Brock University Alumni Relations
Annual Report 2016-2017
Message from the BUAA President I’m pleased to share with you the Brock University Alumni Association (BUAA) annual report. This year has been another terrific year for our Alumni Association and I am honoured and proud to serve as its President. The BUAA is represented through a board of directors currently comprised of 12 alumni, spanning various decades and faculties, and further supported by a team of dedicated alumni volunteers throughout Canada and beyond. We are here to represent more than 92,000 Brock alumni by providing them with value-added benefits and services, engaging them in events and activities, and keeping them connected to one another as well as to Brock University. As a member of the Alumni Association, each of you has a role to play in keeping our association vibrant and growing — your ideas, guidance, and participation are greatly needed. Please be sure to share with us any thoughts you have on how we can make your Alumni Association better. Lastly, your pride and loyalty is essential to our success, so please continue to share your great Brock stories with fellow alumni, co-workers, family and friends. We thank all of you for your support. I look forward to seeing you out at our upcoming events and activities.
Surgite! Chris Phillips (BBA ’94)
BUAA goals and objectives Mission
Strategic direction
Fostering and recognizing a tradition of excellence by working together to advance the value and reputation of the Brock degree and experience.
Act as the representative voice of alumni
• Improve the integration of the BUAA into the ongoing activities of the University.
• Improve the participation/ contribution of the BUAA in University governance.
Values These values guide the work of the Brock University Alumni Association: Advocacy: Act as the voice of alumni. Collaboration: Forge partnerships and lifelong relationships. Commitment: Contribute to the success of Brock University and its alumni. Integrity: Commit to ethical, honest and transparent operations. Leadership: Cultivate, demonstrate and celebrate leadership.
• Strengthen the internal governance of the BUAA.
Alumni engagement
• Improve the promotion of the BUAA mission with alumni.
• Strengthen the connections our alumni have with each other and the University.
Student engagement
• Educate and engage all students, undergraduate and graduate, at all points in the student life cycle.
• Build relationships in pursuit of common interests and goals with the undergraduate and graduate student associations.
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2016-17 Accomplishments BUAA • Regular exchanges between the BUAA executive and the senior team at Brock. • Graduate Student Association representative on the alumni board. • BUSU representative on the alumni board. • Strong support from board members at a wide variety of events and activities.
Advocacy Committee • Implementation of Board of Trustees alumni seat. • Confirmed voting Senate seat. • Provided feedback on University community engagement strategy. • Provided feedback on Brock University strategic mandate agreement with the province.
Audit Committee • Oversee Brock University Alumni Association financials. • Approval of the Brock University Alumni Association expenses. • Strategic planning preparations.
Recognition of Excellence Committee • Created new Community Engagement Award. • Celebrated the Honorary Alumni Award with four recipients. • Celebrated the Distinguished Alumni Award and Faculty Graduate Awards at Homecoming. • Celebrated the Outstanding Young Alumni Award at Grad Send-Off.
Alumni and Student Relations Committee • Participation at events on and off campus including Vendor Fair, Wellness Week, Fall Preview Day, Spring Open House, Convocation, etc. • Partnered with Brock Sports to offer discounted tickets on games both on and off campus. • Partnered with BUSU on a variety of events including Homecoming, Alumni & Student Coffee Hour, Wellness Week Breakfast, Grad Send-Off and Niagara Brock Alumni & Student Etiquette Dinner. • Partnered with Graduate Studies Association on the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) and Shift Conference. • Hosted over 30 events across Canada in cities where large pockets of Brock Graduates reside (with a larger presence in Niagara, Toronto, Ottawa & Calgary). • Engagement and growth of the Student Alumni Association. • Increased alumni engagement through events and social media. • Launch of retirees programming. 4
Awards program Fostering and recognizing a tradition of excellence The Alumni Association takes great pride in recognizing the achievements of our fellow alumni and current students. By highlighting our collective successes, all Brock degrees increase in value. The recognition of accomplished alumni promotes the excellence of the University, its graduates and the Alumni Association. Award categories Distinguished Alumni Award
Distinguished Departmental Graduate Awards
The Distinguished Alumni Award is the Alumni Association’s most prestigious award. It is presented annually — during the Alumni Recognition Reception at Homecoming weekend — to a graduate who is seen to be an accomplished professional, a prominent citizen and an inspiration to Brock students.
Distinguished Departmental Graduate Awards are distributed by individual Brock departments in collaboration with the Alumni Association. This award honours alumni of the University who have made significant contributions to their field and/or service to society.
