Creating Connections that Last
Alumni leaders Anne Farland Arwood (left) and Nancy Hunt have much in common. Arwood is the current president of the RSPH Alumni Board, while Hunt was the first president in 1992. Arwood is a strategic planning manager with Emory’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center. Hunt is a consulting, learning, and talent development manager with Deloitte Services LLP and now lives in Massachusetts.
Alumni Association Flourishes
Alumni leaders in 1993 included (back row, L-R) Emy Lou Faber, Susan Richardson, Michelle Yaeger, and Warren Williams. Seated in the front row are (L-R) Jane Trowbridge, President-elect Dennis Jarvis, President Martha Alexander, and Past President Nancy Hunt. |
Nancy Hunt 87MPH can’t imagine her life without the professional and personal connections she has made through the RSPH. “They’ve kept me engaged with the school since I graduated,” says Hunt.
Twenty years ago, shortly after Rollins became a school, Hunt helped formalize the alumni association and served as the first alumni board president.
“We spent the first year figuring out where we wanted to go,” Hunt recalls. “The challenge was how to engage alumni to strengthen the school.”
As the school grew in size and reputation, the RSPH Alumni Board stepped up where needed. Board members worked with admissions staff to hold open houses for prospective students. Before the Office of Career Services was formed, alumni leaders created a mentoring program for students. Today, board members assist with admissions, career, and other events and lead several alumni committees. Rollins Alumni Ambassadors welcome and support new students and invite alumni to participate in school events.
Lisa Carlson 93MPH and Amri Johnson 96MPH, past board presidents, represent Rollins on the Association of Emory Alumni Board, strengthening the school’s ties with the university.
When the 25th anniversary of the MPH program approached in 1995, Carlson chaired a committee to mark the occasion that included presentation of the first Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award. In 2002, the RSPH Alumni Board established the Matthew Lee Girvin Award to recognize outstanding young professionals in honor of Girvin, a 1994 alumnus who died on a U.N. surveying mission in Mongolia. Both awards are presented each fall during the RSPH Alumni Reunion.
For Hunt, serving the school has enriched her life and provided a lasting network of colleagues and friends. “Those connections are invaluable,” she says.—Pam Auchmutey
