<p>Eve F. Ornstedt, currently director of career and admission programs for the Office of Alumni Relations, has been chosen to direct the planning, preparation, and presentation of activities that will mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of Brown University in 1764.</p>

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Eve F. Ornstedt, currently director of career and admission programs for the Office of Alumni Relations at Brown University, has been appointed executive director of the University’s 250th anniversary.

“The 250th anniversary of Brown’s founding marks a significant opportunity to reflect on the University’s rich history, celebrate its enduring contributions, and imagine its future,” said Wendy J. Strothman, a 1972 Brown graduate, former secretary of the Corporation, and one of three co-chairs of the 250th Anniversary Steering Committee. “With much of the preparatory work and conceptual discussion well in hand, Eve’s appointment marks a new and more active planning phase as the University approaches the launch of the celebration in 2014. Her familiarity with the University’s constituents and her experience at planning and executing important University programs make her an excellent choice to lead that work.”

A 250th Anniversary Steering Committee of Corporation members, alumni, faculty, staff, and students — about two dozen members — has been working since April 2011. Committee members have conducted site visits, interviewed planners of anniversary celebrations at peer institutions and reviewed their plans and published materials. Ornstedt will help coordinate the work of seven subcommittees:

  • Academic forums and events — Recruiting, coordinating, and arranging supplemental funding as necessary for academic forums, conferences, exhibits, ensuring breadth and depth of faculty involvement in the semiquincentenary.
  • Identity and theme development — Overall themes and the look and feel of anniversary materials, including a logo.
  • Anchor events — Oversight and coordination of two major public events (March and September 2014).
  • Publications — Planning, coordination, and quality assurance for print, Web, video, and audio materials.
  • Constituent engagement — Outreach and communication with the campus community, including support for campus events.
  • Community engagement — Coordination and outreach to Brown’s host city, state and local communities.
  • Memorabilia — Overseeing plans and production of mementos and other anniversary memorabilia.

Other co-chairs of the steering committee, in addition to Strothman, are Russell Carey, a 1991 graduate and executive vice president for policy and planning, and Ralph Rosenberg, a 1986 graduate, Brown trustee, and former co-chair of the Brown Annual Fund.

Ornstedt began her duties Aug. 1, 2012, on a half-time basis as she completes current projects and makes the transition from Alumni Relations. In her new position, she will work within the Office of Public Affairs and University Relations in Nicholson House and will report to Vice President Marisa Quinn.

Eve F. Ornstedt

A graduate of Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., (B.A., political science, 1991), Ornstedt came to Alumni Relations at Brown in 1999 as assistant director of careers and young alumni programs. In her 13 years at Brown, Ornstedt has worked with the broader alumni community, managing programs that sustain and enhance alumni involvement with the University and enlisting alumni expertise on behalf of graduating seniors, recent alumni, and a variety of University programs.

In her current position, Ornstedt oversees three of the University’s most important alumni engagement programs, engaging thousands of alumni, students and prospective students annually:

  • Alumni Career Programs, which provide mentoring, networking, information interviews, and other career tools and programs for alumni and students;
  • Brown Alumni Schools Committees (BASC), which enlist alumni in the annual task of interviewing applicants to the University;
  • Alumni College Advising Program, which provides college information and counseling for alumni and their high-school children as they begin the work of applying to college.

Ornstedt established Brown’s extensive suite of career tools and programs which serve the alumni community, including the development and promotion of the Brown Alumni Career Navigator (Executive/Career Coach Referral Program, Alumni Career Webinar Series, Brown Alumni Job Board, and BRUnet, Brown’s online career network), the Women’s Launch Pad mentoring program, and the Brown in Boston Internship Program, among others

Prior to joining the Alumni Relations staff at Brown, Ornstedt worked for three years at Save the Bay, one of Rhode Island’s leading environmental action groups, managing community and membership promotions. Prior to that, she served for three years as a development assistant at the American Institute for Cancer Research in Washington, D.C.

“The 250th anniversary is an important milestone in Brown’s history,” Ornstedt said, “and I am honored to have the opportunity to work with the entire Brown community to help create an engaging and memorable celebration for all.”