Alumni Aiming High
(L-R) Alums Tatiana Holifield, Daniel Gay, Lauren Cameron, President Kim, Dick Joseph, Allison Shuman, Michael Wojcik (CAAN Member), Jeff Kinney (CAAN Member), and Rick Cohen.The alumni community at Columbia College Chicago continues to thrive. On Dec. 3 the Columbia Alumni Association Network (CAAN) held a reception for the New York Chapter at CNN-New York City. The event included a speech and a Q&A by President Kim, a tour of the CNN facilities and a reception for the greater alumni network. Along with current faculty, staff, students and guests, the evening was a celebration of alumni successes and the growing strength of the Columbia community.
President Kim’s speech emphasized the importance of fostering a connection to Columbia’s talented nation-wide alumni network. He expressed his commitment to improving alumni relations and ways to strengthen their communication with the larger Columbia community. President Kim also spoke about the new student center, slated for 2018, which excited many of those in attendance.
“The Columbia alumni network offers such a diverse perspective on being professionals in creative industries, and their experience can be really valuable to current Columbia students,” says Miriam Smith, director of Alumni Relations. Smith, who joined the college in August and spearheaded the event, is reviewing ways to enhance alumni relations and wants to build and sustain a robust relationship between the college and its alumni.
“Our alumni community is very collaborative. They are really intent on supporting one another, even across disciplines and across years,” says Smith.
Organizing the event itself enlisted the talents of many alumni. Smith worked with CAAN National Board Members Jeffrey Kinney (BA ’87) and Michael Wojcik (BA ’96) to oversee the event, which was administered by the Office of Development and Alumni Relations.
Amanda Clayton, manager of Special Events, was instrumental in coordinating the logistics of the event and worked with the seven other alums who served on the host committee for the event, including Lynne Bredfeldt (BA '05), Lauren Cameron (BA '10), Rick Cohen (BA '07), Daniel Gay (BA '13), Tatiana Holifield (BA '05), Dick Joseph (BA '14) and Allison Shuman (BA '14).
This was the second event of its kind in the New York Area, which has a large alumni population. Other cities with a strong alumni network include Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta.
Visit www.www.colum.edu/alumni for other news and alumni events in the future.