EVENTS
Virtually together
Acadia’s Office of Advancement and Alumni Association sponsor online events series during coronavirus pandemic By Laura Churchill Duke (’98)
A
t a time when Acadia alumni around the world were prevented from gathering as a community due to the coronavirus pandemic, the University’s Office of Advancement did some quick brainstorming to find ways to keep people connected. The Office of Advancement creates an annual schedule of events here at home and around the world, says Alumni Affairs Executive Director Oonagh Proudfoot (’93, ’06). “However, once we received word of self-isolation, social distancing and
36
ACADIA BULLETIN FALL 2020
no more travel, we had to rethink how we would engage our alumni,” she says. Proudfoot says the team came up with the notion of a virtual event series and explored topical ideas of interest or relevance to alumni. The group then solicited input from the Deans on research areas within their respective faculties. The topics were refined and potential speakers were approached. So far, all those asked have been more than willing to participate, Proudfoot says.
