Board Approves Five-Year Strategic Plan for Association
Plan Emphasizes Enhanced Ties to Staff, Value for Alumni

By TIM WHEELER
College Topics Staff Writer

Aiming to build on the successes of its first two decades, the Cavalier Daily Alumni Association has set its sights on strengthening the group’s ties to the staff of The Cavalier Daily and enhancing its value to alumni of the student-run paper.

Those are the two main goals of the strategic plan adopted by the alumni association’s 21-member board of directors at its fall meeting in Charlottesville on Sept. 28.

The plan does not call for radical change, explained CDAA President Diane Krehmeyer, but rather refines the group’s efforts over the next five years to reflect the growth and changes of the past 20.

“There really isn’t going to be a huge change in focus of activities—we’re just trying to be more streamlined, focusing on our core mission,’’ she said.

Since its formation in 1983, the association has been dedicated to providing professional, financial and even legal help and advice to The Cavalier Daily.

The paper has survived several crises and grown in size and financial stability over that time, as has the alumni association. With those changes, the association’s board recognized that the needs of the student staff, and of alumni also, have evolved.

“It’s important to take a step back, look objectively at where the organization has been and where it is currently in order to more effectively chart its future path,” Krehmeyer said.

The plan, drafted last spring, calls for enhancing the current programs offered by the association, including professional and technical assistance for the staff of The Cavalier Daily.
It also calls for refining and promoting more aggressively the scholarships and internships offered to students through the association.

In addition, though, the plan embraces three initiatives not specifically envisioned in the last strategic plan adopted by the association in 1994. Those are:

1) Expanding career assistance for students and recent alumni;

2) Pursuing, in partnership with the University Library, digital preservation of past issues of The Cavalier Daily and its predecessor, College Topics;

3) Writing a history of the paper, which dates back to 1890.

To support those initiatives, board members aim to improve the association’s Web site (www.cdalumni.org) to enhance communications and career networking among alumni.
They intend to recruit more volunteers to expand and sustain the group’s efforts on these and other fronts.

Fund-raising also is targeted for improvement, particularly with an eye toward supporting such potentially costly projects as digitally preserving the deteriorating bound volumes of old papers.
“We’re extremely enthusiastic about the future of the CDAA,” Krehmeyer said. “I think this strategic plan reflects that.”

Read the full text of the CDAA's Strategic Plan (Word Document)