Letter from Our Chair

Dear CCAA Family,

I hope this letter find you and your loved ones well. 2020 — what a year! As a society we have had to pivot, adapt and contemplate the actions we take every day. Columbia College was not immune to this, and I tip my hat to President Dalrymple, our faculty and staff for showing initiative and courage to take action early. Maybe I am biased, but I expect nothing less from a college that has a history of such unwavering stewardship.

As an alumni association, we also took inventory of what we can do — especially where the core of our business is building affinity, which is often best accomplished in person. Unfortunately, like everyone else in the country, we had to cancel a significant number of in-person events, but the mark of a resilient and steadfast organization is one that takes a loss and turns it into a win. We have moved to more frequent virtual meetings, making more phone calls and doubling down on our digital footprint.

Our 2nd annual Giving Day was postponed just days before it started and was rescheduled for June 9. We’re humbled by the generosity of our alumni and friends, and you can see a recap of the results on page 12. To those who gave, thank you so much. Your contributions make a tremendous difference in our ability to deliver our promise of improving lives for our students. As we look to the future, the college remains focused on taking deliberate actions to build affinity, capture memories and celebrate your success.

I hope you enjoy the new Affinity magazine. As you will see in this issue, we are stepping up and taking on the challenges life is throwing our way. In this time of the global pandemic and civil unrest*, it’s more important than ever that we come together in solidarity. I hope you continue to embrace your alumni status as a source of pride and reach out to support fellow alumni in your communities.

We are CC!

Jonathan Dudley

JONATHAN L. DUDLEY ’10, CCAAPREZ@CCIS.EDU

*Read President Scott Dalrymple’s response to social injustice at connected.ccis.edu.