The Alumni Association Board of Directors began the Alumni of Color Engagement (ACE) initiative in 2008.

ACE's Mission

The ACE initiative will address the barriers that exist between alumni of color and their ability to fully engage in the life of the college. The ACE committee is committed to enhancing the alumni of color experience by its charge to:

• Improve communication between the college and its alumni of color.
• Strengthen connectivity among affinity groupings of alumni of color (based on georgraphy, profession, era or class year, etc.)
• Involve a committee of volunteers that represents a wide variety of constituencies and stakeholders both on and off campus.
• Continually solicity input and feedback from alumni and others that will inform our process and efforst at every milepost.
• Measure and track progress in at least three key areas of engagement: volunteerism, event attendance and participation in the Annual Fund.
• Seeks answers to "what aren't we doing to engage alumni of color?" and "what are we doing that is inadvertently des-engaging alumni of color?"

Current Efforts

Homecoming Weekend 2012

The college will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the implementation of a policy for racial integration during Homecoming Weekend on October 5-7, 2012.  Please stay tuned to the Homecoming web site for more information soon!

Homecoming Weekend 2011

As a part of the 2011 campus Homecoming celebration, several ACE events were held. These included a reception for students and alumni, a back-to-school session and a dinner at the President's House.

At the dinner, alumnus Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja '67, a professor of African Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, spoke about his experience at Davidson and his hopes for the continued improvement of diversity at Davidson. Text of his remarks is available here (PDF).

Conexión Latina

The Office of Alumni Relations and the Organization of Latin American Students (OLAS) are partnering in the formation of a Latino/a alumni network.  Please contact Jesse Johnson '12 or Becca Taylor '06 if you are interested in volunteering with Conexión Latina!  Visit the OLAS web site for more information.  You can read a sample of the "Intercambio" newsletter here.