News

Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine Alumni Council Explores New Program Ideas

11/19/09

The Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine Alumni Council met on September 25, 2009, in New Brunswick, NJ. Topics on the agenda included the state of Ross and Alumni Relations, current programs, and ideas for new programs and services. As a result of this meeting, we will be exploring several new initiatives.

One thing the Office of Alumni Relations is focused on is providing opportunities for alumni to connect with both students and each other. At the recommendation of the Alumni Council, we will begin to explore hosting smaller regional alumni events, spearheaded by designated regional alumni representatives. Other ideas that will be explored include hosting regional events for current students and connecting clinical students with alumni who were placed in the same location for their clinical year. These two ideas build on the Orientation and Transition programs that are currently in the works, both bringing alumni to campus to speak to current students.

We have made progress on bringing alumni together with the success of the annual West Indies Veterinary Conference, the launch of the Online Community, and the continuing success of Alumni Receptions at the national NAVC, AVMA, and WVC conferences. We will look to build on these successes by exploring the option of adding Wet Labs to the annual WIVC event. We will also look into hosting alumni receptions at additional professional conferences throughout the year.

Alumni Council members also placed an emphasis on educating students about debt management. Although this subject is covered during Orientation, council members felt that students would benefit from more in-depth coverage of how to manage the debt load incurred during school and what their personal budget might look like upon entering the workforce. We will explore ways to incorporate this need into our alumni programming.

Many of these projects may change as we begin to develop them. As always, we are here to serve our valued alumni and would be more than happy to receive feedback and suggestions. We will look to our alumni to participate in many of these initiatives—if you have any interest in participating in or assisting with any of these programs, please feel free to contact us directly. The Office of Alumni Relations can be contacted via phone at (732) 509-4600 or via email at alumniaffairs@rossu.edu.