The idea at the center of DeVry’s Care model is works to reinforce the idea that colleges and universities can’t demand loyalty, it must be earned by showing up before anything goes wrong. Rich Korczyk, DeVry’s Chief Experience Officer, builds the entire learner journey around that persistence. His team runs a digital care engine to catch the small tells, like a student who delays starting class by even a single day, and meets them with a nudge or a real person, so the relationship is already there when the hard moment comes. The first contact can’t be the problem.
Watch the full-length version on YouTube - 56 mins
DeVry has no homecoming, no tailgates, no nostalgia to lean on, so loyalty has to come entirely from continuing value. Deliver it persistently, Rich says, and the flywheel turns: graduates come back asking how they can help, and “we never have to make the ask.” For a field trained to appear at ask time, that is the whole lesson. Earn it first, every day, and the giving follows.
Big Themes This Week
You don’t demand loyalty, you earn it through value
Show up persistently, not just when something goes wrong
Deliver value first and the ask takes care of itself
Team Discussion Questions
When did our least engaged alumni last hear from us with no ask attached?
What’s our version of catching the early signal before it becomes a problem?
Where are we leaning on nostalgia instead of delivering ongoing value
Keynote summary produced primarily by AI
November Agora
Topic: Everybody’s Working for the (William & Mary) Weekend!
Date: Thursday, November 5 from 12 - 1 pm ET
Speaker: Kelly Holdcraft, Executive Director of Alumni Success at William & Mary
Kelly will detail William & Mary Weekend DC 2026 which featured nearly 50 events with more than half sold out, over 1,100 attendees, and 15 university schools and units represented over a four-day weekend. From a kickoff celebration with NFL alumni to an immersive MLB college game day to a presidential conversation on artificial intelligence to tours of our 90-foot coastal marine research vessel to a sold-out auction and more, the William & Mary Weekend offered once-in-a-lifetime intellectual, professional, cultural and social experiences to all who participated!
Faculty-in-Residence
Topic: Faculty-in-Residence Symposium with Dr. Jay Dillon
Date: Tuesday, November 10 from 12:30 - 1:30 pm ET
Speakers: Jay Dillon, Ryan Catherwood, and SE Member Panelists
We’ll conclude this Faculty-in-Residence experience with Jay Dillon by hosting a round table discussion on the themes from Alumni Identity. The Symposium will be hosted by SE Publisher Ryan Catherwood, and led by SE Members.
