The Corporation at its Fall 2016 meeting approved a significant change, effective for the 2016-17 academic year, to the method of selecting New Alumni Trustees to enable students in their final year of study and recent alumni to vote on a slate of candidates for this important position. The change followed a year-long process of self-assessment the Corporation undertook to review its overall governance practices and procedures, including the processes for selecting trustees.

Previously, the New Alumni Trustee position (formerly known as the Young Alumni Trustee) was selected in a manner similar to other trustees. Informed by student input, including from the Undergraduate Council of Students, the selection process now promotes greater engagement of young alumni — including students about to become alumni — in alumni affairs and University governance.

Two Positions

Under the approved selection process (effective July 1, 2017), the Corporation now reserves two positions among its membership for New Alumni Trustees, appointed for staggered two-year terms. To provide for greater exposure to governance matters, each New Alumni Trustee will be asked to serve an additional year on a president’s advisory council or one of the Corporation committees that is open to members who are not currently on the Corporation.

Annual Election

New Alumni Trustees will be chosen by an annual election. Each year, one New Alumni Trustee will be elected from a slate of three candidates. Eligible voters in New Alumni Trustee elections will include undergraduate, graduate and medical students in the final year of study, and undergraduate, graduate, and medical alumni one to five years after their date of graduations.

New Alumni Trustee Candidate Advisory Committee

Under the process approved during the Fall 2016 Corporation meeting, a joint sub-committee of the Brown Alumni Association Trustee Selection Committee and the Corporation Trustee Vacancy Committee establishes criteria for and approves the final slate of New Alumni Trustees. A New Alumni Trustee Candidate Advisory Committee is charged with advising the joint sub-committee on the slate. The joint sub-committee has the final authority to determine the annual slate, including selecting candidates not recommended by the New Alumni Trustee Candidate Advisory Committee.

The New Alumni Trustee Candidate Advisory Committee is chaired by the Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy and comprises three presidents of the student governments, two members of the faculty, the Vice President for Alumni Relations, and the two current New Alumni Trustees. The New Alumni Trustee Candidate Advisory Committee is to solicit nominations (including self-nominations) from those eligible to vote in the annual election, as well as from senior administrators, including the Vice President for Campus Life and Students Services and the deans of the College, the Graduate School and the Medical School.

The slate of candidates for New Alumni Trustee elections is limited to undergraduate, graduate, and medical students in their final year of study, and undergraduate, graduate and medical alumni no more than three years after their graduation.

New Alumni Trustees may not serve on the Corporation while they are enrolled students at Brown. In the event a current student wins the election, but does not graduate or enters a Brown graduate or medical program, the runner-up in the election will be asked to serve.

Last updated June 13, 2019