Chapin-Lavigne Named Alumni Relations Director Alumni Relations

After taking over as interim director of alumni relations six months ago, Kerry Chapin-Lavigne has been promoted to director.

Chapin-Lavigne, a 1998 graduate, joined the alumni relations office as an assistant director in summer 2008 and was soon thereafter promoted to associate director later that year. In that role, her duties ran the gamut, from organizing alumni events and coordinating alumni visits through the Distinguished Visiting Alumni Program, to planning the annual Cardinal Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremony and coordinating Homecoming Weekend. 

Prepared for New Role

Chapin-Lavigne has dedicated her entire professional career to her alma mater, first as an admissions adviser and then as assistant director in sports information before moving over to alumni relations. She credits those early years as a professional at the college with preparing her for the work she’d be engaging in today.

Anne Hansen, vice president for institutional advancement, remarked at how fortunate the college was to have Chapin-Lavigne join the institutional advancement team.

“She has provided important leadership in our effort to grow and sustain relationships with our alumni,” Hansen said. “Kerry has impressed me over the years with her team approach, concern for others, integrity, grace and her dedication to the college, our students and our alumni. It will be exciting to see where she takes our alumni program in the years to come.”

The new director said she looks forward to connecting with affinity-based campus constituents such as those in the Educational Opportunity Program, athletics, residence life and others.

“They have some wonderful ideas,” she said. “I want to garner those. Their students have strong attachments to those programs; I want to give these students a reason to want to stay connected to the college. It’s one of the exciting transitions in the Alumni Association’s mission — to focus on affinity-based programming. It makes sense.

“As our alumni population keeps changing, we have to identify with the programs, athletics, the clubs and organizations that they were involved with during their time on campus. Our team is enthusiastic about developing new ways we can engage them.”

Looking Toward the Future

She said she now looks forward to “leading the alumni relations team and continuing to work collaboratively with campus colleagues as well as with the Alumni Association Board of Directors to further engage our more than 66,000 alumni.

“Together, we plan to strengthen our programs that foster campus traditions and create a desire to stay connected to the college.”

Chapin-Lavigne said her team is also having “exciting conversations on how we engage alumni in our student recruitment efforts. That’s more important than ever.

“We need to realize that our more recent grads are identifying more with programs and organizations and less with their graduation year.”