Inside INdiana Business is reporting the Indianapolis-based National FFA Organization has announced plans to realign its alumni association. The organization’s board of directors has approved recommendations that include renaming the association as the National FFA Alumni and Supporters.
Among the other changes coming with the realignment, the board has changed the alumni association’s bylaws to operational policies, which give the board the authority and responsibility for both alumni and student membership. The policies will be controlled by the board with recommendations from FFA staff and the newly-named National FFA Alumni and Supporters Advisory Committee.
“In order to be more inclusive of our volunteers, while still maintaining the recognition that our former members have come to know in FFA, the National FFA Board of Directors decided to change the name,” said Joshua Rusk, executive director of National FFA Alumni and Supporters. “In the National FFA Organization, you don’t have to be a former member to be an alumni member, and the board wanted the name to reflect that opportunity.”
The FFA is also eliminating the current alumni delegate process and annual alumni dues will be voted on electronically by all active FFA alumni members. Life dues will be set by the board.
The organization is also making changes to how the members of the advisory committee are selected. The committee will consist of a minimum of 12 people, including four regional representatives, two at-large members, three past National FFA Officers, as well as representatives from the American Association of Agricultural Education, the National Association of Agricultural Education, and the National Association of Supervisors of Agricultural Education.