NSU looking to finish alumni association membership challenge

Through the end of 2010, Northeastern State University is trailing rival University of Central Oklahoma in the President's Cup Alumni Association Membership Challenge. The President's Cup is a friendly competition to increase alumni association membership.

"To win the competition, we must post the largest percent membership gain in our alumni association," said Daniel Johnson, director of alumni services at NSU. "We're excited that we've increased our membership by more than 20 percent, but we still trail UCO by four percentage points."

The alumni associations at NSU and UCO kicked off the membership competition during the NSU-UCO football game at Doc Wadley Stadium on Oct 23. The competition was started retroactively at the beginning of the fiscal year on July 1, 2010 and runs through June 30, 2011. The challenge is named for the trophy NSU and UCO compete for each autumn on the gridiron.

"We are down but most definitely not out," Johnson said. "We are certainly within reach of making up the ground and surpassing UCO. We will be more proactive in our appeals to grow membership, and we plan to implement broad-reaching tactics including direct mail and Facebook advertising to help us close the gap."

Johnson said the associations are engaged in a multi-year focus on alumni association membership growth and are playing on the long-standing sports rivalry between NSU and UCO to draw attention to respective alumni involvement with the universities.

"This is a mutually engaging challenge," said Johnson. "It is an ongoing campaign through the website, the alumni e-newsletter, Imprints magazine and we will pull out all the stops to make sure NSU comes out on top."

To join the NSU Alumni Association or for more information, visit nsualumni.com.