Coming soon to your area: alumni fellowship opportunities
A series of local alumni gatherings has already begun this spring semester, with more events to come in the summer and fall. Alumni Development Officer Andy Anderson ’93 and Coordinator of Alumni Relations Jeanne Bell ’92 are making plans for close-to-home Erskine fun.
Andy and his wife Lara hosted an open house for alumni in March 2023, before he was hired for his current staff position. A member of the Alumni Board at the time, he felt that alumni in the Columbia area needed opportunities for hometown fellowship. The open house event attracted alumni ranging from 2022 graduates to those from the 1960s and 1970s.
“It was a true blessing to see that complete strangers, apart from [having earned] a degree from the same institution, could find common ground and good fellowship,” Andy says, adding that this was possible “because of what Erskine gave to them.”
Once he became an Erskine staff member, he began thinking about how to facilitate regular get-togethers for alumni in their hometown areas. “Because it is easiest for me to plan in the area that I live in and am most familiar with, I started in Columbia.”
In the fall of 2023, Andy and Lara hosted a chocolate tasting in Columbia. Two alumni tailgate events, one in Columbia and one in Emory, Va., plus a concert gathering in Columbia also took place in the fall. Plans are in the works to replicate the chocolate tasting in the Anderson area this spring, and events in a variety of locations are in the works for 2024.
Jeanne, who devotes much of her attention to large events like Alumni Day and Homecoming, also takes time to plan and attend smaller gatherings. In late January she headed to Bonclarken Conference Center, bringing a little bit of Erskine to alumni in the Flat Rock, N.C. area with an “Alumni Drop-in for Doughnuts.”
“The Alumni Office brought doughnuts from Due West’s very own Mama’s Sweet Shoppe,” Jeanne says. “The doughnuts were a hit, and it was fun to fellowship with Flat Rock alumni!”
She was also on hand when alumni from the Due West area attended a Christmas gathering in the Bowie Arts Center at the end of the Fall 2023 semester.
“Aramark provided a beautiful spread as we hosted alumni from Due West and the surrounding area for a drop-in before the Choraleers concert,” Jeanne says. “It was another opportunity for the Alumni Office to thank our alumni, and everyone had a wonderful time!”
Check out this list of alumni events, which will be updated as plans are finalized. You will find concerts, tailgates, and even a nature walk!
