Asked to be Alumnae Chapter President
 

I was recently asked to be president of my alumnae chapter - the current president has been doing it a while and I think she'd like to step down. It's not an especially active chapter, has mostly older sisters, and I think they'd like to encourage younger sisters' participation. My question is this: what all does the alumnae chapter president do? How often are reports due, etc.? Also, my husband is military and I'm worried I'll only be around for another year or so - I mentioned this to her and she said even taking over for a year would be helpful. Any thoughts?

I'm not a Zeta but the Alpha Gam website has a full "job description" for each position. It tells you what reports are due and when, and when rituals/functions need to be completed.

I can tell you also the amount of work you take on is very dependent on the rest of your cabinet. If they don't do their job, you have to.

Good luck!

SthrnZeta, the current president and chapter sisters aren't going to discuss the position with you and walk you through this? Could you talk about this with someone NOW to see if this is something you can commit to?

the president has one report which is due by april 1st of each year. your district president will remind you that the report is due. you can do the entire report yourself, or your fellow officers can do the parts that pertain to them. it takes maybe 10 minutes to do.

your duties depend on the structure of your meetings. if your chapter prefers "business" type meetings, then you will preside over the meetings, and probably coordinate an agenda for the meeting. you do know that an alumnae chapter only has to have 5 official meetings to maintain their alumnae chapter status, don't you?

you would also preside and probably coordinate any meetings with your fellow officers. you might hold "ec" meetings once or twice a year.

the lines between officers are not as clearly defined in our alumnae world as they are in our collegiate chapters. while the v.p might be in charge of mailings, if she can't make it to the post office one month, you might have to fill in for her. she might have to preside over a meeting if you can't be there.

most often officers serve for a year, but chapters have the liberty to draft their own constitutions and officers might be listed as serving a different length of time.

you had said that you were going to be a collegiate advisor for the first time-think about how much free time you will have between family obligations, your advisorship and this potential alumnae position. i don't want to see you burn out.

any more questions, feel free to pm me.

Getting burned out is precisely what I'm afraid of. So far being MA hasn't taken up a HUGE chunk of my time yet but it certainly will come August and September. Like I said, my alumnae chapter isn't terribly active but it'd be neat if I could somehow change that and encourage the younger sisters in the area to participate and recruit them to be more active in the chapter - though with being unsure of how long I'll be here for, I'd feel bad dropping that ball in the middle of the race... On top of that, I'm waiting to hear back on my grad school application to Drexel online (going for a higher ed admin degree) which would theoretically start in late September if I were accepted.

I see what you mean about alumnae officers being different than collegiate though and that makes a lot of sense. I actually wasn't aware that we only had to hold 5 events a year :o I've seen alumnae officers just kind of linger in their positions for several terms and I get the feeling that's what the current president has done. She also doesn't do a whole lot online so it may feel like more of a job to her than it would to me since I'm online literally all day for work anyway and taking 10 minutes out of my day to send in a report wouldn't be a big deal to me.

I would really love to do this but I definitely have some reservations about it. Between husband, job, advising, and hopefully school, I'm not sure how good a job I'd do. Right now I have the time, but not so sure about that once school starts (if I get in).

Thanks for the info FSUZeta - helpful as always! Will you be at convention? I just mailed in my registration and will be attending for the first time! :D

No, I won't be attending convention this time. You will have the time of your life!

I finished 2 terms as an Alumnae Chapter President and then took on the job of a GA for a collegiate chapter. There is no way I could have done both at the same time. Depending on the collegiate chapter and how many other Advisors there are, you may have a lot to do. I found the Alumnae Chapter President a job easily managed with good officers working with you. Plus in the alumnae world if no one will do it, then you don't do it. But to run a good Alumnae Chapter and be a good Advisor at the same time would definitely spread yourself thin.

Good Luck to you!