University Advancement

Bryant’s University Advancement Division encompasses the offices of Development, Advancement Services, and Alumni and Parent Engagement. University Advancement coordinates all fundraising and constituent engagement marketing, communications, and programming to Bryant’s primary audiences including alumni, parents, friends, corporations, and charitable foundations.

The strength of the Bryant community is reflected by the commitment and generosity of our faculty and staff, whose time, talents, and contributions to the Campus Campaign help define the University’s programs and services.

University Advancement welcomes your participation and support.

The Office of Alumni and Parent Engagement is charged with developing and implementing compelling programs of engagement to foster lifelong relationships and enhance the value of a Bryant education, and has a number of initiatives to maintain a strong alumni network and encourage interaction among alumni, faculty, parents and current students.

The Office is responsible for the Parents Council, a group of 30-40 parents who have made Bryant a philanthropic priority through annual gifts of at least $2,500.  The Council meets twice per year on campus to hear directly about academic and other programs that impact students.  Members also volunteer as mentors for the IDEA program and other on campus competitions.

Each year, the Office hosts over 65 programs throughout the world, and several involve faculty as speakers or moderators for alumni panels. They also sponsor an annual webinar series, featuring alumni and faculty presenters.  And they publish a monthly e-newsletter for alumni and a separate newsletter for parents.

The Alumni Engagement staff also provides a direct link between alumni and the university for classroom guest speakers and other alumni connections. Through the Alumni Speakers 2 Go program, they will provide small gifts for your alumni speakers as long as they know when they are coming and have an opportunity to say “hello.” Contact the Office for a link to the online form, or stop by and submit the names of your alumni guest speakers and the class they are visiting to pick up an appreciation gift. Alumni staff can also help identify potential speakers, take care of bios, and generally act as liaison with the alumnus/a.

Alumni Engagement maintains a secure web based database of all 50,000 alumni that is searchable by keyword, industry, class year, geography and name. In addition, they have an official Alumni Association Linked-In site and have a strong presence on Facebook and other social media. They also use a platform called AlumniFire, which students and faculty can access to view profiles of alumni and parents who have volunteered to mentor, create shadow opportunities, or provide informational interviews and jobs.  (Bryant.Alumnifire.com)  Each of these resources is available for faculty to use.  Contact the office at x6040 or alumni@bryant.edu or contact staff directly: Robin Warde P’17, Executive Director of Alumni and Parent Engagement (rwarde@bryant.edu)  Kathleen Brown, Director of Constituent Relations (kbrown@bryant.edu), Jessica Dang ’16, Program Officer (jdang@bryant.edu), Meg Cummins, Manager of Online Alumni Engagement (mcummins@bryant.edu), Jillian Walinski ’21, Coordinator.

The Development Office is charged with raising philanthropic support, including sponsorships, for Bryant’s strategic initiatives/priorities from a broad range of constituents including alumni, parents, foundations, and corporations.  Faculty and Staff are active donors to the Campus Campaign for Students in which Faculty and Staff giving supports programs across the campus including; the Bryant Campus Scholarship Fund, 1769 Scholarship, the Student Book Fund, and Black & Gold athletics, among others. Gifts have been made in memory of past faculty and staff members, and/or can be directed to the academic or student focused program of your choice.

The Development Office requests that all faculty, staff, and student organizations that would like to seek external support from alumni, parents, corporations or foundations please contact the Development Office prior to making any solicitation.

To contact the Development Office staff please call x6250 or contact staff directly:

Ed Magro, Executive Director of Development at x6528 (emagro@bryant.edu)
Robin Richardson, Sr. Dir. Corporate & Foundation Relations at x6814 (rarich@bryant.edu)
Nora Marzocchi, Director, Bryant Fund at x6592 (nmarzocc@bryant.edu)

The Advancement Services department provides an information infrastructure and quality data services in support of the division of University Advancement.  Partnering with the Development, Alumni and Parent Engagement and University Relations departments, Advancement Services provides professional resources and solutions to Advancement’s internal and external constituents, incorporating accountability, flexibility, and confidentiality while continuously improving systems and procedures.

Any requests for lists or reports containing information about Bryant alumni must first be approved by the Director of Alumni and Parent Engagement.  All charitable gifts to Bryant University (whether for academic programs, facilities, athletics, student life, or other) MUST be directed to and recorded in the Advancement database by the department of Advancement Services, who will then issue a charitable receipt in accordance with IRS regulations.

Please contact the Development Office at 401-232-6250 for information on how to receive or solicit a gift for Bryant University.