Wagner's new alumni director is a big fan of the Wagner Plan.
After 13 years in Western New York, Kenneth Lam has come back home to New York City to serve as director of alumni relations at Wagner College.
Lam is a graduate of the University at Buffalo, where he also began his career in higher education administration. His roots, however, are in the City, where his parents came in the late 1960s from their native China. Lam and his four sisters were all born at St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan and grew up in Queens.
Lam brings to Wagner four years of experience in working with Buffalo's 200,000-member alumni body. Lam holds a master's degree in higher education administration from Buffalo, where he is working on a doctorate as well.
Since coming to Wagner in February, Lam says that he has been struck by the warmth and hospitality of Wagner alumni. “Only a week after I started my job, Rita [King, president of the National Alumni Association Board] invited me to her house,” he says. “The alumni are genuine, real down-to-earth people.”
The Wagner Plan curriculum was one of the factors that attracted Lam to Grymes Hill. “As someone in higher education, I thought, 'Wow, this is amazing.' It's a program that provides the ideal learning environment for students.”
Lam believes that alumni can and should be intimately involved in supporting the College's overall goals. “I'm a big believer in college education,” he says. “I enjoy alumni relations because it can strengthen the institution and help students achieve their goals.”
If He Could Go Anywhere in the World …
While working in alumni relations for the University at Buffalo, Ken Lam traveled extensively to support alumni association chapters domestically and abroad. What are his favorite places to visit?
1. Southern California “For its great weather and picturesque views.”
2. Toronto, Ontario, Canada “For its diversity of people, cultural attractions, and hospitality.”
3. Washington, D.C. “I get chills every time I fly into the D.C.-area airports and get to see all the sights from the air, like the White House, Washington Monument, Capitol Building, etc., and think about all the history that happens here.”