By Melanie Conner
Student and Alumni Affairs Liaison, APUS

As the Alumni Advisory Council (AAC) prepares to embark on its fourth year, we are delighted to announce that we received a number of nominations from our School of Arts & Humanities; School of Business; School of Education; School of Health Sciences; School of Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math; and School of Security & Global Studies. APUS alumni from as early as the class of 2004 applied, and most nominations had a reoccurring theme: alumni engagement and networking.

Up to five members were selected from each of the six schools to allow for a more even representation of our alumni. We also selected a president, vice president, secretary and webmaster.

In total, we have 33 members on the council to represent the alumni community. Here are the president, vice president, secretary and webmaster of the 2020 Alumni Advisory Council:

• Lauren Crabtree, class of 2016 and class of 2018, began serving on the AAC in 2018, and she was elected to serve as President of our 2020 council. For 2020, Lauren hopes to maintain and to improve university-alumni relationships and to identify opportunities to increase alumni engagement.

Lauren is a University Ambassador and is an active mentor in ClearPath. She is active on social media, including the Elevate platform, and is active in the Insider HQ platform. Lauren is continuing her education at Capella University and is pursuing a Ph.D. in psychology.

• Oluwaseyi Lawal, class of 2018, was elected to serve as vice president for our 2020 council. For 2020, Oluwaseyi hopes to help the council improve the ClearPath mentoring platform, help with career coaching and encourage more student participation in school programs. He hopes to enhance networking and communication among students and alumni.

Oluwaseyi says, “I care about the well-being of people and have a great listening attitude with effective communication skills.” He’ll be a great addition to our council with his strong leadership and communication skills.

• George (who goes by Ross) Patterson, class of 2010 and class of 2019, was elected to serve as secretary of our 2020 council. Ross is a wonderful addition to our council, as he currently serves as an AMU University Ambassador and participates in a number of promotional activities with the university, including Insider HQ and Elevate.

Ross was recently recognized as a social influencer for Elevate. He is an engaged alumnus and recognizes that there are opportunities for alumni to mentor and to engage students. We look forward to collaborating with Ross and the council on this further.

• Lewis Taylor, class of 2013 and class of 2016, was elected to serve as the webmaster for our 2020 council. Lew founded and serves as president emeritus of the APUS Historical Studies Honor Society.

He is also the editor-in-chief of The Saber & Scroll Journal: A Publication of the Historical Studies Honor Society, and he is president of the APUS Anthropology Club. Lew was the 2015 recipient of the University’s Alumni Service Award; he is also active on social media and looks forward to his new role as webmaster.

Alumni Advisory Council Members Will Discuss Ideas during Regular Meetings

The Alumni Advisory Council will have members from each school attend quarterly meetings. Council members and university staff will explore ways to further support and engage alumni as we advance the university’s mission.

Kisha LoBianco, Team Manager for the Office of Student and Alumni Affairs, says, “We are excited to see the participation from our newest council members. The council has played a large role in previous alumni networking and engagement, such as helping to contribute to the newest updates to our ClearPath community.”

We’ll close out the 2019 council in early January when we have the current members meet with the president, vice president, secretary and webmaster to share their vision for 2020. The council’s vision for 2020 is to listen and to learn. We look forward to seeing how the council members will contribute toward alumni services and benefits and what wonderful things the council will do in 2020.