Outstanding Young Alumni Award
David Betzner Award
The Brock Outstanding Young Alumni award recognizes Brock’s most recent graduates for their exceptional accomplishments in their lives and careers since graduation. The successful recipient will have made significant contributions either in their field of endeavour or community service. The recipient is aged 35 or under, and sets an inspirational example for future young alumni.
The David Betzner Award recognizes alumni who have demonstrated loyalty and commitment to their alma mater by supporting Brock University and/or the Alumni Association through continuous, dedicated volunteer service.
Distinguished Faculty Graduate Awards This Distinguished Faculty Graduate Award celebrates individual faculty alumni who have earned prominence as a result of their exceptional professional achievements and/or service to society.
Student awards Students can learn more about the awards available to them — thanks to the generosity of our alumni donors — by visiting Student Award and Financial Aid and submitting the OneApp.
Award nominations Award nominations packages can be found at brocku.ca/alumni. The Nomination Award Criteria [PDF] is available for download.
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2016 Award winners
Faculty of Mathematics and Science Distinguished Graduate Award
David Grimes (BSc ’75)
Faculty of Applied Health Sciences Distinguished Graduate Award 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award
Brenda Herchmer
Ryan Pallotta
(BRLS ’86)
(BSM ’09)
Faculty of Social Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award
Exemplifying the spirit of Brock as a creative, passionate trailblazer.
2016 Distinguished Graduate Award recipients
Faculty of Education Distinguished Graduate Award
Dino Miele (BA ’04, MEd ’10)
Faculty of Humanities Distinguished Graduate Award
Leonard Kirk (BA ’89)
Anne Sutherland Boal (BA ’75)
Goodman School of Business Distinguished Graduate Award
Jason Sparaga (BBA ’93)
2016 Outstanding Young Alumni Award
Allie Hughes (BA ’09)
2016 David Betzner Award
Chris Ventura (BA ’12)
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FUN FACT
Alumni demographics
The class of 1967 (Silver Badgers) are celebrating their 50th Anniversary in 2017. Can you believe their original class size was just 76 people!
92,739 total alumni
Come back for a visit. We’re a short drive away. Barrie 2 hrs. Buffalo 30 min. Kingston 3 hrs. Hamilton 30 min.
London 2 hrs. Ottawa 5 hrs. Toronto 1 hr. Windsor 3 hrs.
More than 100 national and provincial athletics championships
Save the date for Homecoming weekend Sept. 15-17
Stay connected Alumni social networking
Reconnect with Brock University and former classmates by joining these Brock University Alumni social media pages:
Like Brock University Alumni on Facebook
Follow @brockalumni on Twitter
6,953 likes
4,582 followers
Follow @BrockUAlumni on Instagram
Join Brock Alumni on LinkedIn
950 followers
6,748 connections 7
YT NT NU
NF
BC AB SK
QC
MB ON
PEI NB
NS
Encourage alumni involvement and connections through reunions, events and networking opportunities We are proud that our graduates represent Brock across Canada and throughout the world. Despite your physical distance from the University, it’s easy to stay connected with Brock and your peers through alumni chapters. Chapters are divided by geographic location, and provide you with the opportunity to support Brock University and socialize with fellow alumni. Our countrywide chapters hold annual events, social gatherings and information sessions that are hosted by alumni volunteers.
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Our current Chapters located across Canada:
We have alumni representatives in:
Niagara 18,840 Burlington/Hamilton 10,016 Toronto 13,710 Ottawa 1,185 Calgary 442
Vancouver/Victoria 532 Edmonton 179 Waterloo–Wellington 1,280
Events and highlights
Facilitate connections and build engagement through events and activities on and off campus In 2016, the Brock University Alumni office organized and supported over 45 events and reunions across Canada — from alumni panels on campus to bringing some Homecoming celebrations to Calgary, AB. We saw an increase in reunion activity over the past year, with graduates attending more affinity-based programming, such as a Rowing Alumni Boat Christening or the CCOVI 20th Anniversary Reunion. We also continued to work closely with Brock Sports to support community-driven events like the Lacrosse Baggataway Cup and the Steel Blade Hockey Classic at the Meridian Centre. More than 6,000 people attended our events, and we are eager to continue planning exciting opportunities for alumni in the future.
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2016/17 Event statistics Here is a snapshot of some events hosted by the BUAA in 2016/17.
