OBU Alumni Board plays active role during Homecoming festivities

Lia Hillman, Features Editor

Alumni are returning to Bison Hill for this year’s Homecoming festivities.

“Homecoming is one of our favorite events during the school year,” Alumni Board of Directors member Natalie Butcher said.

“We scatter all over campus and serve in each of the events in some capacity,” Butcher said.

The Alumni Board will help with all Homecoming events on both Friday and Saturday.

“They will be on hand to help setup for the Harvest Dinner as well as reunion luncheons and other events,” said Executive Director of the Oklahoma Baptist University Alumni Associations, Lori Hagans.

“They are here to welcome alumni to campus and are available to help where needed.”

The Alumni Board serves an important role for the Alumni Association and OBU.

“The Alumni Board’s role in that is to help promote the University in their areas and among the group of OBU alumni and friends,” Hagans said.

“They also help identify ways to engage alumni.”

There are four standing committees within the Alumni Board.

“I am currently serving on the Regional Involvement committee,” Butcher said.

“Our goal is to reunite past students with others living in the area, and through that, to also promote OBU to the next generation.”

Other committees on the Alumni Board of Directors include Promotion and Planning; Regional Involvement; Student Recruitment; and University Support.

“The Promotion and Planning committee helps with and annual calendar of alumni activities,” Butcher said.

“The Student Recruitment works with the admissions director in his endeavor to recruit new students, and the University Support seeks to involve a greater number of alumni in the financial support of the university.”

Besides Homecoming, the Alumni Board plays an active part in many other campus events.

“Helping with Move-In Day is my favorite part of the Alumni Board,” Butcher said.

“There is just nothing like that first day when parents prepare to leave their grown kids, and the upperclassmen meet them at their cars and move them in swiftly with all of the enthusiasm you can imagine.”

Another event the Alumni Board assists with is Priority Enrollment Day in April.

“The Alumni Board members are on hand to welcome [prospective students] to OBU and visit with them and their parents about their upcoming OBU experience and their future plans,” Hagans said.

The Alumni Board has 34 total members. These include 24 board members from Oklahoma, nine regional representatives serving through the United States, and one executive director.

“Our Alumni Board is representative of seven decades and varied geographic areas within Oklahoma,” Hagans said.

“Those outside Oklahoma are invited to volunteer to serve as a regional representative, being a positive voice and connection for OBU in their areas.”

Hagans said her favorite aspect of the Alumni Board is getting to know the board members on a more personal level and hearing and implementing their ideas for engaging alumni.

“They are a very encouraging and insightful group of people,” she said.