Best of CASE District I Award
 

Institution: Yale University

Title of entry: Yale Alumni Identity Spotlight Series

About this entry: Often the best advocates for the richness of an alumni community are the alumni themselves. To honor and celebrate our own Yale community, the Yale Alumni Association's "Alumni Identity Spotlight" initiative centered on amplifying alumni voices and stories while celebrating cultural heritage and history throughout the year.

Unlike previous approaches that focused on institutional firsts or educational resources, this series sought to present authentic, personal narratives in our alumni's own voices. The series leveraged a blend of digital media, including articles on our website and video segments optimized for social media platforms. Each Alumni Identity Spotlight offered a partnership opportunity as well, with YAA staff collaborating across schools, units, departments, and centers to source interviewees and provide valuable, sharable content for outlets across the University.

The series of 23 alumni spotlights successfully engaged a wide audience, generating 69,423 social media impressions, or about 6% of the YAA's total annual impressions, and 8,277 webpage views. We showcased stories from alumni who have made remarkable impacts in their communities, ranging from the first Black student body president to a bilingual nurse who is bridging local healthcare gaps. These personal accounts illuminate the power of the alumni community at Yale and beyond and contribute to the visibility of Yale's diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging efforts.

This series exemplifies the commitment of the Yale Alumni Association (YAA) to inclusivity and innovation while reinforcing the idea that each alumni story contributes to the richness of the shared Yale experience.