you want from your alumni experience. You said you want career and networking support, opportunities to engage with students, and ways to support greater diversity on campus. You want to hear stories of everyday Emersonians doing amazing things and you want to see yourself in the stories we tell. Your honest feedback will direct us as we work with the alumni staff and volunteers all around the world to do even more.
What can you do next? You, loyal Expression readers? You can spread the word about what already exists, engage in those opportunities, and give us feedback when you do. We want this to be an ongoing conversation. You let us know what you want, we create it together, then we all engage in those opportunities and share how it went so we can keep making it better. Because that’s what Emersonians do—we get involved and we make things better—together.
If we all engage in career conversations with each other and students, share our stories and promote others’ stories, and support today’s students, we will have the impact we crave. We will create the connections and enhance the network that already exists.
We will emerge stronger, united, because we will continue to work together to lift up each other, students, and the entire College community. The pandemic isn’t over. Not COVID, not racism, and not any of the other plagues currently ravaging our society. But, when we all participate, we can make positive change during what is still a difficult time for so many.
U.S. News & World Report puts us in the top 10 for best regional universities (north) and ranks us third in most innovative schools (north). But we knew that. We feel that. We are that. Thank you for taking the time to reflect and share your experiences. For giving us the opportunity to do even better, together. We can only do that with you. Let’s get to it.
Nanci Isaacs ’79
