I don't know about you, but it felt like I blinked and May was on the horizon. April was another productive and busy month for DAR - thank you! Each of you plays a specific role to engage our alumni, donors and friends and to support students as they navigate their college careers to become the next generation of successful Bulldogs.
As we dig into the final quarter of FY24, let's keep collaborating to see what we can achieve together by June 30. Go Dawgs! |
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Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations and Executive Director of the UGA Foundation |
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What You'll Find in This Month's Pulse |
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Alumni Participation Rate (APR)
We have reached 75% of our FY24 APR goal. Dawg Day of Giving, Senior Signature and the Hartman Fund provided a nice lift at the end of Q3. Achieving this goal is a team effort and it's important to keep our foot on the gas through June 30. The Annual Giving team will focus on renewing previous donors and acquiring last-minute APR donors through a variety of appeals. Questions? Email Heather Duiser.
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Overall Fundraising Totals
We are pleased to share that we have surpassed $235 million! We are at 110 new endowed scholarships in FY24 (our goal is 100), and we are at 373 total faculty endowments on campus (our goal is 400). Questions? Email Jeremy Ransom.
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Commencement Bag Assembly May 6-8 (all day until finished) One Press Place - Ground Level |
Spring Development Meeting May 13, 2024 George Hall (Health Sciences Campus) |
Quarterly Emeritus Trustee Event May 21, 2024 Atlanta, GA |
Team Stewardship Meeting May 23, 2024 Odum School of Ecology Auditorium |
Discover DAR May 24, 2024 TBD |
UGAF Board of Trustees Meeting June 5-7, 2024 Lake Oconee |
| DAR End-of-Year Celebration July 31, 2024 | 3-5:30 PM Athentic Brewing Company |
UGAF Board of Trustees Orientation August 22, 2024 Athens, GA |
UGAF Board of Trustees Meeting October 3-4, 2024 Athens, GA |
Alumni Assoc. Board of Directors Fall Meeting October 11, 2024 Athens, GA |
UGAF Board of Trustees Meeting February 20-21, 2025 Athens, GA |
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Events for Alumni + Friends |
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1961 Club Celebration June 14 in Atlanta, GA *For 1961 Club donors who gave $196.10 (4/1/23-3/31/24) |
| Fall Classes Begin
August 14, 2024 |
40 Under 40 Awards Luncheon September 6, 2024 Tate Grand Hall |
Dawg Day of Gratitude
October 16, 2024 UGA Campus - Various Locations |
Fall Commencement December 13, 2024 Stegeman Coliseum |
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UGA Mentor Program Update |
As of April 9: - Current Mentor Registrations: 5,286
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Current Mentee Registration: 5,363
- Number of Connections: 1,466
UMP Ambassadors
With the introduction of 19 new UMP Student Ambassadors, the program will have 29 students to support its vision that every UGA student has a mentor before they graduate. Please invite UMP Ambassadors to events where they can share their mentorship experience to inspire alumni, faculty, staff, and students to seek out the unlimited benefits of mentoring. Simply fill out this form to make a request.
Questions about the UGA Mentor Program? Email Bethany Bagwell. |
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Pledge Analysis Dashboard |
As part of DAR's ongoing efforts to enhance fundraising strategies and gift analysis, a new dashboard is being unveiled that will provide comprehensive insights into "pledges." Colleague input is crucial to further developing this resource, so your feedback is invited this week through preview sessions in Sic 'Em at One Press Place (and via Zoom). Sessions will be offered on May 1 and May 3 (11AM Zoom link and 2PM Zoom link each day).
Questions? Email Jason Burdette or Danielle Free. |
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The 2024 Senior Signature campaign concluded with 3,201 student donors, raising $101,601. Terrance Smith is scheduling the plaque installation date, which should be the Wednesday ahead of Commencement in May. That date and other thank you messaging will be emailed to students in the coming weeks. The Senior Signature Digital Toolkit will be updated with assets you can use to help celebrate. Questions? Contact Terrance Smith.
