Joy Maxwell

Assistant director for Kansas City programs, KU Alumni Association

Years at current job: I started on Aug. 4, 2008. I’ve been in this position for about eight months. Before I started at the KU Alumni Association, I worked in the Office of Admissions and Scholarships as an admissions counselor.

Job duties: My main goal is to plan events that will strengthen relationships between Kansas City alumni and the unrivaled university they call home. I spend about 60 percent of my time planning events. These events typically have a networking, community service or athletic component. Another 20 percent is spent working with my Kansas City Alumni Chapter Board. This group of 21 men and women volunteer their time to plan and attend KU events in Kansas City. The other 20 percent of my job is spent working with other KUAA colleagues on their programs and events.

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Submitted/Elaine Warren

Joy Maxwell works with KU Alumni Association programs in Kansas City. She is based at the Edwards Campus.

Why is it important to have an alumni association representative at the Edwards Campus and in the Kansas City area? Kansas City is the nation’s largest community of Jayhawks. The KU Alumni Association spends countless hours planning KU events and working with alums in the area. My location gives me the opportunity to collaborate and promote community events at the Edwards Campus, without having to spend too much time on K-10.

What, in your opinion, is the best way to reach recent graduates and continue their goodwill toward the university? 1: We don’t wait until they graduate! The best way to inspire goodwill toward the university is to engage students when they are still undergraduates. Our office does a phenomenal job of getting students involved through the Student Alumni Association. These remarkable students enjoy valuable leadership opportunities with the chance to help plan Hawk Week and commencement events. They also act as Jayhawk ambassadors by upholding several campus traditions, including the drum exchange between KU and MU. We also grill up hot dogs and pass them out to students on their way to class every Friday before KU home football games, all in an effort to make students feel at home with the alumni association.

2: As a Kansas City chapter, we reach out to recent graduates by hosting a series of “young alumni” events. These take place every other month and run the gamut of activities — Hawktoberfest in the fall, a February wine tasting, a spring networking event hosted by businesses in the Kansas City area, happy hours and community service events sprinkled in throughout. All of our young alumni events provide an opportunity to network, which comes in handy as a new KU grad.

March basketball obviously excites alumni, but what are some of the other, best events and ways to get alums excited about KU? I think it’s a safe bet to assume that countless KU alumni feel an instant tie back to KU via Jayhawk basketball and football. But it’s more than that. I think our alumni base loves KU because of tradition. Our two biggest annual events in Kansas City are the Rock Chalk Ball — scheduled April 18 — and the Legends Golf Tournament, scheduled at Falcon Ridge on June 22. These traditions were created by the Greater Kansas City Alumni Chapter Board to tie Jayhawk alums back to KU. Other events have a community service, legislative or student recruitment tie. With this variety, all alumni can take ownership and give back to the university in the best way they see fit.

How do alumni relate to the Edwards Campus? It was in 1993 that KU opened the Edwards Campus, and I think if you ask any Jayhawk alum in the greater Kansas City area, they’d say they love having KU in their backyard. KU alumni are able to further their education through graduate programs and take part in a multitude of community events just by taking a short drive or walk to 127th and Quivira.