Homecoming Weekend September 16 & 17, 2016
Total attendees over 4,000 alumni & guests
Ottawa Redblacks Game Oct. 21, 2016
Total attendees
31
Alumni 14 First-time attendees
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First-time alumni attendees 6
Niagara Scotch Tasting Nov. 15, 2016
Total attendees
42
Alumni 23 First-time attendees
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First-time alumni attendees 8
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KINE/Phys-ed 40th Anniversary Reunion Nov. 19, 2016
Grad Send-off
Music Alumni Concert & Reunion
Feb. 6, 2017
April 1, 2017
72
Total registrants
800
Total attendees
Alumni 57
Total attendees
650
Alumni 44
Total attendees
First-time attendees
37
First-time alumni attendees 35
First-time attendees
57
41
First-time alumni attendees 41
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Student outreach Supporting our future alumni Brock University Student Alumni Association (BUSAA) Student today — Badger for life BUSAA members create and maintain strong relationships between the institution, students and alumni. This is accomplished by facilitating interaction and encouraging the successful transition from student to alumni. All BUSAA members are full or part-time Brock University students.
Our goals: • To promote passion and pride within the students of Brock. • To support the mission and vision of the BUAA. • To increase public support and awareness of Brock University within the community. • To prepare members for their role as class representatives. • To cultivate a spirit of giving back.
Participate in events such as: • Homecoming • BUAA Annual General Meeting (AGM) • Orientation Week • Convocation • Grad Send-off • Participation at Athletic Events
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Affinity programs Offering quality services and benefits Through Brock’s alumni affinity programs, alumni are eligible to receive discounts on home, auto and health insurance, or show your school pride with a customized Brock University MasterCard credit card.
Brock University MBNA Credit Card Show your school pride with a customized Brock University MasterCardÂŽ credit card. Each time you make an eligible purchase, MBNA contributes a portion of funds back to Brock University, in support of alumni and student initiatives.
Manulife Insurance Manulife Insurance offers a whole collection of Brock University Insurance plans at very competitive rates. Whether you are seeking a comprehensive insurance plan or just looking to fill in the gaps, Manulife Insurance has you covered. Insurance available includes: term life, income protection, child life and accident, critical illness, major accident protection, travel and health and dental.
TD Insurance Meloche Monnex As the leading provider of group home and car insurance, TD knows how important it is to save wherever you can. TD Insurance offers 24/7 claims support and has been providing our alumni with excellent services at competitive rates since January 1995.
For more information visit brocku.ca/alumni.
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BUAA Board of Directors
2016/17 BUAA Board of Directors
The BUAA is represented by a volunteer Board of Directors and operated in accordance with its Constitution and Bylaws. The Board of Directors may consist of up to 15 members elected from BUAA’s membership. As members of the board, directors are trustees under the law and have responsibility to oversee the conduct of the business, monitor the management, and endeavour to ensure that all major issues affecting the business and affairs of the organization are given proper consideration.
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Crispin Bottomley (BA ’04, BEd ’05)
Jim Dainard (BAcc ’02)
Mary Ann Edwards (BPhEd ’76, BEd ’77)
Wendy Ingram (BA ’67)
Keely Martin (BEd ’06, BSc ’06)
Erin Mathany (BSM ’05)
Cooper Millard (BA ’14)
James O’Brien (BA ’07)
Chris Phillips (BBA ’94)
Matt Swindley (BAcc ’08)
John Zoccoli (BAdmin ’86)
Michele Zoccoli (BA ’89, BEd ’91)
Message from the Director, Alumni Relations Spread throughout the nation and around the world, we are very lucky to have a large number of alumni volunteers working hard to connect alumni to alumni and alumni to students. With the support of our alumni volunteers, we continue to make positive strides with our outreach efforts. We provide programming to engage our alumni, but we are also working to refine our alumni events and activities to tailor them to our different affinity groups within our broad alumni base. This year we also saw an expansion of our student programming which is critically important to building a strong alumni connection with our future graduates. We have a number of new initiatives that will launch through the 2017/18 cycle and we are particularly excited about our new corporate alumni engagement program and our online networking tool, Brazen. I am very honoured to work with so many alumni volunteers who are dedicated and enthusiastic about Brock University. The creativity and innovation that our alumni volunteers consistently bring to our programming process is unrivaled. Each and every one of you has helped shape Brock into the leading higher education institution it is today. Your support and pride of your alma mater is incredibly important, and the faculty, staff and students of Brock University are privileged to carry on your legacy. I look forward to another busy and fulfilling year. Shelley Huxley Director, Alumni Relations Office of Development & Alumni Relations
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Brock University Niagara Region 1812 Sir Issac Brock Way St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada T 905 688 5550 x 4190 E alumni@brocku.ca brocku.ca/alumni