Membership – Blog Down to Washington | Stories & Conversations about the University of Washington

Category Archives: Membership

April 24, 2012 | Meet, Membership, On Campus

Members Thanked by UW President, Coach, Professor

By Greg Flanders

Coach Sark thanking members

President Michael Young, UW Football Coach Steve Sarkisian and popular UW Professor David Domke took the stage at the UW Alumni Association Member Celebration to thank UWAA members for their century-plus support of the University and higher ed.

Held in an enormous pavilion on Red Square, stuffed with art by UW students, three stages, a jazz combo, and buffet tables groaning under piles of delicious food, the UWAA Member Celebration hosted over 300 alumni and friends for an evening of music, conversation and fun.

Taking a break from the music (provided by a trio from the UW School of Music) President Young briefly traced the evolution of the UWAA from its earliest days in 1889—when there were 60 living UW alumni—to today’s 55,000-member community, united by a love of the University. He shared that the UW deans’ consensus that the mission of the UW was to “optimize human potential,” and his opinion that a strong University relies on a strong alumni association.

Coach Sarkisian took the stage next and shared his thoughts on the upcoming season at Century Link Field.

Alumni relations in the Facebook era

By Derek Belt

Why on earth would you give priority to people on Facebook? Ridiculous! — UWAA member quote

A few years ago, if the University of Washington wanted to connect with alumni it had to spend a small fortune in direct mail marketing and print publishing costs. Email changed all that, and social media is changing the game again. Sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are giving the UW and all of higher education an immediate and engaging channel to connect with graduates, friends, families and more.

At the UW Alumni Association, we think the 50-plus percent of UWAA members who use Facebook should become our “friends” because there is so much more that can be done through Facebook that email just can’t touch.

For starters, Facebook puts members in charge of their own subscriptions. It allows for more frequent and interactive communication. And it gives alumni the chance to connect with the University and fellow alumni on a deeper, more personal level. Alumni engagement is an inherently social experience, and Facebook is perhaps the most appropriate mass communication tool precisely because it is so social. Plus, it does all of this (and more) for free.

Not all alumni believe this is the best approach. But the UWAA is embracing today’s communications channels and reaching graduates wherever they may be, Facebook or not. Recently, we gave our 6,000-plus Facebook friends a “heads up” that tickets to a members-only showing of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides would be going on sale soon. We didn’t give Facebook users priority access to these tickets. We merely gave them a “heads up” that tickets were going to go on sale (which we also did for members in the latest issue of the Member E-news). So really, the people who got priority access to these tickets were the members who we have email addresses for. But that caused a stir, as the quote at the top of this post indicates clearly.

Do we have your email address? If not, be sure and update your contact info today.

So, are we backing away from email and replacing it with Facebook? Absolutely not. But we are aware that many of our younger members are doing exactly that. As hard as it is to imagine, “I don’t check my email—I just use Facebook,” is a growing sentiment among new graduates and students. For this reason alone we have to be on Facebook. But the use of any single communication tool should not be a requirement to have a great membership experience, and we can’t force someone to use email any more than we can force them to use Facebook. We need to communicate with alumni on their terms, regardless of whether they prefer email, text messages, Facebook, Twitter, web browsing or good ol’ fashioned print media.

1970s, 2000s stand out in “I love the UW” survey

By Derek Belt

Now that our Spring Membership Drive is underway (it’s going GREAT by the way!), we are starting to look deeper at the more than 900 member comments we received during our “I love the UW” survey.

Some exciting stuff is coming to light. For instance, alumni from the 1970s were well represented, while our newest members (2000-2010) came out in force. The classes of 2010 (62 comments), 2009 (36 comments) and 2006 (32 comments) led all participants. This clearly shows, in members’ own words, that the University of Washington is just as transformative as ever despite deep budget cuts.

Take a look at the above graphic showing survey participants by graduation year. Click here to see a larger view and access more data. Try hovering over 1999 to see how many participants we had from that year.

