Livingstone College National Alumni Association Blue Bear Update
Keeping Livingstone friends, family, and alumni connected
Delores Johnson, President . . .


Alumni Class Notes . . .
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LCNAA Executive Committee

Jackie Thompson-Matthews, Rev. Simmons, Marshall Jackson, Delores Johnson, Warren Arrington, Dr. Bessie Crawford, and Carol McCauley

LCNAA Committee Chairpersons 

Nigel Alston  - Public Relations

Susan Watson - Membership 

Dr. Carol Page - Recruitment

John Funchess - Internal Affairs 

Warren Arrington - Budget & Finance 

Bruce Stanback - Homecoming

Delores Guy - Protocol

Dr. James Gray - Strategic Planning and Mentoring 

Admiral Larry Poe - Special Projects 

 

LCNAA Breakthroughs . . .
Operational Excellence:
Establish clear performance expectations and effectively execute implementation of plans and strategies.

Alumni Engagement:  Develop an engagement strategy that positively impacts how we interact with and support each other productively (improves trust, respect, open and honest communication, a willingness to confront issues and challenges the status quo).

Communication:  Open and honest sharing, providing rationale for decisions with a sense of connection to the purpose and results. 

Fundraising:  Identify methods to increase the financial means to support and achieve association priorities.

Review the plan and associated strategies here.

LCNAA Vision and Mission . . .
The LCNAA Vision Statement
We envision an organization that achieves sustainable membership growth and becomes a trusted and respected Association that operates at a level of excellence and consistently meets members' expectations.
 
The LCNAA Mission Statement
To establish and maintain a responsive business model that promotes a strong connection between the Association, its local chapters, members at large, students, and the College; generate support for the College in the form of human and financial capital; build effective communication vehicles, programs and events; and foster a lifelong relationship between the College and its alumni.

Interested in Mentoring?
If you are interested in participating in a mentoring program to develop students, strengthen their skills and facilitate their growth, complete this mentoring interest form

Text 2 Join LCUpdate . . .


LCNAA Blue Bear Updates . . .
Update from the President's Desk . . .
Dear Alumni and Friends,
 
This is the first of several updates on the activities of the Executive Committee and the Board that I will be sharing with the membership during this fiscal year.

Between the announcement of the election results at the spring meeting (April 2015) and the actual start of our terms on July 1, 2015, the E xecutive  C ommittee (Delores Johnson, Marshall Jackson, Warren Arrington, Jackie Thompson-Matthews
Carol McCauley, Bessie Crawford,
William Simmons)  and I worked to identify prospective committee chairpersons (See sidebar for appointments).. 

Additional appointments include Dorsey Montgomery as Parliamentarian and Rev. Michael McLean as Chaplain.
 
Our first LCNAA Board Meeting was held via conference call on July 9, 2015. At this meeting the board approved the following:
 
-- A new set of financial reports that the Budget/Finance Committee created providing complete transparency and making it easy to view the organization's financial status at any given point in the year.

-- The new bi-monthly digital newsletter created and published by the Public Relations Committee. To date, the Blue Bear Update has been published 8 times. Anyone who is no t receiving it should click the "Join Our Mailing List" link below or 
text to join (See sidebar).

-- The Summer Retreat held at Caraway Conference Center and Camp on August 21-22, 2015. 
 
The Summer Retreat was attended by a total of 21 officers, committee chairs and chapter presidents and yielded huge results. We identified the organizations biggest shortcomings and went on to envision the organization of the future. We settled on vision and mission statements (See sidebar).  

Following the retreat, our retreat facilitator, Nigel Alston used the input from the retreat to identify four (4) breakthrough objectives and some strategies to help us achieve these objectives.
 
These breakthrough objectives are as follows  (See sidebar for additional description of each breakthrough):
 
Operational Excellence: Most of the tasks associated with operational excellence are being addressed by the Executive Committee and the Budget/Finance Committee.
 
Alumni Engagement: Addressing this objective affords us the opportunity to explore ways to utilize the human capital that our alumni possess. Dr. James Gray has staffed a committee to develop a mentoring partnership with the College. This program will be introduced in phases. Eventually, we envision having enough dedicated alumni mentors to match a mentor with each freshman.
 
How the world views Livingstone is based in large part on her graduates. How many of us obtained advanced degrees, how many of us held notable positions in business, industry, education, government, etc? Of no less importance is how well prepared LC's current graduates are to enter the job market. With the skills and knowledge alumni have acquired we can and should be developing relationships with current students to help assure that they are ready to use what they have learned when they graduate and seek employment.
 
Communication/Marketing: In addition to the bi-monthly digital newsletter, our Public Relations Committee led by Nigel Alston has created an LCNAA Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter page. Updating our original website is under review.
 
Fundraising: Our primary fundraisers are still held at Homecoming. We do not yet have a Fundraising Chairperson. However, we do have individuals working to identify fundraising activities that each chapter may be able to hold.
 
Most of our chapters and each of our committees, including the Executive Committee, are working on one or more of these objectives. Most of our committees need additional members and we still need Chairpersons for the Fundraising and Time, Place and Hospitality Committees.  Please contact me  or any member of the Board if you would like to serve on a committee.
 
The Executive Board held its second conference call meeting on September 10, 2015. The primary business was the approval of the Homecoming budget presented by the Homecoming Committee. The Membership Committee, the Recruitment Committee, and the Public Relations Committees all reported providing information about their goals and strategies for achieving them. 
 
Your LCNAA is on the move! We can move faster with your support. Join the LCNAA by becoming an active member of the national association, your local chapter, or both.
 
If you haven't already done so, make a contribution or a pledge to contribute to Livingstone's capital campaign and volunteer to be a mentor when we roll out our Alumni Mentoring Program (See sidebar and complete the Mentor Interest Form). 
 
I am honored to be your president. I also feel a heavy mantle of responsibility to not only do all that I can but to encourage you to do all you can for our beloved Livingstone.
 
Yours in the Livingstone spirit,
 
Delores M. Johnson, '69
LCNAA President

PS:  I look forward to seeing everyone during Homecoming 2015: It's A Great Time to Come HOME!