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Working/Functional Title

Assistant Director of Alumni Relations

Position Summary

The Assistant Director of Alumni Relations leads strategic engagement efforts that strengthen lifelong connection among the College’s 60,000 alumni and build a robust pipeline of future volunteers, advocates, and donors. A central focus of the role is providing leadership and support for the ComArtSci Alumni Advisory Board while also serving as a key communicator for alumni engagement, stewardship and annual giving communications, crafting clear, compelling content that informs and inspires. In collaboration with internal partners and academic departments, the position creates opportunities for alumni to engage with students and the College through mentoring, networking, classroom involvement, and professional development programs. Event planning functions as a secondary responsibility that supports and enhances these broader engagement strategies. The Assistant Director reports directly to the Senior Director of Advancement for the College of Communication Arts and Sciences and works closely with the MSU Alumni Office.

The Assistant Director of Alumni Relations is expected to be an accomplished, responsive, and collaborative member of the Advancement Team. The Assistant Director reports directly to the Senior Director of Advancement for the College of Communication Arts and Sciences and works closely with the MSU Alumni Office. This position has opportunity for a hybrid working schedule with a minimum of three day per week in-office. Remote work agreements are continuously assessed based on the needs of the organization and follow policies and guidelines provided by the College of Communication Arts & Sciences and Michigan State University. The standard working schedule for this position is 8-5pm with occasional evenings and nights with occasional travel required.

Characteristic Duties and Responsibilities:

Alumni Board Management (30%)

Serves as liaison and recording secretary for the College’s Alumni Advisory Board, including serving as the formal communication link between the College and the Alumni Board.

Serves as non-voting member of the executive committee to plan the agenda for board meetings and ensure that the board is operating according to its bylaws.

Plans and coordinates at least two full day board meetings per year, securing guests, coordinating logistics, and handling other tasks for the Alumni Board.

Organizes executive committee calls and sub-committee meetings.

Manages the College’s annual alumni award process ensuring that nominations are submitted, and honorees selected.

Engagement Activities (20%)

Assists in developing short- and long-range goals, strategies and opportunities to increase alumni engagement with the College followed by careful execution of rich and meaningful plans to engage alumni as ambassadors and advocates for the College.

Ensures alumni activities correspond to College’s priorities and enhance development

opportunities.

Manages a portfolio of alumni as engagement manager.

Plans and coordinates live and virtual professional development, networking, and mentoring opportunities for alumni.

Oversees alumni efforts for field experience hosts, including assisting in student preparation and instruction for field experience courses.

Plans alumni visits to campus and guest lecture opportunities.

Coordinates and oversees use of student volunteers for alumni engagement.

Alumni Office Liaison - Serve as the College’s liaison to the MSU Alumni Office and participates in regular college alumni officer meetings, including coordination of all College nominations submitted for MSU Alumni Grand Awards.

Communication & Donor Stewardship (20%)

Designs, implements, and evaluates communication strategies that keep the alumni informed and engaged with the college through the College web site, invitations, newsletters, and surveys.

Writes, edits, updates and maintains the Alumni portion of the web site, including information about the Alumni Board, events, awards and past award honorees.

Articulates ways in which alumni can be involved in the College and creates mechanisms for alumni to respond.

Writes and executes strategic annual giving campaigns.

Identifies segmented audiences for various email communications.

Sends bi-annual department specific messages to segmented audiences

Serves as a resource for college faculty and staff in alumni programming.

Manages the College’s electronic alumni communication platform.

Responsible for alumni LinkedIn group

Annual Giving (15%)

Assists in developing annual giving strategies to increase the number of annual giving alumni and frequency in which alumni annually give.

Develops an annual giving appeal message.

Collaborates with college leadership to identify priority funds.

Creates a solicitation calendar.

Identify annual giving matching donors.

Event Planning (15%)

Plans, coordinates, organizes, and executes alumni activities and events (both live and virtual) with the goal of helping alumni establish a lifelong relationship with the College. Events include annual alumni awards celebration gala, field experience trips, career networking events and panels, local and regional receptions and gatherings, and other advancement activities and events in support of the advancement team’s goals and strategic plan.

Monitors expenses and vendor contracts to ensure provisions are met and services received.

Assists in the development of event-related invitations and promotional materials.

Solicits private support, sponsors, and partnerships for events.

Maintains a coordinated annual calendar of events and activities designed to raise awareness.

Oversees follow-up, evaluation, and recommendation of improvements for alumni events.

Minimum Requirements

Knowledge normally acquired by completing a four-year college degree program in Business, Communication Arts, Marketing or related field; one to three years of related and progressively more responsible or expansive work experience in higher education alumni relations, fundraising, event coordination, public speaking, public relations; and/or equivalent combination of education and experience. Must be able to work effectively with tight deadlines, flexibility, and willingness to work evenings and occasional weekends. Valid vehicle operations license.

Desired Qualifications

Proficient use of word processing, spreadsheet, and database software.

Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Knowledge of social media, marketing, and external messaging as pertaining to a University Advancement model.

Excellent organizational and time management skills

Strong interpersonal skills including good judgement and decision-making abilities

Experience in alumni programming and fund raising

Proven track record of successful special events planning

Ability to implement programming and strategic initiatives Collaborative team-oriented style.

Understanding the importance of building life-long relationships between the college and its alumni and friends

Good decision-making skills, tactful, strong listening skills, willingness to search out answers, ability to recognize when others need to be involved in activities or decisions

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, citizenship, age, disability or protected veteran status.

Required Application Materials

For consideration, please submit all of the following:

+ Cover letter

+ Resume

+ Writing exercise: In 500 words or less - Tell us what you enjoy most about alumni or stakeholder engagement and why this position would be a good career move for you.

Work Hours

STANDARD 8-5

Website

COMARTSCI.MSU.EDU

Remote Work Statement

MSU strives to provide a flexible work environment and this position has been designated as remote-friendly. Remote-friendly means some or all of the duties can be performed remotely as mutually agreed upon.

Bidding Eligibility ends January 20, 2026 at 11:55 PM