Our History and Mission

The mission of the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association is to enrich the alumni experience and foster beneficial relationships in the Johns Hopkins community. The Alumni Association carries out its mission through programs and services that connect alumni from across the university and around the world. The Alumni Association is governed by a 75-member Alumni Council.

History

In September of 1986, a task force was created by Steven Muller, then president of The Johns Hopkins University, "to study and evaluate ways of strengthening the mutually beneficial relationships that exist between The Johns Hopkins University and its alumni."

This task force, led by Wendell A. Smith, recommended that "an Alumni Council should be created as a new policy-making body to reflect the diverse academic backgrounds and dispersion of alumni throughout the world. The Council would establish policies relating to the organization and operation of the Alumni Association and act as a coordinating body for alumni programs. The Chairperson of the Council would be the President of the Alumni Association. The size and composition of membership of the Council should be determined by the President of the University and his designees in concert with appropriate officials of the Alumni Association." The first Annual Meeting of the newly formed Alumni Council was held in October 1989.