Tapping the Potential of Graduate Ties

By Jenny Marc. Anita Straujuma, the director of alumni relations at Riga Technical University, in Latvia, has spent much of the past year on a one-woman crusade. Bouncing back and forth between department leaders and professors, she has been searching for any and every staff member willing to share in public a positive story from his or her time at the school.
“We had very good cooperation with the computer sciences and architecture departments,” Ms. Straujuma said by phone from her office in Riga. “But others were — hesitant.”
Ms. Straujuma was hired by the university in September 2012 to direct its first graduate association. With just two part-time student helpers, she has been building the operation from scratch. More...