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School of Medicine Updates |
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Copilot, Microsoft's AI Tool |
UGA students, faculty, and staff have access to Copilot, Microsoft's AI-powered chatbot. Copilot is a conversational chat interface with several capabilities, including search and info. retrieval, text generation, image creation and code writing. Unlike other generative AI tools found online, UGA data is not shared with outside entities or used to train external AI models.
Copilot is available at copilot.microsoft.com and on the UGA Mobile App under Campus Resources.
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Georgia Commitment Ambassadors |
Selections have been made for the inaugural group of Georgia Commitment Ambassadors and they will start the program this fall. The goal for this group is to create a community of students who meet with scholarship donors, share about their experience on campus, and represent DAR in a student capacity. Questions? Reach out to Catherine Henry and Caitlin Lacey.
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New UGA Board of Visitors Members |
DAR welcomes eight new members to the UGA Board of Visitors. As leaders in their field, their perspectives and expertise will add to UGA's growth and success. During their three-year terms, BOV members learn about initiatives that enhance the university's teaching, research, and service mission. The new board members for 2024-2027 include:
- Jodi Ammons, Jesup, GA; President, Harper Industries, Inc.
- Kim Curley, Charlotte, NC; VP, People & Organization Consulting Practice Leader, NTT Data Services
- Geniece Granville, Columbus, GA; VP and General Manager, Davis Broadcasting, Inc.
- Michael Smith, Atlanta; CEO and Founder, Marti Health
- Charlie Sutlive, Atlanta; VP and Chief of Staff to the Chairman, Southern Company
- Marcus Thornton, Atlanta; Commercial Real Estate Broker, Dallas Smith & Company
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Grant Tribble, Athens;, President & COO; Benson’s, Inc.
- Carla Wong-McMillian, Tyrone, GA; Justice, Supreme Court of Georgia
Nominations for the UGA Board of Visitors are accepted at any time during the year. To nominate someone for this position or to view the complete list of Board of Visitors members, visit give.uga.edu/uga-foundation/board-of-visitors. For the next class of board members, nominees will be reviewed in August and decided on in September. Questions? Contact Lindsey Copus.
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UGA Journeys for Supervisors |
All DAR supervisors are strongly encouraged to enroll in UGA Journeys: Performance Management Best Practices for Supervisors via the Professional Educational Portal (PEP). As a part of UGA Journeys, this seminar provides supervisors with the tools and knowledge to elevate their teams' performance through feedback techniques and performance evaluation. Questions? Email Michelle Carter.
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Mandatory Cybersecurity Training Due April 30 |
The State of Georgia requires all employees, including student workers, to complete cybersecurity awareness training twice annually. To complete the mandatory April training, log in to the KnowBe4 Portal with your UGA MyID. If you have not completed the training, a course named “2024 Social Engineering Red Flags” will be available. Questions? Email Scarlett Hart.
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Qualtrics has mandated UGA transition to a per-response license, which resulted in UGA electing to consider alternatives. Given this, UGA has provided the following recommendations: - Re-evaluate your existing workflow in Qualtrics.
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Find alternative form tools.
- Refrain from using Qualtrics as an administrative tool.
- If you are planning on moving to a different tool, remember to download your data that has been collected over the years.
DAR staff need to transition administrative surveys to other platforms (ex: RSVPs for internal events, nominations/polls, food menu selections, etc.) such as Microsoft Forms and Google Forms. Log in using your UGA-issued MyID and NEVER gather alumni, donor, or student information in any solution that has not been vetted through UGA. Questions? Contact Jeff Garmon.
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Spring issues of Georgia Magazine are available on the publication wall outside the second floor break room in One Press Place — please help yourself. Summer issues will be mailed in late May; DAR should receive its copies in early June. Writing is under way for the fall issue. If you have questions about content or are contacted by the magazine team, please loop in Elizabeth Elmore who helps to oversee the division's partnership with the magazine.
