Alumni Council

Alumni Council serves as the advisory body to the College on behalf of the Earlham Alumni Association. Council leadership can be reached via email by any Earlhamite.

Interested in serving on Alumni Council? Alumni of Earlham College are invited to apply to serve on Council by completing our nomination form. You can also nominate a fellow alum who might be a good fit.

Elected members may serve up to three consecutive three-year terms. Alumni Council meets twice each year on campus to focus on programs and communications to fulfill a number of goals including:

• facilitating the continuing relationship between Earlham College and its alumni
• encouraging communication and fellowship among alumni
• advancing the interest and needs of Earlham College
• aiding in general promotion of the College to its alumni and the public

In response to these goals, five committees with specific responsibilities carry out the work of Alumni Council:

• The Alumni-Alumni Committee connects alumni to each other as a way of increasing the benefits of being an Earlham alumnus through work with Class Chairs and reunion committees. The primary goal of the Alumni–Alumni committee is to recreate the sense of community that Earlhamites treasure.
• The Alumni-Campus Committee connects alumni to campus as a way of supporting Earlhamites who come after them and provides a way for their successors to connect with predecessors. The Alumni–Campus Committee facilitates alumni to campus relations by finding ways that they can support each other.
• The Membership and Leadership Development Committee is made up of two subcommittees.
  • The Leadership Development Subcommittee shall nominate Executive Committee officers and committee chairs, conduct and maintain annual self-evaluations of Council members, and generally promote the leadership development of Council members for the purpose of service to the Alumni Council and the College. 
  • The Membership Subcommittee manages the nomination/solicitation and selection process for new members, develops onboarding plans and materials for the orientation of new members, and invites or declines Council members for continuing terms.
• The Recognition Committee identifies and nominates Earlham alums for the Outstanding Alumni, Outstanding Young Alumni, and Distinguished Service to the College awards, facilitates the vetting and selection of recipients, and hosts/co-hosts the recognition ceremony.

Dear Earlham alum,

One of our jobs as Alumni Council members is to help keep alumni abreast of 1) what is happening with the Alumni Council and at Earlham and 2) our impressions of how our alma mater is doing and what it needs from its alumni.

In that vein of transparency and inclusion we are sending you a brief summary of our “in person” Fall 2023 Alumni Council meetings, which took place during Homecoming and Reunion Weekend in October.  

First, we all want to say that our impressions of present-day Earlham are extremely positive.  From the presentations we received, the events we attended and the students and faculty members with whom we spoke, we all gathered a sense that Earlham is in a very good place now. A few years back there were some serious concerns about the health and continued operation of the school. There are still some issues, but the overall status of the school is very encouraging.

In our view, Anne Houtman has been a very effective college president and she has brought together a very capable, successful staff.  Unfortunately, Anne has recently announced that she is retiring after the current school year in summer 2024.  She has been at Earlham almost 5 years, all of which were really impacted by the many facets of the pandemic.  However, she has been effective at turning around many of the challenges for the school, and does have a very strong senior staff in place that hopefully can continue that process.

Here are six items we learned in our meetings that we thought were most important for alumni to know:

1. Earlham has the largest entering class in years (225) and has an ambitious plan to increase enrollment.

2. The For Good Campaign has raised 99% of its $85 million goal. See this link to learn more about the campaign and its three goals. https://earlham.edu/campaign/for-good/

3. The EPIC program is a signature program at Earlham and is now incorporated throughout the Earlham experience. 

4. Earlham has added a few new majors (e.g. business, computer sciences, creative writing). Last year Global Management’s major had about 60 interested inquiries, now the new name of Business has prompted more than 350 student interested inquiries. Same program, new name.

5. Earlham is applying for a $25 million Lilly Endowment college/community collaborative grant to help revitalize the Richmond community. The College has also built a building right next to the grocery store (old Cox’s and Cutter’s), corner of College Ave. and National Road, with room for four local Indiana businesses. So far, a farm-to-table restaurant and donut shop have made commitments for space.  They should open within the next six months.

6. The current student body is made up of 20% international students and 58% of incoming students are Athletes.

Final note – Anne Houtman has created a solid foundation and framework from which the college is building on its Quaker specialness.  We came away from the weekend feeling Earlham still offers so much of what we all experienced but in an even more connected and articulated way.

If you have any questions, please feel free to communicate with any of us.

Respectfully,

Earlham Alumni Council Executive Committee

Wendy Smiseck ’91, Alumni Council Chair  

Brandy Bennett ‘05

Mary Branson ’78

Martha Hill ’79

Ken Huus ’93

Hans Kersten ’86

Chris Meyer ’69

Katherine Pawelczak ’01

Deborah Roose ’71