Fourth-year medical student Suzanne Higgins knew her residency search presented an adventure.
She traveled the country, interviewed with program directors and caught glimpses of new cities that held potential for great excitement.
What she didn’t anticipate was an interesting visit with Jean Moon, M.D., class of 1989, on her residency interview in Phoenix. The visit was made possible through the alumni association’s HOST Program (Help Our Students Travel).
Through the work of the UNMC Alumni Association, Suzanne was able to connect with Dr. Moon, stay at her home during her visit and get inside information on the community, all while getting to know a UNMC alumnus personally.
“We had wonderful conversations. I appreciate the alumni association setting me up with Dr. Moon and her husband, Tom,” Suzanne said. “It helped provide a whole new level of understanding about Phoenix.”
Dr. Moon agreed. “It was great to learn about Suzanne’s experience at UNMC. It brought back many memories about my time as a student,” she said.
It’s these kinds of interactions that will occur more frequently for UNMC alumni in what is being called the New Era of Engagement, a new era for UNMC alumni relations.
First initiated by the leadership of the UNMC Alumni Association Board of Directors, the new era brings positive changes including a sharpened focus on alumni engagement. The first change was to open association membership to all graduates to increase the number of alumni actively engaged with UNMC, its colleges and its students. Doing so provides exciting opportunities for alumni and makes a real difference for UNMC’s next generation of proud health sciences students.
One of the earliest advocates of the new model, College of Allied Health Professions Dean Kyle Meyer, Ph.D., sees the benefit of welcoming all students as alumni association members immediately upon graduation.
“The new model just makes sense,” he said. “Our alumni represent one of our greatest assets – the goal is to do everything possible to ensure their ongoing engagement with UNMC.”
That engagement will come from alumni association work focused in the areas of:
UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D., a strong advocate of the new era of engagement, will serve a term as president of the UNMC Alumni Association to help facilitate the transition.
“Working together, our goal is to strengthen our alumni’s relationship with UNMC, to become more inclusive, to enhance our alumni engagement activities and continue to build upon our strong culture of alumni philanthropy,” he said. “We are proud of our alumni.”
On March 18, Higgins was matched to a pediatric residency at the University of California Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, but no matter where she is, she has the support of the UNMC Alumni Association and its network of 42,000 members.
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Learn more about the new era of engagement.