NSU takes lead over UCO in Alumni Membership Challenge

Northeastern State University has pulled into the lead over the University of Central Oklahoma as a competition between the two institutions alumni associations heads into the final weeks.

NSU and UCO have been competing in the Presidents Cup Alumni Association Membership Challenge since October to see which group could enroll the most members from July 2010 to the end of June 2011.

UCO held the lead through the fall semester and early part of spring 2011, but over the past few weeks, NSU saw a spike in new alumni association enrollment, pushing it into the lead.

We have about a five or six point lead on UCO, based on percentage growth, said Daniel Johnson, director of alumni services at NSU. we've increased a little more than 30 percent in new members since July 1.

A good portion of the new members are recent graduates.

We've done a couple of big pushes, one with new grads, and we got a good response to graduating seniors signing up, Johnson said. we've just started communicating a whole lot more about the importance of membership, including added membership benefits. Just every chance we get, when we have a minute, were talking about membership.

The alumni associations contest will run through June 30. The association with the largest percentage growth will win the cup.