About SALC

The Student Alumni Leadership Council (SALC) was founded in 2017 as the student arm of the University of Maryland Alumni Association charged with connecting students and the alumni community. Revived from the framework set by the Student Alumni Board, founded by Rocky Lopes '80 in 1978, SALC has built off this past resource to fulfill our mission of connecting, cultivating and channeling the power of alumni to enrich themselves and advance the university. In order to ensure that SALC would be a longstanding organization, several measures were taken. First, external research was compiled from more than 50 colleges and universities with student-alumni programs, and internal research was conducted to explore gaps on campus with regard to student- alumni programming. Second, three focus groups were held for current students in order to survey what direction SALC should take and what events and programs the organization should create. Lastly, the inaugural SALC was a group of 20 hand-picked student leaders from across campus. This group helped shape the direction of the organization including its values, objectives, programs and events.

In its first full academic year as a student organization (2017-2018), SALC hosted 18 events and programs that reached nearly 2,300 current students. Also during this year SALC launched a quarterly newsletter to students, was invited to participate in Board of Trustees meetings, Board of Governors meetings, Advocacy Day, and other exclusive events, and worked diligently on reviving a history and traditions handbook for students. In 2022 Rocky Lopes established an award to provide Alumni Association memberships to SALC leaders upon graduation. Information on this award can be found here.

To date, SALC has received district-level and national recognition including:

In the future, SALC aims to:
• Continue to establish SALC as an elite organization on campus that is hosting events, encouraging engagement and instilling a culture of giving back.
• Build a pipeline of loyal and connected alumni through initiatives and programs with current students.
• Prime SALC members to be the next generation of alumni leaders for the university.

SALC is committed to celebrating diversity and fostering inclusivity by striving to increase identity awareness, amplifying the voices of minoritized people and demonstrating values of diversity, equity, and inclusion.