Western Alumni
Year In Review 2021

Your Alumni Association: Year in Review

The Alumni Association Year in Review provides an overview of our achievements and activities in the 2020-2021 fiscal year, as we work together to realize our vision of inspiring all alumni to share a lifelong pride and passion for Western.

We are the catalyst for building a vigorous and engaged alumni network and nurturing lifelong relationships between the university and our 328,000 alumni in over 160 countries around the world.

This year, the COVID-19 pandemic continued to challenge our traditional programming, but we proved to be flexible by meeting the needs of our alumni in more innovative ways.

Our Highlights

Virtual Events Icon

27,800

Alumni and friends registered for our 75 virtual programs and events
Grad Box Icon

9,095

Grad boxes were distributed to the Class of 2020 — our newest alumni — to welcome them into the Alumni Association
Homecoming 2020 Icon

7,359

Devices were used to view our virtual Homecoming programming from 38 countries
Western Day Icon

2,950

Gifts were sent to alumni in celebration of Western Day, which was celebrated in 52 countries
Zoom Icon

1,220

Global registrants for our Senior Alumni Virtual Program. Previous (in-person) lectures were capped at 600 local members.
Alumni Donated Icon

8,683

Alumni donated to support our students, research and cross-campus initiatives
Career Coaching Icon

454

Alumni career coaching appointments (2020)
Volunteer Icon

408

Alumni volunteered their time with us
Alumni Grant Icon

$960,000

Was granted by the Alumni Legacy Committee for Western initiatives
Homecoming Banner 2020

Homecoming 2020 took place virtually for the first time in 71 years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

53 Homecoming-related events were offered across campus, including through our affiliated colleges.

This year's signature event, Western Stories & Songs, showcased multi-genre musical performances woven together with alumni stories, bringing together a diversity of Western experiences.

This thought-provoking, upbeat, nostalgic and high-energy program was hosted by CTV’s etalk L.A. correspondent, Liz Trinnear and Homecoming Chair, David Simmonds.

The show featured performances by BAM!, Genevieve Fisher, The McAuley Boys, Rick McGhie and superstar DJ duo and JUNO-award winners, Loud Luxury.

Our virtual Homecoming program was viewed on 7,359 different devices from 38 countries around the world.

And we received 811,000 impressions on social media.

We also had more than 2,700 views of our internationaly-focused Homecoming content on Weibo and 366 views on WeChat.

Ambassador Program & Alumni Chapters

  • Western’s Alumni Ambassador Program was expanded from Singapore, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Montreal and Paris to include New York City.
  • We began work to establish the Black and Indigenous alumni chapters, as well as the Western Wrestling Alumni Chapter.
Learn more about our shared interest groups

Perks

  • 54,340 alumni took advantage of affinity partner preferred rates (2020).
  • 1,517 alumni have downloaded the Purple Perks app, which provides exclusive alumni offers, access to financial services, campus perks, contests, our alumni event listings and news stories, so you can stay up to date with Western. It’s also an easy way to access your digital alumni card.
  • 3,130 traditional alumni cards were issued.
Download the Purple Perks app today!

Lifelong Learning

  • 7,052 alumni participated in 12 Western Alumni led learning sessions.
  • 531 alumni participated in Building a Meaningful Life and Career, a four-session masterclass delivered by Western Alumni and Western’s Careers & Experience department.
  • 34 learning events were hosted in conjunction with our campus partners.
View our upcoming Lifelong Learning offerings

Western Alumni Business Directory

  • 178 alumni-owned businesses registered to be a part of our new Western Alumni Business Directory.
Support a Western alumni-owned business today!

Athletic Alumni Engagement

  • Despite an absence of live varsity athletic events, Mustangs alumni and fans kept the tradition alive through 17 virtual events that included the Hockey Hot Stove series, Rowing Gala, Football Huddle and Basketball Courtside Chats.

Kind Mail

  • 4,131 pieces of Kind Mail were sent from alumni to students in residence. Another 100 were sent to students living off campus.
  • 618 messages from alumni were posted to our digital Kind Mail message board, which was shared with every student at Western.
  • $1,940 was raised for the Parr Centre for Thriving.


Your Western Alumni Association

Western’s Alumni Association is a non-profit organization led by an all-alumni volunteer Board of Directors.

Members give their time and talent freely to deliver the best alumni experience through active participation in alumni and student engagement programs, and supporting university governance, student recruitment and development opportunities.

Meet your Board

2020-21 Western Alumni Association Board of Directors

Mark Brown

Mark Brown
MBA’95 (President)

Melanie Peacock

Melanie Peacock
MBA’90 (President-Elect)

Trisha Beausaert

Trisha Beausaert
BA’11

Amy Bi

Amy Bi
BA’07

Warren Bongard

Warren Bongard
LLB’91

Kant Chong

Kant Chong
BA’03

Sandra Datars Bere

Sandra Datars Bere
BA’87, MPA’06

Matt Helfand

Matt Helfand
BA’13, MA’14, JD’18

Shannon MacDonald

Shannon MacDonald
BA’90

Susy Martins

Susy Martins
BA’01, BA’03, MBA’08

Daniel Matthews

Daniel Matthews
BSc’09, JD’14

Farah Perelmuter

Farah Perelmuter
BA’91

Laura Spero

Laura Spero
BA’95

Lisa Richards

Lisa Richards
BA’06

Ashley Rowe

Ashley Rowe
BA’11

Patrick Searle

Patrick Searle
BA’11

Promod Sharma

Promod Sharma
BSc’84

David Simmonds

David Simmonds
BA’07



Alumni Association Appointees

Representatives to the Board of Governors: Greg Dick, BSc’93, Keith Gibbons, BA’76, Sarah Shortreed, BESc’89, and David Simmonds, BA’07.

Representatives to the Senate: Anne Baxter, BA’91, Sandra Datars Bere, BA’87, MPA’06, and Gary West, BA’68.

Representatives to Campus Council: Robert Collins, BA’77, and Jim Etherington, BA’61.

Appointees to the Honorary Degrees Committee: Susy Martins, HBA’01, BA’03, MBA’08, and Christine Tabbert, LLB’98.

Appointees to the Strategic Planning Steering Committee: Mark Brown, MBA’95, and David Simmonds, BA’07.

Social engagement

Social Reach Icon

3.7 million

impressions from alumni social media initiatives (2020)
Instagram Icon

7,456

Instagram followers, with 1,300 new ones this fiscal year.
Twitter Icon

4,511

Twitter followers, with 465 new ones this fiscal year
Join Conversation

Join the conversation:

We're @westernualumni on Twitter and Instagram.

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