Alumni, Admissions offices take to phones for early welcome of students

Representatives from the Denver Campus Alumni Association recently teamed with Admissions Office staff in a phone-a-thon reaching out to incoming first-year and transfer students.

Jack Kroll (above left), past president CU Denver Student Government Association (SGA), lent a helping hand during the Aug. 7 phone-a-thon.

“This is a ‘yield enhancement’ activity that these two offices have done since 1997,” said Barbara Edwards, assistant vice chancellor for Enrollment Management. “The phone-a-thon is held during the weeks before the beginning of fall and spring semesters. The calls are focused on those new students that have registered for classes for the upcoming semesters, and it's intended to provide a welcome from alumni to CU Denver.

“We get great feedback from new students and their parents about how they enjoyed and appreciated this personal touch from CU Denver.”

Throughout the evening, 570 calls were made, 235 connected directly with students, 268 messages were left with a call-back number and request to contact the Admissions Office directly if they had any questions.

Among the outbound callers were 15 alumni callers including Dan Bush (above right), Urban Design and Urban and Regional Planning (MA'07) and Environmental Engineer (MPA '07), now with Matrix Environmental Services LLC.  He has served as a member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors and is taking on the role of president this year. Bush also has worked on the alumni scholarship committee and commencement.