DCU Voices

DCU VOICES 6 Staying connected in turbulent times DCU Director of Alumni Relations, Ross Munnelly talks to Eoin Sheahan about how the University’s alumni community retained and strengthened connections and activities during the pandemic. The primary aim of DCU Alumni is to connect the University’s graduate community, so the Covid-19 pandemic was always going to be a challenge. However, the more people were kept apart in a physical sense, the greater the connection became between graduates on a virtual level. “The past 18 months have provided us with an opportunity to take our events and initiatives in a different direction. We were still able to hold the majority of our events, but we did so in the online environment,” says Ross Munnelly, Director of Alumni Relations at DCU. DCU’s Alumni Awards, the office’s flagship event, was able to continue last summer in an online format, and it had a more global feel than ever. “We had people viewing the Alumni awards in many different countries,” says Munnelly. “Online platforms provided us with an opportunity to further develop the mentorship at DCU, and in particular the structured mentorship programme, whereby graduates mentor second year students. This programme subsequently doubled in size to 600 participants.” St. Patrick’s Day was another big event, with DCU alumni online events hosted by graduates in New York, San Francisco, Washington and Singapore. The US connection has been maintained in other ways too. “In the last year, we were also able to introduce the inaugural emerging leaders programme,” explains Munnelly. “We will continue with the activities which we feel have allowed us to connect and engage in a more meaningful way with our alumni across the globe.” “Twelve high potential leaders from our alumni community joined us for a six-month programme where they got to develop their own leadership skills through coffee mornings, fireside chats, psychometric testing and international networking with graduates from Notre Dame University and Arizona State University.” Since May 2020, Munnelly has also been acting joint head of student recruitment for DCU. One of the main focuses of his role has been to further develop the opportunity for graduates to promote both undergraduate and postgraduate study at DCU. “Our graduates have helped the University by sharing their journeys and their experiences from our three campuses, and the quality of their academic and extracurricular journey at DCU,” he says. While many will hope to return to normal in the not-too-distant future, DCU Alumni also plan on retaining the global initiatives sparked on by the pandemic. “Looking to the future, we are looking forward to bringing people together through in- person events, celebrations and networking opportunities but we will most certainly continue with the activities which we feel have allowed us to connect and engage in a more meaningful way with our alumni across the globe,” says Munnelly. It has never been easier to volunteer with DCU. In addition to the well-established volunteer opportunities, new initiatives such as the Instagram Takeover and the Business and Global Spotlights have proved a huge success in the last 12 months. To volunteer with the Alumni Office, please email alumni@dcu.ie ALUMNI RELATIONS Eoin Sheahan (BACommunication Studies, 2015) is a broadcast journalist with Newstalk andOff The Ball @EoinSheahan