Summit History

The Inaugural Volunteer Leadership Summit grows out of the findings and recommendations of the Special Task Force on Engagement, an 18-member team of prominent alumni created by the University and the California State University, Northridge Foundation in 2010.

The Task Force members were given three assignments:

• To establish an external relations blueprint that will help to ensure the sustained excellence of the University in years to come.
• To help identify and hone key messages, communications vehicles and organizational strategies that will attract and retain a substantially larger cadre of successful and influential alumni and other key stakeholders to help guide and support the University.
• To begin the process of strengthening, expanding and integrating the University's volunteer leadership of the future.

In its June 2011 report, Engaging the Future of California State University, Northridge (PDF), the Task Force wrote that it is time for the University's key stakeholders—alumni, parents, friends and employers—to take greater collective responsibility for the University's future.

To accomplish this new level of engagement, the Task Force identified six core recommendations, including building opportunities for increased synergy among volunteers at all levels. Within this recommendation, it called for regular volunteer leadership summits, an annual state of the campus address to volunteer leaders by the University President and a well-planned communications platform for connecting volunteer leaders together whatever their primary campus focus.