Best of CASE District VII Award
 

Institution: University of California, Riverside

Title of entry: UC Riverside 40 Under 40 Alumni Engagement & Storytelling Initiative

About this entry: Reflecting years of rapid institutional growth, approximately half of UC Riverside’s 136,000 primarily first-gen alumni graduated within the last decade. To help facilitate our alumni-focused content strategy, volunteer recruitment, and donor pipeline building efforts, our University Communications team led a collaborative cross-unit, campus-wide effort to recognize 40 innovative, early career alumni under the age of 40 through an innovative storytelling initiative.

Our goals were to identify, cultivate, engage, and celebrate accomplished, early-career UCR alumni in a variety of professional fields to help build overall institutional pride, to facilitate peer nominations and self-identification of alumni leaders, innovators, and influencers, to identify/recruit potential alumni speakers and Career Network mentor volunteers, to build our prospective donor pool, and to enhance our “Bold Hearts. Brilliant Minds.” brand campaign storytelling content.

The resulting magazine feature and supplemental digital assets beautifully illustrate/amplify how UCR’s top-ranked education has given rise to a diverse community of bold, innovative trail blazers, helping to build our reputation as a transformative leader in higher education, creating a deep resource of compelling stories that support myriad brand, fundraising, and student recruitment efforts, and inspiring pride in our next generation of exceptional students and alumni.