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RESOURCES FOR SOCIETIES
CONTENTS INCLUDE INFORMATION ON:
(Click on each topic to go directly to section.)
1. ONLINE SOCIETY ADMINISTRATION
2. E-MAIL COMMUNICATIONS
3. WEB SITE SUPPORT
4. DEATH NOTIFICATION PROGRAM
5. CAREER ADVISORY SERVICES
Several functions for Society Administration are found at www.aogusma.org/Soc/index.htm. With a password that will be assigned to a president when he or she takes office and a society code, a president may access different kinds of information, which is updated daily and is therefore always current.
The functions offer you:
Area Lists in Table Format —
Lists graduates, widows, and widowers in a society’s area. It includes the following information for each graduate:
Your Society’s Code, Constituent’s Cullum #, Year of Graduation, Title, First Name, Middle Name, Last Name, Rank, Address, City, State, Zip, Country, Phone, E-mail Address, Address Date, Address Type (Denotes if Seasonal, Business, or Home)
Area Lists in CSV —
Same information as is found in Table Format, but now fields are comma separated. This format is commonly termed comma-separated values (CSV) and is readily importable into all modern database and spreadsheet products. The first line of the list contains the field headings. You simply copy and paste the lines into a notepad file and then import the file into your spreadsheet or database program. Detailed instructions appear at the end of this section.
Your Zip Codes —
These ranges designate your geographical area and are used to construct the lists available to you on the web.
E-Mail Lists for Constituents in Society Area —
Source for your society’s e-mail distribution list. An example of an area list e-mail address, in this case for the West Point Society of Northwest Ohio, is AreaList-OH5@mail.aogusma.org. This function shows you the names and e-mail addresses of members in your area list. It also includes a listing of those in your area without e-mail addresses. Finally, it will give you the percentage of constituents that have e-mail addresses on file.
Recent Arrivals to your Area —
Lists the recent arrivals to your society by month. Arrival information for the last quarter is available.
Member List in Table Format —
Displays members of your society in table format. The individuals on this list are not necessarily the constituents in your geographical region. Instead, the list contains only the members in good standing and it is maintained by the society. You use the Member Add/Drop option to create your own membership rosters (See paragraph h., below).
Member List in CSV Format —
Displays members of your society in comma-separated values.
Membership Adds and Drops —
Allows a society to add or drop individuals from its member list. To add a member, you only have to enter Last Name or the ID number (Cullum #) of your new member into the appropriate fields. To drop a member, press the button marked “delete a member” and follow the intructions.
The Association of Graduates provides society leaders and members a number of media for communicating information. Below, you’ll find descriptions of the purpose and characteristics of each.
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Society Leaders’ List Server
Purpose: Enables two-way communication by e-mail among society leaders and staffers in the Alumni Support Office on topics pertaining to societies, the AOG, or USMA.
Address: Societyleaders@mail.aogusma.org
Recipients: An original message sent to the address above will automatically go to all society leaders who have e-mail (and who have not removed themselves from the list.) Several members of the AOG staff will also receive the message, including the Vice-President for Alumni Support and the Director of the Organizational Support Program.
Remarks: A reply to a Society Leaders’ List message will not be sent to the entire population of the list; it will only go to the originator of the message. If a leader wants the entire population to see the reply, he or she must use the address above in either the “To” or “Cc” line of the e-mail form. When society presidents who have e-mail take office, the AOG automatically adds them to this list server, and it automatically removes them when they leave office. To unsubscribe from the Society Leaders’ list, send a message to: leave-societyleaders@mail.aogusma.org
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Society Area List
Purpose: Allows a society’s leaders to broadcast important low-volume, high-quality material such as the society newsletter or the details of a social event by e-mail within their region.
Address Template: Arealist-xxx@mail.aogusma.org
The “xxx” above represents a society’s three- or four- character code.
The President of the West Point Society of Alaska, for example, would communicate with those living in his society’s region by using the following address: Arealist-AK1@mail.aogusma.org
Recipients: All graduates and widows or widowers of deceased graduates who have e-mail and who also reside in the society’s designated geographical area as defined by zipcode ranges.
Remarks: Communication on an area list is primarily one-way. Only those designated as “moderators” can send messages to the population of the list. For a given society, the moderators will include the president and anyone else he or she wishes to name as one. If a person who is not a moderator attempts either to reply to a message on the area list or send an original message, the message will be blocked, and it will be released for transmission only if a moderator chooses to release it.
The moderator will be able to read the blocked message, which will be prefaced by these instructions: “The following message destined for area list–xxx has been received. This message requires your approval before it will be sent to the list. To approve this message, send the following two-line message to lyris@mail.aogusma.org:
Login (enter your password here)
Moderator approve ###”
In the instructions above, “xxx” represents a society’s three- or four-character code, and “###” will be a three-digit number supplied in the instructions. All society presidents will automatically be designated as moderators upon taking office, and the password used to release messages will be the same as the one he or she is given by the AOG to access society administration functions on the web. Should a society president wish to designate other moderators, he or she must first notify the Director, Organizational Support Program of the names of those moderators, and then the president must tell the additional moderators what the password is.
