The current Carnegie Mellon University Africa Alumni Association took office in December 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. This assumption of office took place following a hotly-contested general election that was conducted online attracting participation from alumni across the globe. This ushered in a new guard constituting the third alumni committee to take office in the history of the institution.
The association comprises five core departments:
- Student engagement, led by Sylvia Asiimwe (Class of 2020): This department is responsible for correspondence between the current students and the alumni. It also sets up the link between the students and the association, setting them up for transition when their tenure comes to an end.
- Partnerships, headed by Viola Nuwaha (Class of 2018): This department is mandated with corresponding between the alumni committee and the professional networks. This is aimed at linking the alumni and the various entities including but not limited to companies, individuals and other organizations, and providing potential partnerships from which the association can thrive.
- Finance, led by Djamilla Khamisi Mathu (Class of 2018): This department is to ensure safe custody of the associations’ monies.
- Community Engagement, headed by Charity Delmus Alupo (Class of 2020): This department is responsible for providing a bridge through which the alumni committee engages with the surrounding community.
- Communications, led by Clovis Wanziguya (Class of 2018): With this role, the objective is
to ensure smooth communication within the team, with partners, and with other stakeholders. This ensures that all parties are kept in the loop on recent developments, upcoming events, and potential collaborations.
Additionally, the committee is led by Bobson Rugambwa (Class of 2018) – President – who is deputized by Emmanuel Chebukati (Class of 2018).
Upon swearing in, the new committee aimed at fulfilling three core mandates:
- Creating more visibility for the Alumni Association amongst both the alumni and the current students with a view to ensuring that upon completion of their tenure as students.
- Increase participation in alumni events.
- Lay concrete and tangible approaches to the students' plight in the form of support during the journey.
Coming into office at a tumultuous time at the height of the pandemic required flexibility and adjustment on the part of the association. We were immediately forced to put in place governance structures to organize ourselves for remote work, meetings, and indeed events. Financing activities further required the use of digital technologies and payment methods – some of which were provided by our very own alumni.
To this end, our first act of office was to organize an initial virtual event to introduce the new association to the community, articulate our vision, and create a social space for interaction amongst the community. This event was a resounding success complete with fun virtual games, nostalgic engagement, and music from the professional DJ running late into the evening to keep everyone entertained.
Since then, some achievements include:
- Engaging Student Guilds – During our term of office, we have kept an active link between our association and two successive student guilds. One actioned recommendation from these engagements was the development of a mechanism for the sharing of internships/jobs to the respective communications officer for further dissemination to the student body. We are working on actualizing other recommendations and feedback received during these engagements.
- Joint Sports Event – Led by our student engagement officer and in partnership with the current student guild and the University, we held a successful joint sporting event between alumni and current students.
- Coordinating Alumni Support – During times of joy and grief, we have seconded members of the association to lead and coordinate moral and financial support efforts with celebrants or the bereaved, respectively.
- Increased visibility of Alumni in Industry - The number of Alumni being featured on the blog and at events, has diversified over the last two years. There is more spotlight on entrepreneurs, professional, and academia alumni.
Some initiatives that we look forward to launching include:
- Fundraising Framework – The Finance department of the association recognized the need to oversee financial contributions for celebrations/sorrow that take place during our community. This was especially evident at the height of the pandemic when there were conflicting initiatives taking place within the same social circles of our community and at the same time. We look forward to launching this framework in the coming days to streamline how fundraisers will work in our community especially as we continue to grow in numbers.
- Alumni Database Portal – Further recognizing the growing numbers of alumni year-on-year and the need to be able to identify one another in professional and social settings, we have proposed to put in place an alumni portal. This opt-in portal will display all the alumni of our great institution and highlight their key social media profiles. It is our hope that this will afford alumni a sense of pride in being listed, and offer a quick and easy way to verify and connect with subsequent generations of the institution. Additionally, the growing visibility of Alumni influence in industry will help bridge the transition for students to industry for internships and more permanent roles.