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Department Summary: The mission of VCU’s Office of Development and Alumni Relations (DAR) is to maximize philanthropic support by engaging stakeholders with our institution working in partnership with all VCU schools, programs and campuses as one development and alumni relations community and implementing the best practices and efficient strategies to achieve a comprehensive development program.

Duties & Responsibilities:

Reporting to the Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations, the Director of Alumni Engagement leads and manages alumni engagement for the assigned school(s). This position works in close collaboration and communication with the Development team within the school(s) to elevate the caliber of the alumni engagement opportunities within and outside of Richmond, Virginia. The Director of Alumni Engagement will develop and execute a strategy to increase alumni engagement for the schools through alumni engagement programming, meaningful volunteer opportunities, and annual alumni events.

This is a pooled posting for two Director of Alumni Engagement positions, with one role supporting school(s) on VCU’s academic campus, and the other supporting school(s) on VCU’s health sciences campus.

Interested applicants are required to submit a cover letter identifying the role or roles in which they are interested.

As the Director of Alumni Engagement, you will:

• Serve as the primary liaison between the VCU Office of Alumni Relations and school(s) to ensure mutual understanding and achievement of goals and priorities;

• Create and lead in-person and virtual lifelong learning, industry and affinity programming for alumni; 

• Provide suggestions and content for alumni communications;  

• Lead event logistics and recommend marketing messages and communication channels to promote events;

• Host academic webinars/in-person programs with faculty/alumni experts on current and timely topics;

• Create programming to support the transition from student to alumni, working to educate students and recent graduates about the power and importance of lifelong engagement with the school(s);

• Provide metrics and evaluation around all alumni initiatives to guide programming decisions and track all alumni interactions in the constituent database, including areas such as: ROI, attendance lists, number of active volunteers recruited. 

• Provide quarterly alumni engagement metric reporting to the VCU Office of Alumni Relations;

• Serve as strategic leader for the school(s)’ regional alumni presence; support alumni volunteers who aim to connect the community in a region; and source alumni leaders for the VCU Alumni Council;

• Oversee and expand faculty involvement in programs, including recruiting faculty volunteers, stewardship of past faculty leaders, and collaborating with advancement colleagues to make best use of faculty resources for the school(s); 

• Implement new programmatic initiatives and/or leverage existing activities within the college to grow alumni participation for the school(s);

• Plan, execute, communicate and assist with the success of alumni engagement events. 

As a team member, you will:

• Establish, cultivate, and maintain collaborative working relationships with internal partners.

• Demonstrate a commitment to the pursuit of excellence, high achievement, and ongoing professional development by proactively seeking opportunities to develop new capabilities, skills, and knowledge.

• Ensure work is completed accurately and within the deadline. Set high standards, exhibit a positive attitude, maintain strict confidentiality, and show exemplary work ethic.

• Demonstrate a commitment to the highest quality service to internal and external communities.

• Demonstrate an open-minded approach to understanding people from all backgrounds, identities, abilities, perspectives and experiences;

• Reflect DAR’s and VCU’s core purpose and values.

Qualifications:

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in a related field, or equivalent experience in higher education, corporate, or non-profit environment.

• Professional experience in a higher education setting, including experience in development, institutional advancement, or a related field such as event planning/management, communications, marketing, or public relations.

• Demonstrated ability to strategize, implement, and build constituency programs and activities, along with a talent for motivating volunteers.

• Excellent oral, written and interpersonal skills required; significant administrative experience in a detail-oriented office with a high level of interaction with outside community and University academic and medical communities.

• Ability to interact personably within a complex administrative organization, as well as with external groups.

• Maintain confidentiality – ability to work in a confidential environment with all levels of internal and external customers.

• Use sound judgment.

• Ability to prioritize, focus, work independently and be a self-starter.

• Ability to travel both locally and regionally as determined necessary.

• Demonstrated ability to work in and foster an environment of respect, professionalism and civility with a population of faculty, staff, and students from all backgrounds and experiences, or a commitment to do so as a staff member at VCU.

• Ability to work frequent evenings and occasional weekend events.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in working with volunteers is desired.

• Experience and/or expertise and interest in the related academic field

• Ability to organize and complete numerous tasks simultaneously with close attention to detail and prioritization to meet deadlines. 

• Personal commitment to the fundraising and alumni engagement field as evidenced through a strong work ethic and high standards.

Benefits: All full-time university staff are eligible for VCU’s robust benefits package that includes comprehensive health benefits, paid annual and holiday leave, generous tuition benefits, retirement planning and savings options, tax-deferred annuity and cash match programs, employee discounts, well-being resources, abundant opportunities for career development and advancement, and more.

VCU is also committed to hiring veterans. The University will include a veteran’s period(s) of military service in calculations of the annual leave accrual rate. This may provide veterans with an increased leave accrual.

Unit: Development MBU

Department: Alumni

Salary Range: commensurate with experience up to $75,000

University Job Title: 1521S - Sr Specialist DV Senior

FLSA Exemption Status: Exempt

Hours per Week: 40

Restricted Position: No

ORP Eligible: No

Flexible Work Arrangement: Flexible work arrangements available; must be able to come to the Richmond, VA office 2-3 per week and as needed for events

Eligible for sponsorship (e.g. H-IB visa status, etc.): No

Wireless stipend: Eligible

Contact Information:
Contact Name: Izzy Kane
Contact Email: irkane@vcu.edu