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Terry College Hosts SEC B-School Conference |
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Georgia Coast Teams Channel |
Christina Varnedoe has created a Teams channel, “Coastal Georgia Steering Committee.” In this channel, Christina hopes the conversation will help to organize visits to the coasts. Anyone can list events and visits. Reach out to her if you are interested in joining! |
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New Parent Philanthropy Website |
The Parent Giving and DARCOMM teams are proud to announce the launch of the new Parent Philanthropy website! What was once three separate webpages is now a one stop site for the Parents Fund, the Parents Leadership Council, the PLC Grants Program and so much more. Check back frequently for new PLC donor stories, updated deadlines for the grants program and an introduction to the new PLC Chairs, Lonii and Will Herman. Questions? Email Brittany Rider.
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Here are a few recent bits of news coming out of offices across DAR: |
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📸 DAR Headshot Schedule 📸 |
Have you scheduled a headshot with Edwin Hammond? Fill out a scheduling form below; headshots are taken in front of 1 Press Place. |
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Ellie Engquist and Gabby Dukes closed a $22,500 gift from a donor in Philadelphia to the Dean Rusk International Center Support Fund. These funds help law students afford experiential learning opportunities.
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Christina Varnedoe and Gordon Thomas collaborated on a $50,000 gift from Dr. Kent Woo (BSPH '89), a Savannah alumnus, that will establish the Woo Family Memorial Pharmacy Scholarship Fund. This scholarship will ultimately be $100,000 thanks to the most recent round of matching opportunities.
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Katie Adams and Andrea Burruss partnered to close a $300,000 donation from a donor in Tampa, Florida, to establish two Georgia Commitment Scholarships and two study-away funds for Terry College students.
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Alumni Parents Host UGA Students During Masters Week
While interning at the annual golf tournament, students from across campus were invited to alumni parents Frank (BBA '96) and Christine (BSED '97) Anderson's home in Augusta to have dinner with fellow Dawgs — including Terry faculty member Marty Parker (MBA '06) — as they prepared for their week on the green️!
Great job to Courtney Ayers for the event idea, to Brandon Cochran for engaging the Andersons at the Terry College, to Siara Abdulla and Jill Bateman for working with Christine through Georgia Women Give, and to Will Lewis
for promoting the event to students from CAES, Grady, and Terry who were interning at the Masters. (And to Brittany Rider for sharing this great story about collaboration among so many DAR teammates!)
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Haley Arner This communications coordinator is a big Harry Potter fan, enjoys an Uncrustable at lunch, and loves working in DAR because of the amazing people. |
| Lindsay Carter-Tidwell This senior director of development is remotely based in South Carolina, where she spends much of her time attending her children's basketball and cheer events. |
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The Regional team will be traveling to the following cities soon. |
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Chris Jefts Macon, GA (May 8-9) Rome, GA (May 21-22) Rob Carrico Dallas, TX (May 7-10)
Christina Varnedoe Athens, GA (May 17) Katie Adams Tampa / St. Petersburg, FL (May 20-22) Chandler Boyle Raleigh, NC (May 6) Charlotte, NC (May 9-10) |
| Ellie Engquist NY Area (Month of May) Elizabeth Kozak Atlanta / Athens, GA (May 14-16) Alysse Capitanelli NY (April 30) NY (May 1) LaRisa Chambers Los Angeles, CA (May 1-2) Malibu, CA (May 9) Michelle Rotondo Athens, GA (May 13, 22) |
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Open Positions
This is to make you aware of position postings in the division. We encourage anyone interested in applying to do so. All UGA HR policies and procedures will apply. If you know of a potential candidate who may be a good fit for an opportunity, contact Michelle Carter. |
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Have a change for the DAR online directory? Email dartalent@uga.edu with your change(s). |
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Shout-out to another DARCOMM intern, Isabel Bobrik, for editing this alumni microfeature about Ray Fulcher (BSED '08, MED '10). Please share as appropriate in your channels. |
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Do you have information for an upcoming edition of the Pulse?
Send it to Elizabeth Elmore. |
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