New Director to Promote Alumni Programs
Each year, HSPH alumni receive letters in the mail requesting donations to the school. It is a common practice undertaken by most American universities. It is also the only time some alumni say they ever hear from HSPH. Sudha Kotha, the new director of alumni programs at the school, is out to change that perception. Her position is the first of its kind at HSPH, created specifically to provide programming and services to the alumni.
"The alumni weren't happy with the connection between fundraising and alumni relations," said Kotha. "We really didn't have any programming in place for them."
In the past, the school handled contacts with graduates through the Office of Development and Alumni Relations. Now, Kotha will engage HSPH alumni through the Office for Students. Fundraising activities will be conducted through the Development Office.
The
change came from a desire to broaden alumni relations and allow graduates
to be more closely involved with the school, said Ana Maria Alvarado,
director of annual giving in the Development Office. "We handled
both fundraising and relations, which was a lot," she said. "We
focused more on the fundraising part of it." She plans to work with
Kotha on alumni events such as reunions.
In her new role, Kotha hopes to create panels in which alumni return to the school to discuss issues in their chosen fields. She would like to set up a mentoring program in which current students are paired with local alumni. She envisions active collaborations with Career Services, Enrollment Services, faculty, and students.
"This position is program-oriented," said Kotha. "We plan to do more than 'eating-and-greeting' events."
She also plans to find out where many of the more than 7,000 living HSPH alumni have ended up.
Kotha has 10 years of experience in the public health field. When she graduated from Boston University with a degree in international relations and a minor in premedical sciences in 1990, she bucked family tradition and opted not to go to medical school. She went to the Channing Laboratory on Longwood Avenue as a research assistant. There, she worked on a normative aging study and met her future husband, Howard Hu, associate professor of occupational medicine in the Department of Environmental Health.
Kotha earned a master of public health degree in 1992 and worked at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where she helped design a new study of genetic risk factors for prostate cancer.
"It was wonderful because so much of what I was doing at work informed my studies and vice versa," said Kotha.
Her work at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute sparked an interest in bioethics and law, and she graduated from Boston College Law School in 1998. Throughout her employment and studies, Kotha met many HSPH members, she said.
"I was constantly being brought back into the community," she said.
The growing familiarity with the HSPH community prompted Kotha to seek work at the school. She found a temporary position at the Harvard AIDS Institute, where she worked as a development officer raising corporate and foundation funds. From there, she went to the Division of Public Health Practice as director of program development and the minority postdoctoral fellowship program.
"Having worked in a variety of public health disciplines," said Kotha, "I find that these experiences serve to create common ground with our alumni, and I hope to use these experiences to create programs that resonate with them. Throughout my career, I have worked with our faculty and our alumni, and this is a testament to the myriad ways in which our graduates use their degrees in their careers."
Said Robin Worth, assistant dean for students, "Sudha brings a wonderful blend of experience in the public health arena and a real flair for developing new programs. We eagerly anticipate her contributions."
Kotha will begin her new job on June 5.
