Homecoming week lures back alumni

Nebraska football team comes to Lawrence as rare underdog

By Jordan Scherer

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Though most career paths take students beyond the limits of Lawrence, the KU Alumni Association wants to bring thousands of Jayhawks back to Lawrence on Homecoming weekend to reflect on their foundations.

Homecoming is not only designed to demonstrate the football team’s superiority, flaunt floats down Jayhawk Boulevard or even win the title of corndog eating champion. Jennifer Alderdice, director of student programs at the Alumni Association and adviser to the Homecoming and Steering Committee, said the purpose of Homecoming was to reconnect alumni to their alma mater.

“Alumni are important in maintaining the value of your degree,” she said. “[The University is] only as strong as our alumni. Your degree is strengthened by the efforts of the Alumni Association.”

The Alumni Association has various ways to keep graduates — near and far — aware of the weekend. Alderdice said that the Homecoming events were strongly promoted on the association’s Web site and in its magazine.

The Alumni Association also targets former students in a more specific fashion. Alderdice said the K-club, which consists of athletic alumni, was sent pamphlets encouraging alumni to not only revisit the University, but to participate in the Spirit Sprint, a 5k run around campus that benefits the Douglas County United Way program. The Alumni Association even sends mail to the Homecoming Queens, who were designated until 1978, to encourage their return to the University.

Curtis Marsh, a 1994 graduate and director of student information, said his loyalty to the University began with great experiences as an undergraduate student. He also said that alumni played a significant role at the University for the same reasons they did at other universities.

“They are the primary donors to their university’s endowment, and serve as an extension of the student community by helping with recruiting great new students and providing employment for recent graduates,” Marsh said.

Marsh said that because Nebraska’s football team has very rarely come to Lawrence as an underdog, he thinks the intensity of the event would encourage more alumni to show their support.

“Lots of alumni call from all over asking about events and statistics,” Marsh said. “While that doesn’t necessarily equate to increasing numbers of alumni coming to campus, we feel confident that the number is not decreasing.”

—Edited by Chris Beattie

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