As always, you can read all the member comments or search by college, class year or favorite UW memories by visiting loveuw.blogspot.com.

Share the page on Facebook to help us spread the word!

3 Comments

March 7, 2011 | Membership

Feel the love – Spring Membership Drive is underway

By Derek Belt

UWAA members tell us why they love the UW.
Members are the heart of the University of Washington’s alumni community. That’s why we asked members to tell us why they love the UW, and they responded with more than 900 powerful stories.

Our team is working on a new site that will showcase these comments and allow you to read through them. Believe me, they are incredible. We’ll let you know as soon as the page launches, but in the meantime you can get a snapshot of what members said with the tag cloud above.

The size and weight of each term represents the frequency it was used by members in the survey. Clearly, members love the UW. But they also love the campus, Husky sports and the community of people they met along the way. This was an amazing project for the UWAA’s membership team, and we are really excited to share it with you soon.

Great universities have great alumni associations, and more than 50,000 alums have already joined the UWAA. If you are a member, thank you! If not, consider joining during our Spring Membership Drive and cast your vote to stand with fellow Huskies that love the UW and know what a difference it makes.

Learn more about membership here.

Comments Off

February 15, 2011 | Cheer, Membership

Huskies atwitter over new UW debit card from BECU

By Derek Belt

The University of Washington and UW Alumni Association are proud to announce a new partnership with BECU, a business that shares our values and understands our mission. BECU’s new Husky debit card is pretty spiffy and the video promoting it has garnered lots of attention so far.

Detlef Schrempf, Kenny G, Nate Robinson, Rick Steves and Bill Gates Sr., all singing “Bow Down to Washington” … what’s not to love?!

Here is just a sample of what our friends and followers are saying on Twitter:

We’re loving this BECU commercial. Bow Down to Washington! #UW http://ow.ly/3X8MA

UW Husky greats team with @BECU to sing fight song, promote new debit card: Yes, that’s UW Husky Richard Karn of Home Improvement fame!

Love it! Must order it now! Go UW Alums! – Husky Legends Sing UW Fight Song In New BECU Ad http://t.co/SLRT7Ns

I’m taking my talents (and by talents I mean money) to @BECU. How cool is this @UWAlum debit card? http://bit.ly/hXLsea .

Bow Down To Washington With BECU! Go Huskies! #UW #gohuskies #becu http://www.becu.org/uw-debit-card.aspx

Robert Stacey’s History Lecture Series is a smash

By Derek Belt

The UW Alumni Association’s 36th annual History Lecture Series reached its midway point Jan. 18, and we are hearing glowing compliments both for the program and the professor, Dr. Robert Stacey, divisional dean of Arts and Humanities here at UW.

Recently, UW alum Don Harrison wrote a synopsis of the second lecture. It’s always great to hear from a UWAA member, and Don has graciously granted us permission to repost some thoughts from his blog, Confused Ideas From the Northwest Corner:

The child is father to the man, so the saying goes. In the same way, the medieval world gave birth to the modern world of today. To understand why we act the way we do, both as individuals and as nations, we often need to look back to our childhoods.

The UW Alumni Association’s annual History Lecture Series is entitled “Medieval Origins of the Modern Western World.” As a one-time medieval history major myself, I showed up for the sold-out series expecting a rather superficial summation of the more exciting events of the period, a number of anecdotes that might appeal to the average guy who’s been out of school for a while. I was pleasantly surprised.

The series contains just four lectures. I regret having missed the first one, entitled “The Oddity of the Modern West,” while I was in California. This week’s lecture discussed the origins of one such “oddity”: “The Separation of Religion from Politics.” Dr. Stacey’s lecture was one of the best I’ve heard in the years I’ve attended these lectures at the UW. It was well delivered, highly organized, and crammed with information. … As an undergraduate, I took a very good course in political theory, a course that covered these same topics; Dr. Stacey’s single lecture pretty much summed up all the understanding (and more) that I took away from that undergrad class after the finals were over.

