Expansion of AU's national prominence and improvements in alumni relations are extremely important to the university's continued growth, President Neil Kerwin said during a Kennedy Political Union event Monday.
"We need to find ways to engage alumni in the light of the university, we need to serve their needs as they progress through life, needs for career assistance, needs for lifelong learning," he said. "We simply need to increase the outreach that we undertake with our alumni."
Kerwin has been president of AU since 2005 and has been closely involved with the university since he first graduated from AU in 1971. Before his presidency, Kerwin served as the dean of the School of Public Affairs and then as the university's provost until he took over the presidency from Ben Ladner.
Kerwin discussed the need for AU to improve its reputation.
"We need professional approaches to telling this institution's story," he said. "We need to make sure that when people hear the name American University they don't ask 'Gee, where is that?'"
In an effort to better market AU to the community at-large, the university is in the process of completing comprehensive market research and study. When the study is completed, AU will roll out a new marketing campaign, with the university's Web site as its centerpiece, Kerwin said.
"It will certainly have as its anchor the new Web site, which we expect to launch in March," he said. "The Web is the future and a lot of the marketing we do will be fundamentally linked to that capacity."
Kerwin said he has an optimistic vision for AU, despite the economic difficulties many universities currently face. He described the current economic crisis as extremely dangerous and worrisome, but maintained that the university was in good financial standing.
"I'm very proud of the financial condition that we find ourselves in today," he said. "I'm very pleased that we have been able to develop the kind of reserves that allow us to say with confidence that this is not an institution that is confronting freezes in either hiring or salary."
AU is financially stable, partly because 81 percent of the university's annual budget is paid through student tuition dollars while only half of one percent - totaling $2 million - comes from the schools endowment funds, The Eagle previously reported.
AU has dealt with criticism in the past for its small endowment, but it has been a benefit during this difficult economic time, during which students will continue to pay tuition costs, The Eagle previously reported. Other colleges have lost millions of dollars as their investments have decreased in value along with the global stock markets.
The night before this event, Kerwin attended an informal question-and-answer session with students in the McDowell Formal Lounge.
Following Kerwin's speech, he took questions for an hour. Students took the opportunity to confront Kerwin with what they viewed as AU's faults.
One student, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences' Audio Technology program, told Kerwin the program was "embarrassing at best" and that it was unfair for him to have to pay full tuition.
Another student discussed how SPA advisers had not helped her when she transferred from the Washington Mentorship Program. The student, who became emotional at times, said poor communication caused her to have to spend an extra semester at AU.
Throughout the speech and subsequent question and answer session, Kerwin acknowledged that the university had faults and said he hoped many would be fixed in the near future.
"You'll see during the next couple of years a serious effort to remove some of the inefficiencies, some of the frustrations that you've [students] told us about," he said. "We know that making your life as simple as we can with administrative services is critically important, so that you can devote the time and attention you need to develop as scholars and people."
You can reach this staff writer at cszold@theeagleonline.com.
