Alumni Relations Specialist
About the role
The College of Health and Human Sciences is seeking an Alumni Relations Specialist II to foster meaningful connections among alumni, students, faculty, and staff. In this role, you will collaborate with college and department leadership, faculty and staff, and university partners to develop and implement initiatives that strengthen alumni engagement across the college's academic and administrative units. The Alumni Relations Specialist will lead efforts to identify and cultivate relationships with alumni, and provide strategic consultation to departments on alumni engagement. Responsibilities also include overseeing the planning and execution of college signature and alumni events serving as the college's liaison to internal and external alumni organizations.
Responsibilities
- Develop and implement strategies that strengthen alumni engagement and foster lifelong connections with the college.
- Increase alumni participation through mentoring, networking, volunteering, and service opportunities.
- Serve as the primary liaison for alumni relations, collaborating with college leadership, and university partners.
- Coordinate and support the Dean's Advisory Council, including member recruitment, communications, meetings, and engagement activities.
- Plan and manage alumni, advisory council, student, college celebrations, and community events, ensuring high-quality experiences and successful event execution.
- Lead alumni recognition initiatives, including awards programs, nominations, and celebration of alumni achievements.
- Partner with communications staff to promote alumni stories and develop content for digital, print, social media, and other outreach efforts.
- Maintain accurate constituent records, monitor engagement metrics, prepare reports, and use data to evaluate programs and guide continuous improvement.
Qualifications
Required:
- Bachelor's degree and 2 years of related experience
- Must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. on an ongoing basis without sponsorship (immigration sponsorship not available)
Preferred:
- Bachelor's degree in event management, public relations, communications, higher education, or a related field
- Experience building and managing relationships with alumni, volunteers, donors, and other external stakeholders to support engagement initiatives
- Demonstrated project management experience, including leading cross-functional teams and coordinating strategic initiatives to achieve organizational goals
- Experience planning and executing events, programs, and outreach activities for alumni, advisory councils, and other college or community stakeholders, including coordinating the work of staff, volunteers, or committee members
- Experience using CRM systems or constituent engagement databases to manage relationships, track outreach efforts, analyze engagement data, and develop data-informed engagement strategies
Schedule
This position may require occasional evening and weekend work to support alumni events, college programs, and other engagement activities.
Benefits
- Medical and dental insurance
- Retirement benefits including defined benefit and defined contribution plans
- Generous vacation, holiday, and sick time and leave plans
- Onsite childcare (Ames, Iowa)
- Life insurance and long-term disability
- Flexible Spending Accounts
- Various voluntary benefits and discounts
- Employee Assistance Program
- Wellbeing program
- WorkFlex options for some positions (flexibility on when, where, and how you do your work)