You may have been to the University of Utah Alumni House if you’ve had to pick up a MUSS Pass. The Alumni House is home to U Alumni, which works to “create and preserve lifelong relationships between U alumni and the university, U students and the community,” according to its website. But the MUSS is just one of the programs the Alumni House runs. It also works to connect students and alumni, give alumni discounts and engage students.

Forever Utah Network

One thing that the Alumni House offers is the Forever Utah Network, an online platform for students and staff alumni to communicate and keep in touch.

“That’s where students can connect with alumni on the network, look for a mentor, look for career advice, look for things like that,” said Kris Bosman, chief alumni relations officer for the U. “We have approximately 2,500 students or so on that network. We have 7,500 total people, and a good amount of them are students.”

U Alumni also hosts events for students and alumni. According to Bosman, there are almost 300,000 living U alumni around the world. International alumni events, like European reunions, connect these former students.

“We have a student alumni board and a MUSS board,” Bosman said. “Our main student events are run through those two organizations.”

U Alumni also collaborates with other organizations around campus to plan events and help students network.

“We also work with the U Career Success department over in the Garff building to offer networking and mentoring events to students,” Bosman said.

Other Benefits

There are also monetary benefits to being an alumnus of the University of Utah.

“They get a 20% discount at the bookstore, campus store, that sort of thing,” Bosman said.

Alumni can also get discounts to places like the Natural History Museum of Utah, Pioneer Theatre Company and Red Butte Garden, among others.

“Whether it’s the alumni magazine, newsletters, or social media, we communicate what’s happening at the university to alumni and about alumni, too,” Bosman said.

Student Engagement 

As for current students at the U, one of the four main pillars of U Alumni is preparing students to be engaged alumni.

“We probably serve around 10,000 students a year,” Bosman said. “One area that’s a really big thing that we do is we run the MUSS, and so that’s 7,000 students right there.”

The MUSS is a huge part of the university and not many other schools have a student section quite like it, Bosman said.

“Well, the fact that we run the MUSS is a huge deal, not a lot of other alumni offices do that. It’s a little bit unique to us,” Bosman said. “We have what I consider to be one of the best things that has ever happened for student engagement on campus in the last 25 years. The MUSS is obviously a pretty well-known organization that runs out of our office.”

Because student engagement is so important to the U Alumni, and sports are significant to college students, it’s really important for U Alumni to have that establishment within the MUSS, Bosman said.

“By providing this really cool student experience that connects to athletics in so many different ways is a really big privilege that we’re able to do that, so it’s really fun,” Bosman said.

Bosman said it’s important for students to know that all students are alumni from day one.

“From the minute they set foot on campus, they’re part of this alumni network just by being here,” Bosman said. “They should take advantage of the resources that we offer, whether it be the MUSS or our Forever Utah Network or any event that we do.”

“We’re here for students. Preparing students to be engaged alumni is a big deal for us,” Bosman said.

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