Moderators should not allow commercial solicitations on Area Lists, as these are inappropriate and will certainly annoy some society members. Moderators should also not allow political advocacy. Such messages may also be offensive to some society members and, furthermore, are prohibited by the regulations governing the AOG as a 501C (3) charitable corporation.
3. SOCIETY WEBSITE SUPPORT
The AOG will host any society’s website on its server, free of charge. It will take care of initial site design and subsequent editing or, if the society prefers, it will provide access for the society’s own webmaster to perform the work. Please contact the Director, Organizational Support Program for further information.
Below are specific instructions on how to copy the Area List into an Excel spreadsheet.
Go to the AOG homepage http://www.aogusma.org/, then click on Society pages on right side of screen.
Then click on Society Administration on left side of maps screen.
Type in your Society Code: (three- or four- character code) XX3, then Password: 1731
Click: GO
Click on Arealist in CSV, view listing.
Highlight: Heading and all names.
Click "Edit," "Copy".
From start menu, go to "Programs," "Accessories," "Notepad."
Paste the data into the notepad. Then
save the notepad file to hard drive or disk. Name the file societyroster.csv
Open the file in Excel. If you do not see the file name, change "All files of type:" to "All files."
Work in file and save in either .xls or .csv format.
Please feel free to contact the Organizational Support Office for assistance at 1-800-BE-A-GRAD, ext. 1612.
The AOG has centralized and continues to improve its program for collecting and disseminating information relating to the deaths of graduates. The following are its current features:
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The AOG serves as a focal point for collecting information.
Most classes are funneling information through their Class
Scribes, who in turn notify the AOG, but the AOG welcomes
information from any source. The primary contact at the
AOG is Joyce Perkins (800-232-4723, ext. 1617 — e-mail dns-report@aogusma.org).
The phone number is specific to the Death Notification Program
and will be answered by someone else in her absence.
As soon as possible after receiving information about a death, the AOG sends a preliminary notification message to all members of the class who have e-mail addresses on file in the Association’s database, and it also notifies the President of the West Point Society in whose region the deceased person resided. (Recipients have the option to be deleted from the notification list if they wish.) The AOG also notifies its internal staff, the Chairman, and the Superintendent, USMA. These preliminary messages are often lacking certain elements of information, but they are sent nonetheless because timeliness is crucial.
The AOG attempts to collect all pertinent information relating to the death. As a minimum, it tries to determine the date of death; place of death; place of interment; name, address, and telephone number of the next of kin; and cause of death.
The next-of-kin receives a sympathy letter from the President and COO of the AOG.
Once the AOG has gathered full information as specified in c., above, the Class President/Chairman and the West Point Society President both receive confirmation/notification via e-mail. (Society presidents may opt to receive this follow-up with a paper mailing or not at all if they so desire.)
If the funeral is scheduled for West Point:
A member of the AOG Executive Staff attends and presents a sympathy card from the Chairman and CEO of the AOG.
The AOG makes telephone contact with at
least one classmate, if there is one living in the geographic
area, to provide notification of the death and information about
the burial.
The Publications department sends a letter to the next-of-kin requesting the submission of a memorial article for TAPS supplement to the ASSEMBLY magzine.
The deceased’s name, class year, date of death, and place of death appears in “Last Roll Call” section of ASSEMBLY magazine.
Additional support, as requested, is provided to next-of-kin, family members, and/or classmates.
Ultimately, all information concerning the
death goes into the deceased’s Cullum File.
5. CAREER ADVISORY SERVICES
The AOG offers Career Advisory Services through the Career & Membership Services Department. Along with Career Advisement, the department maintains and participates in three Joint Service Academy products:
1. Service Academy Business Resource Directory (iSABRD)
The AOG's business directory is one of three joint career programs (along with SACC and JSAJE, described below). The AOG operates the iSABRD with the other federal service academy alumni organizations. It has become a premier business-to-business and career transition resource. In the iSABRD you will find business information submitted by 32,000 service academy graduates. A forums section is also available, where service academy graduates may post business items. The Service Academy Business Resource Directory is available online at www.isabrd.com.
2. Service Academy Career Conferences (SACC)
In 2005, 230 recruiting teams met with USMA graduates attending the three SACCs. These joint conferencse are hosted by the service academy alumni organizations exclusively for academy graduates. Whether you are making an initial transition from the military, a mid-career move, or simply monitoring the job market, the SACC is an ideal opportunity to meet with numerous employers who are expressly interested in hiring service academy graduates. The 2006 SACCs schedule consists of the following events: Arlington, VA, in May; San Diego, CA, in August, and San Antonio, TX, in November. For detailed information on SACCs, see www.sacc-jobfair.com.
3. Joint Service Academies Jobs Electronically (JSAJE)
JSAJE is the AOG's electronic, Internet-based job-listing and resume-posting service. It is for employers seeking to hire academy graduates and graduates searching for employment opportunities. USMA graduates may search listings and post their resumes free of charge.
If you have questions regarding Career Advisory Services, please call: 845-446-1618.
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