Joe Flanagan
By Matthew Laurrie
Features Assignment Editor
The Bonaventure experience doesn’t end after a student walks across the stage to receive their diploma. In fact, the Bonaventure connection is an unwritten bond carried throughout a lifetime.
At least Joe Flanagan, director of Alumni Services, thinks so.
Flanagan, ’74, received his bachelor’s degree in marketing from Bonaventure and then received his master’s degree in counseling from Oneonta State. After being away from his undergraduate alma mater for three years, Flanagan returned as a Residence Director in Devereux Hall for two years. Flanagan then took on the role as Director of Alumni Services after he was encouraged to apply for the position by members of the department.
Flanagan held the job for four years before pursuing his career at other schools. In 1992, however, he returned to his former position at Bona’s. Flanagan said most of his responsibilities involve organizing and coordinating different alumni events at Bonaventure and around the country.
“The alumni reunion in June is our biggest event, which we’ll get over 1,000 people back for, and then Homecoming is our second biggest event, which we’ll have in January or February usually, and we’ll get a couple hundred back for that,” he said.
Event planning is an extensive part of Flanagan’s job and entails catering to the thousands of Bonaventure alumni in a variety of forums.
“Last year, I think we did more than 75 alumni events and had over 6,000 people at those events,” he said.
Alumni Services is currently in the process of coordinating events in Syracuse and Colorado, according to Flanagan. He said spiritual outreach programs are also offered to alumni in their respective regions. In addition to agendas already in place, Flanagan said there are smaller, more leisurely duties his job requires.
“Really the quiet part of (my job) is answering individual requests from alumni,” Flanagan said. “People contact us first for information and questions. We (also) publish an alumni directory every five years, which we just published this year.”
Flanagan said he truly enjoys working at Alumni Services because it gives him a window into how Bonaventure graduates grow and prosper outside of the Bona bubble.
“I’m privileged to (work) with the alumni because their loyalty and what they give to the university is more than we ever give them,” he said. “You graduate from Bonaventure, and you don’t owe Bonaventure anything, but I think out of a sense of gratitude and appreciation for what Bonaventure did for them, alumni give back – they give their time, they help recruit students, they serve as mentors, they give their money, they hire our students.”
The best part of the job for Flanagan is keeping in touch and interacting with alumni and watching them cultivate their careers.
“It’s great to see some of the alumni blossom, especially alumni I’ve gotten to know over the years.”
