Michele Beach Harrington: Executive Director- Alumni and Employer Engagement Long Island University
Michele Beach Harrington
Executive Director- Alumni and Employer Engagement Long Island University
I was a little nervous meeting her; In large part because she drove up to meet me. We picked a diner in Brewster, NY so she could return home easily, via I-684, to the Long Island campus. For those of us, of a certain age, Michele was quick to remember, “That Brewster is the town where ‘That Girl’ was from.” (Marlo Thomas’ character in the 1960s television show.)
As John Lennon said: 'Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.’
She received a Bachelor in Science in Biology.
“Right after college I went into finance,” said Harrington referencing her work in Fixed Income and Corporate Bonds, “It was going to be a way to earn money for medical school.”
She worked on Wall Street for over 40 years.
Taking little time to correct the figures from my article about the closing of colleges by two different universities, she pointed out that the numbers I used underestimated the value of the Long Island University Endowment by almost half.
She is eager to learn more about the university. We talked about a wide range of topics, related to L.I.U. 's history. She quickly looked up to Larry Doby, who attended LIU Brooklyn and was the 2nd African-American baseball player in the major leagues-after Jackie Robinson.
I was proud to reference my article The Four Husbands of Marjorie Merriweather Post, and wanted to expand on it. She diplomatically mentioned that she had already finished reading the novel on Marjorie Post by former New York Governor Pataki’s daughter and instead recommended: “I find a copy of it.” She then added-almost giving me a way out with-“It’s a chick book.”
It’s worth noting that all of these comments above were offered up with the same unwavering, relaxed smile.
(You can probably see she brought a copy of the questions with her.)
A Few Minutes with Michele Beach Harrington
Question: You have an extensive career history in the financial field, you described it as “On Wall Street”. Why did you want to make the switch to academia?
Harrington: “I have a long time relationship with Kimberly Cline. It goes back to when we were two serious working moms in Garden City. I was on the 6 a.m. train every morning. She was heading up to Albany as Chief Financial Officer for the State University of New York (SUNY). In fact, her husband became one of my soccer coaches. She mentioned this position to me when it became available. Also, after years on Wall Street, I wanted to give something back.”
Question: Isn’t alumni affairs more marketing than finance?
Harrington: “At one point, I wanted to just teach a Money and Banking class or do fundraising. I started to spend time on the campus and I saw how beautiful it was. Frankly, as a trader, in bonds, I like to get things done. The bottom line here (LIU) is to engage alumni.”
Question: Speaking of finances, you are very aware that a private university, the size of Long Island University, has a painfully small endowment. What are your plans to try to fix that?
Harrington: “The endowment is close to $500 million. Not $220 million. But it needs to be improved. That is important because we continue to give out many scholarships. Among other things we have to reach out to many more of the alumni. They have contacted some of the notable ones, successful alumni, of course. But we are trying to reach out to the many of the two hundred and eight thousand others and get them more engaged. Even if they can only contribute small amounts, such as fifty to one hundred dollars, it could all be very helpful to improve the picture. In addition, we have planned more outreach programs. For example, we are in the process of providing interactive cooking classes, once a month, where alumni can join in and have fun. They are only $15 dollars per class.”
Question: Other things?
Harrington: “We are currently interviewing students to start calling alumni for their support. We are looking for those with a strong appetite for this work and a friendly manner. Also a wonderful tool to reach out to alumni when there are problems in various areas of the nation, like hurricanes down south of forest fires. We want to simply call people to thank them for coming to events and provide outreach so they can feel more involved with the school. Also, we need to get more graduates to help run regional alumni groups. We are planning to do something with the baseball team this season. Maybe we can bring in more on Larry Doby?
Question: I haven’t gotten a call from LIU in many years myself.
Harrington: “Well, get ready, once we finish training these people, you will.”
Question: I’m very flattered that you came to meet me up here in God’s Country. You are a person who is willing to travel. You have an office at CW Post in Brookville, “on-site”. Just curious, how often do you think you’ll be visiting Brooklyn? Or traveling around the country?
Harrington: “Just a couple of weeks ago we had an alumni event down in North Palm Beach Country Club, Florida. Twenty people attended and we had made valuable contacts who we hope will join us in reinvigorating the alumni. Concerning the local campuses, when we are fully organized, we will have a person (from the alumni office) in Brooklyn at least once a week.”
