Carrie Slaathaug named permanent alumni director

January 1, 2020

Carrie Slaathaug, interim director of Alumni and Family Engagement at Dakota State University, has been named to the position permanently.

“Carrie is a natural for this role,” said Mark Millage, vice president for Institutional Advancement at DSU. “She is an established member of the DSU Foundation team, and is an active leader in the campus community,” he added. Slaathaug had been Annual Fund and Phonathon Manager since 2016 and was named interim director in May 2019.

“Carrie is engaging our alumni, students, and their families, and is already hard at work planning a number of events – near and far – that will provide meaningful opportunities to strengthen these relationships,” Millage stated.

Because she has been including families in her efforts, this was highlighted in the new position, Millage pointed out.

“The addition of ‘family’ to Carrie’s job title emphasizes the importance of her continued work in engaging the families of our students through regular communication and activities. They are important partners when it comes to student recruitment and retention,” he said.

 Slaathaug is looking forward to melding the engagement efforts to include both alumni and family members. “These are not the same in terms of engagement, but there are significant overlaps that will lend themselves well to being managed by this position.”

She noted that Dakota State alumni are proud, but often quiet champions of the university.

“I’m hoping to provide up-to-date, more frequent information regarding DSU to our alumni and family members so that they can confidently (and less quietly) share it with those around them. So much is happening at Dakota State and we need to arm our best advocates of the university with that information,” Slaathaug said.