Mission Statement
The mission of the Alumni Association is to communicate with and bring value to the alumni body and to support, actively and financially, the goals of the University. The goal of the Alumni Association is to promote the best interests of Alcorn State University and its alumni. The objectives are:
- To promote and provide services to Alcorn State University, its students and alumni.
- To encourage continued growth, personally and professionally, and a spirit of fellowship among alumni.
- To assist in the recruitment of students.
- To work and plan in securing gifts to the University and to expand the financial support by alumni and other contributors.
- To recognize the distinguished services of the alumni.
We have come far, but we have far to go. Together we can set new priorities for the coming years. We must develop cooperative efforts with other alumni groups in the state that are mutually beneficial to the historically black colleges and universities.
We, as Alcornites, must join hands as partners in working toward a thriving university. We must stand and speak for what is true — true to ourselves, true to our God, true to our alma mater, and true to our fellow man.
Each of US can make a positive difference for Alcorn; but there are even greater differences that only we as a group can make. Truly, “Alcornites must pull together because together we got more pull.” “We the people” gives a message that is much more powerful than “I the person.”
If Alcorn has not succeeded in persuading its alumni to give after four years of experience on its campus, after having been subjected to the whole educational program of the institution, it has failed in its mission. If Alcorn trains its students to “get” but fails to train them to “give”, it really has no good reason for existence.
It must be the hallmark of the alumni that they are “giving” people. As Alcornites that applies to everything about you — your vocational service, your family life, your church activity, and your community relations. Giving should be evidenced also in your relationship to your alma mater, Alcorn. It is in teaching people to give — of themselves, their efforts, their devotion and their means — that universities like Alcorn really have their mission.
If that is true, then joining the National Alumni Association, contributing regularly to the Alcorn Foundation, recruiting students, and promoting the university’s like interests in the community become a yardstick for measuring how well Alcorn has been doing the job which is its reason for existence.
Your involvement in the National Alumni Association and participation in its many support programs are specific, concrete yardsticks, sent to Alcorn, to keep its records up to date. It’s like sending a sample of your life back to those who are engaged in teaching another student generation, to let them know that you are keeping the faith with them by being a members of the alumni association and a “giving person.”
What alumni program you participate in or how much time and money you give isn’t nearly as important as the fact that you are reporting in. If you do that regularly, I am sure you will see to it that the sample is one that does you justice.