A message from Alumni Association President Rob Resnick '88
Dec 9, 2021
I’m Rob Resnick, president of the Alumni Association Board, and I would like to share highlights of the Board’s activities over the past year — as well as the exciting initiatives and events to expect in 2022. Our most recent trip to campus was in mid-October amidst the the festivities of Celebration Weekend.
First and foremost, we were honored to participate in President Marc Conner’s Inauguration,
the highlight of Celebration Weekend. The Alumni Board proudly processed along with
the Board of Trustees and platform party, all led by the Schenectady Pipe Band, a
perennial fixture on campus and integral part of our celebrations. There was a palpable
feeling of shared gratitude and joy in the air as we celebrated the long-postponed
inauguration of Skidmore’s eighth president.
If you have not already seen it, I urge you all to watch the ceremony and Marc’s speech. It was inspiring and genuine. He truly appreciates the alumni community and all we contribute to Skidmore in time, treasure, and talent through dedicated volunteerism.
Central to our work now that we are back to in-person meetings were tours of two of the new integral spaces on campus. We enjoyed a detailed guided walk-through of the Center for Integrated Sciences (CIS), witnessing first hand the vast potential for unprecedented collaboration among the sciences, world-class research, and modern classrooms and labs to support the work of students and faculty. The Board also toured The Center, a space Skidmore makes available to connect people and programs that foster and celebrate equity, inclusion and justice. The Center is a vibrant, accessible location for programming, including classes, conferences, workshops, performances, research talks, informal discussions and collaborations between Skidmore and the local Saratoga Springs community. This centralized social hub serves as a community base for people from diverse cultures, religions, identities, backgrounds and perspectives.
The Board discussed our set of 2021-2022 initiatives. We plan to partner with the
Friends of Skidmore Athletics (FOSA) Leadership Council to revitalize Homecoming Weekend, which will now include the FOSA Hall of Fame Dinner and Golf Tournament. We will work with our staff partners in Alumni Relations and College Events to
initiate a series of affinity group gatherings, virtually and on campus. The Board
is excited to support multiple Reunion weekends this year. The traditional Reunion for classes ending in 2s and 7s will take place June 2-5, and a special Reunion
for classes ending in 0s, 1s, 5s, and 6s June 10-12. We are also firming up plans for a Class of 2020 Commencement Celebration, to be hosted on campus, free of charge, June 3-5, 2022. The College is honoring
a pledge made to this exceptional group of young alumni, who due to the COVID pandemic,
who missed out not only on a traditional ceremony, but also sharing senior week fun.
Watch out for the announcements and opportunities to participate.
We hope to see you on campus or at some of the many regional alumni events to be held across the country. On behalf of the entire Board, let me express my gratitude for all that you do to support our Skidmore. Learn more about our members and how to contact us by clicking on the “Meet the Alumni Board” sidebar link.
Finally, I wish you and your families a safe, prosperous, and joyous holiday season!
Sincerely,
Rob
Robert F. Resnick ’88
Alumni Association President
August 2022
Who are the Skidmore Alumni Association Board of Directors and what do we do? Simply put, we represent the interests of Skidmore alumni everywhere. We come from a diverse range of professions, majors, backgrounds, class years and regions of the country. We are, however, united in a common purpose: offering our time, talent and creative thought to helping enhance the Skidmore experience — for alumni and students. Visit the Meet the Alumni Board page on the Alumni Association website for more about our members and how to contact us.
Let me introduce myself, I’m Rob Resnick, president of the Alumni Association Board. I am proud of the work we’ve done over the past year, first and foremost to support the College through an unprecedented pandemic. Despite the challenges, we were able to work closely with our Skidmore staff partners and achieve the goals we had set for ourselves. Following are some of the highlights.
The Board was instrumental in helping Skidmore generate record-breaking support for the Creating our Future Campaign, which raised $229.4 million dollars from over 27,000 donors. Alumni participation was vital to its success, helping provide funding for scholarships, faculty research and construction of state-of the-art facilities. All gifts to the College are meaningful, no matter the amount and help affirm the College’s place as a leader in higher education. Thank you to all who supported Skidmore through your gifts and volunteering efforts!
Our top priority, of course, was supporting the campus community as Skidmore navigated an unprecedented pandemic and undertook extraordinary measures to bring students, faculty and staff back safely. We helped keep alumni informed about this complex process and its impact on those celebrating Reunion in 2020 and 2021. We also participated in an array of virtual experiences for alumni during months of quarantine: webinars, faculty lectures, diversity and inclusion events and reunion class gatherings and opportunities to connect with one another. A number of us were delighted to attend a series of virtual events that introduced Skidmore’s 8th President, Marc C. Conner, to the community.
We are wholly committed to supporting President Conner’s Racial Justice Initiative, an essential aspect of the College’s future. The Board’s Chair of Diversity worked closely with the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Steering Committee, the Board of Trustees Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and College staff on a series of informative, well-attended virtual events.
A less exciting, but nonetheless important goal met was updating the Alumni Association Board of Directors Bylaws and all position descriptions to reflect the realities of today’s environment.
Currently, we are developing a series of initiatives for the 2021–2022 academic year. The Board plans to partner with the Friends of Skidmore Athletics (FOSA) Leadership Council to revitalize Homecoming. We’ll continue promoting alumni giving and expanding affinity-based alumni engagement opportunities. We are all excited to resume meeting on campus and look forward to participating in exciting campus events including President Conner’s Inauguration, this year’s Commencement and Reunion 2022! We hope to see you on campus or at some of the many regional alumni events to be held across the country. On behalf of the entire Board, let me express my gratitude for all that you do to support our Skidmore.
Sincerely,
Robert F. Resnick ’88
Alumni Association President