Running Head: TECHNOLOGY, RELEVANCE AND CONTROL 1 Technology, Relevance and Control in Alumni Relations By

The field of institutional advancement in higher education comprises the professions of alumni relations, fundraising, and communications. This paper examines how the widespread public adoption and rapid growth of certain technologies is affecting the role of alumni organizations. Specifically, alumni associations no longer play the central role they did before the advent of powerful internet tools such as search engines and social networking web sites. Alumni can now organize events and activities on their own, without relying on their alma mater's alumni office as a central clearinghouse for communication and organization. Having lost their monopoly over the ownership of alumni contact information and information publishing, alumni organizations must consider new ways of supporting alumni interests and serving alumni needs, in order to provide an ongoing connection between alumni and their alma mater. This paper reviews external changes affecting the relevance of alumni organizations, and presents alternatives that may allow those organizations to renew their relevance to alumni populations