Because contracting COVID-19 remains a risk, the Collegian Alumni Interest Group (AIG) Board of Directors conducted its annual meeting and elected new officers by Zoom.
The board unanimously approved a slate of officers offered by immediate past president Chuck Hall. They are: Jordan Hyman, president; Robyn Moses Radomski, vice president; Megan Hennigan, treasurer, and Barbara White Stack, secretary.
The board formed two committees, Student Engagement to be chaired by Hyman, and Alumni Engagement to be chaired by Radomski.
Any member of the Collegian AIG, which includes everyone who ever worked for The Collegian on both the news and business sides, is welcome to join and serve on either or both committees. Collegian alumni interested in joining can leave a message at the end of this post or contact Hyman or Radomski.
The Student Engagement committee will award scholarships and conduct seminars for Collegian staff such as the eight scheduled for this month to be held over Zoom. The Alumni Engagement committee will be responsible for communications with alumni, recruitment of new board members and completion of an alumni directory.
The outgoing Collegian AIG Board secretary, Stacie Coleman, reported that she and Hall worked closely with the Penn State Alumni Association to ensure that the Collegian AIG can receive financial support that the association provides to AIGs and regional alumni organizations. The Collegian AIG can use that money for activities such as conducting meetings and providing honorariums to speakers.
Collegian Editor in Chief Maddie Aiken reported to the board that the paper is being printed one day a week and the online version has been redesigned. The new design has an editor’s pick story leading the top of the page followed by two equal columns, side-by-side, devoted to news and sports.
She said the sports section remains highly popular with readers even though the sports staff was mainly writing features and following Big 10 news after COVID-19 caused the university to cancel most sports for the fall.
Aiken said some staff members are feeling stressed by the combination of remote classes and the necessity of reporting and writing remotely for the paper. Hall, Hyman and new board member Curt Harler all volunteered to assist staff members.
The board also discussed hiring a data science major as an intern to reconcile the list of Collegian alums that the Alumni Association has with the list that the AIG has so that the AIG can better communicate with its members.
The board welcomed four newly elected members: Radomski, Harler, Kevin Naff and Karen Pallotta.
The board thanked Hall for his years of devotion to the Collegian AIG, his work to rebuild the board as a functioning unit and his dedication to its communication efforts, including keeping its website active.
