Emily Hockwater, ‘16, serves as the Director of Alumni Relations. We caught up with Emily to see how things are going being back at her alma mater.
You graduated from Daemen University in 2016 and went on to pursue your master’s degree in Central New York. What brought you back to Daemen?
I was planning my relocation back to the Buffalo area and saw the job opening and thought about how this was an exciting opportunity to creatively combine my background in history with my love of interacting with people. I also knew being an alum would allow me to have a unique perspective to better connect with our alumni community. While our student experiences were different, we still share a deep passion for Daemen. It was a career transition for me, but I found I had the transferable skills to take on the role and be successful. Plus, as a lifelong learner, I enjoy working in an academic setting.
What does your role as the Director of Alumni Relations entail?
As the Director of Alumni Relations, it is my role to establish and maintain relationships with over 20,000 alumni worldwide while also ensuring they stay connected to the university. One of my major duties is to create engaging activities and events for alumni to participate in, such as mixers, class reunions, and events on campus with current students. I am also on campus to promote alumni relations to current students so they understand what happens when they graduate. It is necessary to bridge the gap between students and alumni early on in the college experience.
Daemen alums go on to do great things, and you love to share their stories and accomplishments. How can graduates keep you posted on what they’re doing?
We always encourage alumni to send us their life updates. Whether it’s a new job, an engagement, or an exciting opportunity, we are interested in knowing about it all! Alums can easily let us know about these updates by using the form on the alumni section of the Daemen University website called “Class Notes” or emailing alumni@daemen.edu. We’ve recently also created both our Alumni Spotlights and Alumni Spotlight Stories series as another way to highlight the great accomplishments of our amazing alumni. As always, alums can engage with us on our Instagram and Facebook accounts.