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ALUMNI AFFAIRS
Megan Snider Bailey ’12 (Tuscaloosa)
Hillary Beard ’12 (Washington, D.C.)
Emily Bell ’90 (Fairhope)
Dallas Culver ’77 (Decatur)
Peyton Caruthers Drysdale ’02
(Knoxville, Tenn.)
Catherine Gilliland ’14 (Chicago, Ill.)
Caroline Glass ’15 (Tuscaloosa)
Meg Hoagland Guyton ’75 (Tallahassee,
Fla.)
Liza Pugliese Hallsten ’08 (Leesville, La.)
Earlier this year, Birmingham-Southern launched a
new program to better reach prospective students by
using one of its greatest strengths: its graduates.
The Admission Ambassadors program, jointly run
by the BSC Alumni Association and the college’s
Office of Admission, tags alums to act as remote
recruiters. In that role, they may visit college fairs,
drop off materials at local schools, deliver acceptance
letters, or host get-togethers in their homes. The goal
is to make sure any interested high school student has
the opportunity to learn more about Birmingham-
Southern, no matter where they live.
“We don’t have the resources that some larger
universities have to place a professional recruiter
in all 50 states,” said Brittany Arias Sturdivant ’13,
an admission counselor who recruits in Huntsville,
Memphis, Mississippi, and Arkansas and coordinates
the Admission Ambassadors. “This program helps us
work with alumni who are in farther-out states that we
don’t get to visit very often.”
The response from alumni has been enthusiastic,
Sturdivant said—especially from young alumni like
her who want to give back to the college but don’t
have extensive financial resources. So far, more than
25 graduates have signed up from around the country,
including representatives in Texas, Florida, Illinois,
and the District of Columbia.
Take Grace Elliott ’13, who works for Union Pacific
in Omaha, Neb., and represented Birmingham-
Southern at the Omaha Area College Fair. She said
she had fun meeting with prospective students and
seeing what other schools were offering.
“The best part was getting to share BSC with
students who have never heard it before—which was
most of them!” Elliott said. “I really enjoyed telling
them about all the different programs the college
offers and also explaining that it’s a great place to go
to school if you want to go somewhere away from
home because of its tight-knit community and warm
culture.”
There’s no substitute for that kind of personalized
contact, said Coty Lovelady ’13, an admission
counselor who recruits in Birmingham, Montgomery,
and Florida. He recently attended an event in
Tallahassee hosted by Meg Hoagland Guyton ’76
that included six families interested in Birmingham-
Southern.
“It was a very relaxed atmosphere,” he said. “They
got to ask Meg and I really candid questions about
the college—there were even tears of happiness as we
talked about what BSC meant to us!”
Participants are armed with a fact sheet and
recruiting materials, but they’re mostly just expected
to provide a friendly contact and share their own BSC
experience, Sturdivant said. Any alum may participate
regardless of location, class year, or major. Simply
complete the online application at www.alumni.bsc.
edu/BeAnAmbassador and indicate what you’re able
to do to help, and an admission counselor in your
region will contact you.
Taking BSC’s message to prospective students
Kyle Hoffman ’14 (Birmingham)
Beth Douthit Holt ’73 (Rainbow City)
Lee Hopf ’11 (Green Bay, Wis.)
Corrine Jobe ’03 (Lake Worth, Fla.)
Stefanie Hall Lopez ’06 (Irving, Texas)
Laura Moore ’13 (Tallahassee, Fla.)
Benjamin Odendahl ’11
(Washington, D.C.)
Madeleine Walker Odendahl ’12
(Washington, D.C.)
Marc Parker ’09 (Birmingham)
Special thanks to our inaugural group
of Admission Ambassadors!
Ashley Rhea ’11 (Birmingham)
Donald Roser ’74 (Hoover)
Alexa Marie Ruiz ’13 (Houston, Texas)
Kyle Sherrin ’13 (Birmingham)
Bradlee Simoneaux ’08 (Atlanta, Ga.)
Dr. Ashlee Vinyard ’10 (Jackson,
Miss.)
Haley Williams ’14 (Orlando, Fla.)
Taylor Williams ’14 (Hyattsville, Md.)
Nino Christopher Yu Tiamco ’13
(Chicago, Ill.)