By Patricia Breakey
Delhi News Bureau
DELHI _ SUNY Delhi alumni have a new high-tech way to stay in touch with their alma mater and classmates via the Internet, the college's Alumni/Annual Giving Coordinator Lucinda Brydon said Friday.
GrafiQa Creative Services recently designed, built and launched the social-media powered website at www.SUNYDelhiAlumni.org for the SUNY Delhi Alumni Association.
"This is a really exciting venture," said Joel Smith, State University College of Technology at Delhi's College Foundation advancement/executive director. "It had its origin when President Candace Vancko and I were out on the road reaching out to alumni."
Smith said the alumni talked about treasuring their experience and liked reminiscing about their college days, but often were too busy to get back to the campus.
"We asked ourselves how we could make SUNY Delhi part of their daily lives," Smith said. "We decided to build a really robust website that would transmit breaking news on a daily basis and bring them back to SUNY Delhi."
He said SUNY Delhi Communications and New Media Manager Kim MacLeod contacted several website builders looking for a company that would wed social and e-marketing tools including Flickr, YouTube, blogging, Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn with the college website.
"SUNY Delhi is focused on giving our alumni more ways to stay connected with each other and with their college," MacLeod said in a media release. "From day one when GrafiQa launched our new website, hundreds of people got involved and active by following us on Twitter, Facebook and other social-media tools. This has been a huge success."
Smith said the website's page views nearly doubled between June and December when the count exceeded 5,000.
Brydon said 100 people signed up for the eNewsletter in the alumni forum and the number of e-mail addresses for alumni has increased by 10 percent to over 7,000.
"This website is all about creating ways for SUNY Delhi to make more powerful connections with alumni, which means more overall advancement and development," GrafiQa president Christopher Quereau said in media release. "SUNY Delhi understood that social media, when done correctly, can be a great way to continue the lasting relationships that its students build while attending school there."
Brydon said there are plans to have live video feeds on the website during alumni weekend for those who can't attend in person.
"The website is a model for alumni engagement," Smith said Friday.
Founded in 1913 in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains, SUNY Delhi has a current enrollment of 3,183 students and offers technology-based education with more than 40 associate degree programs and 13 baccalaureate programs.
GrafiQa Creative Services is a strategic marketing, branding, design and web development company located in Oneonta and Binghamton.
