| Abstrakt: |
The University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire's robust Health Care Administration (HCAD) program currently graduates 45-65 students per year, boasting over 1,150 alumni. The Center for Health Administration and Aging Services Excellence (CHAASE) includes an engaged advisory board and offers strong and continued support of the HCAD program. Alumni remain involved in many ways, such as being personal or corporate donors in support of student and faculty initiatives, aiding in fundraising, serving as guest speakers, hosting immersion trips, hiring and championing HCAD graduates, and serving as preceptors (mentors) for students throughout a year-long administrative residency. This paper will outline a model of how alumni development occurs throughout students' entire educational experience. CHAASE resources enhance the student experience, significantly heightening it beyond the traditional classroom setting. Our focused effort to brand these unique, high impact opportunities with consistent messaging helps students appreciate the value alumni bring to their education as early as their freshman year. New graduates, having experienced the beneficence of alumni, are enthusiastic about becoming engaged alumni themselves. Intentionally building an academic program in partnership with alumni, while systematically highlighting the value alumni contribute to student experiences, facilitates appreciation, excites students about their future careers, and creates altruistic, giving alumni. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
