Working closely with the Alumni Association, a volunteer-led organization that provides benefits and services to WPI graduates, the division spearheads a wide range of alumni events and communications vehicles such as The Hill, The Bridge, and the alumni Website. In concert with the university's Marketing and Communications division, the office also contributes news and information to Transformations, the alumni magazine.
Among the many events and programs coordinated through University Advancement are annual class reunions, Homecoming, the annual scholarship dinner and donor recognition events, and the Imagine & Achieve series with the university president.
Higgins House, surrounded by a formal English garden, serves as the backdrop for many alumni events and houses the Office of the Vice President for University Advancement, the Office of Alumni Relations, and the Office of Advancement Events and Communications.
Built in 1923, Higgins House is a miniature duplicate of the Compton Wyngates castle in Warwickshire, England. The structure was built by WPI alumnus Aldus Chapin Higgins and his wife, May, who bequeathed the house to WPI in 1971.
The remaining offices in the Division of University Advancement are housed at 85 Prescott St. near the WPI campus.
The Odyssey of Naudin Oswell
WPI alumnus Naudin Oswell ’30, WPI’s first black graduate, was a pioneering leader in public housing in the United States as well as a trailblazing figure in the investment banking community. Read more about this remarkable WPI graduate in this expansive feature story.