So props to the alumni association and to Dr. Stacey. I look forward eagerly to the two remaining lectures, “Limited Government” and “Love and Marriage.”

You can read Don’s full post on his blog.

Comments Off

January 4, 2011 | Act, Learn, Membership

A new year means new stories for UW alumni

By Derek Belt

For me, New Year’s Eve is a big disappointment. Unlike Thanksgiving—in which I expect a big meal and get more that I hoped for—expecations are rarely met on the last night of the calendar year. Hopes are high. The reality is a bit different.

The one thing New Year’s Eve has going for it, however, are the resolutions. I love New Year’s resolutions. Some people hate them, but I look at these as a chance to set goals and start fresh. For example, when I was 13 I wanted to play less video games. My resolution was to find other ways to be creative. Believe it or not, that’s how I started writing.

This year, one of my resolutions is to better connect this blog with the values we all share as UW supporters. That means telling more stories, meeting more graduates, and defining the value of a UW Alumni Association membership. And just like former Husky star Tim Lincecum on the cover of Sports Illustrated, we’re going to be all smiles in 2011.

Did you know there are more UWAA members than UW students? More than 50,000 alumni make this organization one of the nation’s biggest and best, and I’m committed to telling those stories in new and exciting ways. My goal is to show you the value of staying connected to the University of Washington. That’s my resolution, and I’m excited about the prospects.

Happy New Year, Huskies! Let’s make it a great one.

2 Comments

November 12, 2010 | Meet, Membership

A Husky for life: Why I love the UW

By Derek Belt

We've always been a UW family.

I grew up a huge Husky football fan and always wanted to play wide receiver for the Dawgs. But it quickly became clear that football just wasn’t in my genes (thanks, Mom and Dad), so I decided to take the next best approach. The University of Washington was the only school I applied to, and if I didn’t get accepted I probably would have taken a year off and tried again. And then again.

I could have been the happiest 40-year-old freshman this place has ever seen. Luckily (and I mean that), I got accepted on the first try. I spent three years covering Husky football for The Daily and graduated in 2004 with a degree in journalism. I took a job covering high school football in Mobile, Ala., and returned to Seattle in the summer of 2007. For the past three years, I have worked for the UW, and I’ve fallen for it all over again. This is my college, my team, my story. And I love it here.

The point is, the UW has been a big part of my life. It’s who I am and it’s what I talk about. Be it the rise and fall of the football team or the Masters degree I’m now pursuing in digital media, this place means something to me. I’m sure it means something to you, too. That feeling, that connection, is what makes us Huskies. It’s what ties us together and allows us to feel good about where we come from and where we are going still.

I work for the UW Alumni Association. My responsibilities include writing copy for the UWAA’s membership program. This is not one of those times. This is from the heart, and it’s for all the Huskies out there who know what I’m talking about when I say the UW will always be a part of me. If you love the UW and believe in that impact, consider joining the UW Alumni Association. Tell ‘em Derek sent you.

The membership community is 50,000 strong and growing. Spend a few moments on our website and see if it’s a good fit. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. But I’m guessing that a lot of you feel the same way I do about the University of Washington, and we can be proud of that connection.

If you have a moment, share why you love the UW.

Derek Belt
UW Alumni Association

3 Comments

Category Archives: Membership

Members Thanked by UW President, Coach, Professor

Alumni relations in the Facebook era

1970s, 2000s stand out in “I love the UW” survey

Feel the love – Spring Membership Drive is underway

Huskies atwitter over new UW debit card from BECU

Robert Stacey’s History Lecture Series is a smash

A new year means new stories for UW alumni

A Husky for life: Why I love the UW

Search the Blog:

Featured Posts:

Categories:

Archives:

What We're Talking About:

Weds on UWTV:

UWAA Tweets:

UW Voices:

UW Blogs:

UW Sites (the big ones):