Question: You mentioned Florida, what about other “active” regional alumni chapters are there?
Harrington: “Well, we talked about Marjorie Merriweather Post. You pointed out that she has a museum (Hillwood Estate) where her collection of paintings and Fabergé eggs, from her years in Russia, are located. That would be a great place to hold an event for our Washington, DC (including Virginia & Maryland) alumni chapter that we are forming. It would also include multiple, simultaneous, events for admissions recruitment as well.”
Catherine the Great Fabergé egg-left (Wikipedia)
Questions: Any other regional clubs?
Harrington: Hudson Valley, Northern New Jersey LIU NYC Brooklyn To go along with the LIU Long Island Club. But Southeast and Southwest Florida. We have a Heat Map and we can approximate where large cloisters of our people are living. This includes Seattle, California, Texas and a group in Hartford Connecticut. We also want to get our alumni engaged with new students and even come local to recruiting events around the nation.
Question: Visceral reaction here: You are a long time Long Island resident; You personally attended Bucknell. After nosing around your social media accounts I see several Ivy Leaguers “sprinkled” throughout your family tree. Now, take us back to the day BEFORE you decided to apply for the job here; What was your view of LIU then?
Harrington: “It’s undervalued. LIU always was thought of as not being a top competitive school. Now we have a top notch Business School. The A.I. programs are being incorporated into many of our traditional majors. In fact, our musical theater is in the top 30 in the country. We are becoming a very competitive school. We need to emphasize the success of our Roc Nation program, not just to alumni but to employers and as a recruiting tool for new students.”
Question: How has that view changed?
Harrington: “I’ve gotten to meet some of the students and realized how strong some of these programs are. Notably the nursing program which is growing at both Brooklyn and Post. These are the things we need to make known out there. Additionally, we are getting more students applying to LIU, not less (the national trend). I can invision us like Northeastern University (in Boston Mass).”
Question: New programs, fields of study?
Harrington: How about a graduate culinary school in Brooklyn.
Question: Any plans for a new Alumni Directory?
Harrington: “We are committed to having an updated alumni director by next year.”
Question: If some foolish old graduate came up to you with the claim that many alums, who have updated their biographical information-including their email-are still NOT getting the on-line LIU Magazine-how would you respond?
Harrington: “I’m not disagreeing with you, We have a lot of contact information that is outdated. We are bringing cards, (to be filled out at events) where alumni can update their information. You might want to recommend that people follow us on LinkedIn where the launch of each new LIU Magazine is announced. By the way, the last edition was back in July and it should come out twice a year.”
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NOTE: Here is a URL for that official LIU LinkedIn site she mentioned: https://tinyurl.com/5dm22pd7
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Question: You mention events, multiple? How many per month will your department be involved with?
Harrington: “I’d say between three and five monthly. This includes sporting events on-campus. We find a lot of alumni, who played sports, like to come back for events. Also, some events for the newly formed regional groups. LIU is missing traditional pep rallies, the fashion department just had a fabulous career event and we need to capitalize on them, etc.”
Question: I always leave the tough ones for last: Southampton College. Are those alumni lost to you?
Harrington: “No, I don’t think so. It is unfortunate that things happened that way (closing/selling the Southampton campus). We want to form a small LIU Southampton club.”
Question: What other ideas do you have to try and resurrect that relationship?
Harrington: “We would like to plan a trip out there with alumni members this Spring, that is a work-in-progress however. I’ve recently been in touch with the Stonybrook people and they are very nice. They have an event in July and would like us to take an LIU Southampton table. I will keep you posted on that.”
Question: How about a room for them at C.W. Post or even L.I.U. Brooklyn?
Harrington: “I will ask.”
Question: Can you give us a preview? 2026 is the 100th anniversary of the founding of Long Island University. Any exciting things we can hope to see? (That may seem like an unfair one, but I’m guessing it came up in your job interview.)
Harrington: It will be called LIU 100! It will kick off at Homecoming this year (Fall 2025). This will include Tillis Center musical events, Roosevelt School Courses of civics and democracy and Hutton House lectures; The contributions of the Pharmacy school which was the beginning of LIU.
Here are some additional things we hope to do: the contribution of majors, sports alumni, etc. Perhaps a 40 under 40 celebration of our leading young alumni? It will continue through the calendar year of 2026 and include events, university growth, alumni accomplishments. etc”
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