Serendipity

My first collegiate class was Cartooning with Ray “Sugar Ray” Hamman. What a wonderful introduction to college life. While studying the various types of cartoons and cartoonists, we learned how to use the library, study skills, writing papers and other general college-survival skills.

(My favorite cartoonist was Al Hirschfeld who hid his daughter's name in all of his drawings.)

What I remember most about this class was Professor Hamman’s appreciation for serendipity, which Webster’s defines as the “aptitude for making fortunate discoveries accidentally.”

So what brings this memory to mind now? We’re have “made a fortunate discovery” in the advancement division.

A few months back we decided to work to update the look of the online giving site. The vendor that we had purchased our alumni database from just happened to have a solution that would update the look - with a few additional features. Cool.

Now that the “Bluffton University Connects” site is live, we’re finding that in addition to being more visually-appealing, it is also more user-friendly. Now from just one secure site, alumni and friends will be able to update contact information – name, address, phone – maintain enewsletter subscriptions, make gifts and review giving history. Nice.

And on our end, we can better determine what news the majority of you are interested in. Which emails do you open? Which stories to you click through for more information? In theory this will enable me to create enewsletters which better provide the information you are most interested in receiving. Sweet.

Check out Bluffton University Connects. When you register, a live person will verify that you are an alumni or friend, and approve your registration. Once you have access, please enjoy using this new feature to stay connected to Bluffton.