Advancement and External Affairs Staff Honored for Engagement Efforts

Danielle Dalton, vice president of customer success for iModules, with Deanna Grannis; Camille Tisdel; Craig Heldman, president and CEO of iModules; Kate Ludwig; Rita McKinney; John Boccacino; and Ashley Lefebvre.

Syracuse University’s Division of Advancement and External Affairs (AEA) was honored for its role in increasing engagement during the 2018-19 academic year at the annual iModules Sizzler engagement conference.

On the first day of the industry’s premiere engagement conference in the country, during the inaugural Honor Roll Awards, Web Services and the Office of Alumni Engagement were recognized for increasing engagement with Syracuse University’s more than 241,000 alumni worldwide.

Among the ways iModules recognized the University’s commitment to increased engagement: Web Services and Alumni Engagement leveraged role-based events, role-based promotional codes, targeted email campaigns, pre-populated forms, digital itineraries and a vibrant events app to generate a 62-percent increase in alumni returning to campus for Orange Central.

These efforts not only led to more alumni returning to Syracuse to celebrate their Homecoming and Reunion weekend, they enhanced the alumni’s online registration experience and led to an increase in donations.

The communications efforts used to spearhead increased engagement generated email open rates that, on average, were 10 percent higher compared to other alumni email efforts.

“This is a tremendous honor for our team. We are always looking for new ways to engage with our alumni, and this award reflects our continued commitment to providing alumni with the best possible experience,” says Senior Vice President for Advancement and External Affairs and Chief Advancement Officer Matthew Ter Molen.

The AEA team members recognized for their efforts in increasing engagement are: Cindy Barry, digital media and web specialist; John Boccacino, communications specialist; Deanna Grannis, assistant director, engagement systems; Ashley Lefebvre, engagement systems coordinator; Kate Ludwig, associate director, affinity programs and reunions; Rita McKinney, engagement systems coordinator; Olivia Melinski, engagement systems coordinator; Mike Roy, digital media and web specialist; and Camille Tisdel, director of web services.

Syracuse University was one of four institutions to receive an Honor Roll Award, joining The Sage Colleges (Gain Efficiency), the University of Pittsburgh (Elevate Fundraising) and Dartmouth College (Build Brand Legacy).

In addition to the Honor Roll Award recognition, AEA colleagues were actively involved as conference presenters at Sizzler:

• John Boccacino, with a breakout session on launching an alumni podcast (the recently launched ’Cuse Conversations Podcast)
• Deanna Grannis and Kate Ludwig, with a breakout session on role-based event registrations (Orange Central)
• Camille Tisdel, with a SPARK general session to all conference attendees on using the iModules API to create digital itineraries