Welcome + Housekeeping

Welcome to the inaugural issue of the AALS Institutional Advancement Section monthly newsletter! Brought to you by your IA Section Officers, this newsletter will provide info on upcoming professional development opportunities, share recommended resources, and even crowdsource helpful info through membership surveys and polls.

Our goal is to make this discussion list as engaging as helpful as possible for our members as we discuss topics at the intersection of law school advancement and communications. So please feel free to make use of the email lists! Here’s a quick recap of how they work.

All members are automatically part of the Full Membership List

Upon joining the section, you can also indicate if you’d like to join the Advancement/Development List and/or the Marketing & Communications List. Members can manage their discussion lists, indicate how they’d like to receive communications (individual emails or daily digests), or unsubscribe using this Manage your Subscription link.

• Full Membership List – [email protected]
  Emails may include announcements about annual meeting, job postings, or questions/resources at the intersection of communications, development, and alumni relations.

• Development List – [email protected]
  Emails may include questions/resources related to fundraising, reunions, or other topics specific to alumni relations/development professionals.

• Marketing & Communications List – [email protected]
  Emails may include questions/resources related to social media, marketing, websites, or other topics specific to communications professionals.

Upcoming Events

We’re excited to launch a casual monthly webinar series on topics in law school alumni relations, development, marketing, and communications. IA Section members will be invited to join in these events, which will include mini-presentations as well as plenty of open discussion, resource-sharing, and brainstorming. Our first event will take place in April.

The Impact of the Pandemic on our Profession

Monday, April 19, 2021 / 12 p.m. EDT

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a rapid transition in the way higher education communications/marketing and development/alumni relations offices and officers do business. This interactive session will explore how these two functions have transformed their daily tasks, share best practices, lessons learned, and explore new ways to operate in a virtual educational environment. We will split up into small groups based on practice area, and Executive Committee members will moderate discussions.

Stay tuned for more updates on events to cover dean transitions, promoting faculty scholarship, consultant hiring, board membership, and more.

Good Reads

• We’re Measuring Social Media Wrong – Inside Higher Ed
  An interesting take on “why followers and engagement rate don’t matter”




• Take Your Event to the Next Level – CASE
  Helpful tips on creative alumni engagement




• Virtual Scholarship Events – IA Section
  Resources from a recent discussion hosted by our advancement colleagues

Questions? Contact Us! 

Feel free to reach out to your IA Section Officers:

• Heather Foss, Co-Chair, University of Maryland King Carey School of Law
• Victoria Grantham, Co-Chair, Fordham University School of Law
• Brian Costello, Co-Chair Elect, LMU Loyola Law School
• Emily Cherry, The University of Richmond School of Law
• Elizabeth Field, The George Washington University Law School
• Brooke Herndon, Vermont Law School
• Mary Ann Soden, University of California, Irvine School of Law