Best of CASE District VII Award
 

Institution: University of California, Los Angeles

Title of entry: Reimagining the Class of 2025 Initiative

About this entry: Engaging seniors and new graduates is a no-brainer for alumni relations, but the UCLA Alumni Association needed to do it effectively and collaboratively. In prior years, different teams led disjointed events and communications, with no centralized effort to create resources for graduating students. However, for the Class of 2025, the UCLA Alumni Association began a coordinated and centralized initiative to celebrate Commencement across the campus. This award nomination demonstrates the efforts of the team to create a more inclusive graduation initiative to celebrate, support, and steward these new constituents.
For our Class of 2025 initiative, three pillars guided us: celebration, career, and community. The reimagined efforts were guided by insights we learned from a survey and focus groups. After listening to the needs of our graduating students, we made intentional effort to be inclusive of the diversity of students graduating, like the law school and medical school. By wrapping around the entire graduating community, we realigned our website visuals, content, and reach. The initiative engaged professional schools across campus, and engaged our regional networks to share tips and advice to graduates as they began the process to move to their next city. Leading up to Commencement, the social media team provided content that engaged students specifically around photography and memories. During Commencement week, the committee created events that were celebratory, but also commemorative of this special season. This reimagining centered the needs of our graduating students, and provided information that set up our students for their transition to alumni life.