Alumni Spotlight

Alumni

AUGUST 2020

Andrea Bertrand Richter ‘14

This month we wanted to spotlight an alum who is a great example of resilience and perseverance in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. After being laid off from her job at the end of March, Andrea Richter decided to focus her efforts on growing and promoting her small business. Through many hours of hard work and dedicating more time to her business she’s increased her sales by as much as 300%, recently signed a lease on a warehouse due to the need for more space for her business and was featured in the “How to support Black-owned businesses in Charlotte” article in June on the www.charlotteagenda.com website. We are so proud of alums like Andrea that put their education to work and keep pushing forward to pursue their dreams!

We hope you will join us as we come together and support Concord University on September 24th and 25th.

Concord University’s 2019 Day of Giving was a huge success, and that is thanks to you!

With a goal of raising $24,000 in 24 hours for the CU Annual Fund, The Mountain Lion family rose to the challenge and surpassed our goal raising over $42,000.

This year we are raising the bar to further support the university and our students. This year’s goal is to raise $50,000 for the CU Annual Fund. The CU Annual Fund supports campus projects, scholarships, and additional needs on campus.

You may get a call from one of our Advancement Student Representatives leading up to Day of Giving. If you get a call, we hope you enjoy sharing some of your Concord experiences with them and consider making a financial pledge for this year’s Day of Giving. No gift amount is too small, every amount contributed helps reach the $50,000 goal. We hope you will join us as we come together and support Concord University on September 24th and 25th.

We are currently accepting financial pledges and matching gifts. One alum has pledged to match the first $5,000 raised on Day of Giving! If you are interested in making a pledge or matching gift, please visit us online at concord.edu/dayofgiving and fill out our pledge form.

You can make your Day of Giving donation on September 24th online at: concord.edu/dayofgiving or by mail: CU Foundation PO Box 1405, Athens WV 24712

CU Stays Connected Through Virtual Events

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced Concord to shut its doors back in March and hosting any kind of events in person became impossible, the CU Advancement Office started thinking about how to keep alumni engaged with CU in other ways. In May they hosted their first Concord U Virtual Trivia Night through the CU Facebook page. Attendees answer questions on a variety of topics through posting comments, with the person who gets the most correct answers winning an Amazon gift card. These Virtual Trivia Nights have been very well received and have continued throughout the summer with solid participation numbers each month.

A second program started by the Advancement Office has been the Concord Alumni Online Book Club. Alums have the opportunity to vote on the book selection, get updates through a Facebook group and discuss the selections once a quarter through a Zoom call. The first discussion took place in June on “City of Girls” by Elizabeth Gilbert and the fall discussion of “The Giver of Stars” by Jojo Moyes is scheduled for September 29.

The CU Alumni Office has also teamed up with the Career Services Office to start the Alumni Speaker Series. A number of alumni have signed up to give presentations to students via Zoom on a variety of career focused topics. This series kicked off on August 25 and takes place the last Tuesday of each month. Even though this increase in virtual programming came as the result of not being able to connect with alums in person, these events have been a great way to reach out to alums during this time and the Advancement Office looks forward to expanding its virtual event offerings even more in the future!

Visit www.concord.edu/alumni for details on all virtual programs

CU Alumni-Owned Business Program

If you are an alum who owns your own business we want to recognize you! The Concord U Alumni-Owned Business Program gives alums who own their own business the opportunity to show their CU pride at their establishment. Any alumni business owner can visit www.concord.edu/alumni and click on the “Alumni Owned Business” gray box. Simply fill out the form and the Advancement Office will mail you a window cling to display in your business. If the alum posts a picture of the cling on social media and tags CU in the post, we will share the picture on our social media feeds, along with listing the business on our website.

September 29

Engaging in a Virtual Environment

Megan Parker ‘06

October 27

Legal Professions Panel Discussion

Omar Aboulhosn ‘92 & Thad Bowyer ‘11

November 17

Transitioning from College: Job Hunting, Moving and Backup Plans

Jay White ‘10

Each session will be presented via Zoom at 12:00 PM For questions and to access the Zoom link, contact Phil Lewis in the Career Services Office at 384 - 6292 or plewis@concord.edu