Explore how BYUH Alumni Association connects graduates, supports students and aids university growth
While reviving memories at reunions has its place, Peter Chan, Alumni Association board member for the Asia region, said the true purpose of the organization is to inspire people to act. With 10 board executive board members overseeing 37 countries and regional chapters, AA main objectives are to expand the alumni network worldwide, provide jobs and internships for students and raduates, give back to the university and engage in impactful community services, the Alumni Relations website says. Lei Cummings, AR manager, credited alumni and donors alongside BYUH President’s Council role in the growth of the university.
Carrying Aloha abroad
All alumni chapters in Asia were created in late 2023, Chan said, about a year after Cummings reactivated AA and formed the board members. For that milestone, Chan and his wife visited several cities in Asia, including Taipei, Taiwan. At the first of three gatherings, he met a graduate who had distanced himself from the Church since leaving BYUH and from “many of the good things he once held dear” after a painful divorce, he shared. Hearing about the BYUH alumni gathering, the alumnus eagerly attended, Chan said. “When we parted, [the graduate] was reflective and deeply moved, reminded of the spirit he first felt at BYU–Hawaii,” Chan said. To Chan, he said, it was an example of how to keep the Spirit of Aloha alive thousands of miles from Laie.
Chan said the spirit of Aloha is BYUH’s identity, “built on love, respect, integrity, diligence, cooperation and other uplifting qualities.” Coming from Hong Kong, where materialism and competition are common, he said it is easy for alumni to forget those essential lessons once they leave campus. His advice, he continued, is that “Wherever alumni are and whatever cultural situation they live in, if they keep those qualities, they’ll stand out to leaders and professionals around the world,” he said. To illustrate, Chan said he has often seen professionals impressed with BYUH graduates who avoid smoking, drinking, drugs and immorality and instead focus on service, which is what makes them unique.
Chan said alumni chapters play a critical role in helping graduates remember what truly matters and keeping the BYUH spirit alive. Cummings said the chapters are equally essential for the university to stay connected with alumni. One of AR’s main challenges, she said, is tracking updated contact information after graduation. This is where chapter presidencies help by distributing forms to their members. Cummings said AR also relies on chapters to send out surveys identifying alumni with job or internship opportunities for current students.
The true purpose of the Alumni Association is to inspire people to act.
Building success together
Since the AA’s reactivation, Cummings said she and the board have focused on creating chapters and committees to recruit alumni to give back to the university and serve in their regions. One of the AA’s “big things,” she said, is helping graduates find jobs once they return home. Career Services helps current students to find the opportunity, but “if students are ready to graduate and don’t have a job opportunity set up yet, we would encourage them to reach out to their chapter leaders back home through the AR website,” she said.
Cummings said BYUH alumni now have access to the ’Ohana Network, or PeopleGrove, a CES platform where alumni can apply for jobs, mentor students or give referrals. She said alumni must apply for approval after creating an account, and connecting through LinkedIn speeds up the process. In some countries, alumni also mentor fresh graduates and hold career fairs in their regions, she said.
Chan said chapters help students prepare for international leadership by providing mentoring and internship opportunities. “As the world becomes increasingly competitive, our students need that extra support to succeed,” he said. Quoting a Chinese saying, “When you drink of the water, remember from whence it came,” he urged alumni to remember BYUH as their source of education and to support those who come after them.
Chan said the Professional Development Conference organized by the BYUH Alumni Chapter in Hong Kong on Aug. 23, 2025, showed how a chapter can support alumni, students and the university’s growth through donations. With more than 100 participants, the event felt like a “gathering of Israel centered on gospel-based education,” he said. The conference provided alumni a chance to connect and share expertise, gave students opportunities to plan and present, and offered the university “dozens of internship opportunities” across majors as well as donations from nonmember attendees.
Student internship story
Joy Tang, a marketing senior from Canada, said she was able to help with the Hong Kong conference while completing her summer 2025 internship in Guangdong, China. Tang said she secured the internship with New Sense Hygiene Product through Chan who came to campus and held a career workshop for students in Jan. 2025. As a business strategy and marketing intern, she said she worked closely with the CEO and project manager on the company’s expansion into the Canadian market. Tang said the internship gave her the chance to apply her business acumen, gain professional exposure and leverage her cross-cultural background and passion for strategic innovation.
Reflecting on her experience, Tang said working with alumni showed her how “purpose, consecration and excellence” define their service despite busy lives and multiple responsibilities. Knowing alumni around the world would stand behind her eases her fears about the future. “It feels like I will have Ohana everywhere,” she continued.
Tang said the alumni’s influence has changed the trajectory of her career path, leading her to Asia and showing her the joy of contributing to the Lord’s work. Looking ahead, Tang said she hopes to give back by mentoring students in their career searches and by following alumni examples of temple service and devotion to church callings.
It feels like I will have ohana everywhere.
Strengthening generations ahead
Cummings compared AR to a canoe where “anybody connected to the university is paddling together to push the canoe to its goal.” She explained: “President Kauwe and his council give direction, alumni help steer, and donors power the canoe forward.” With a laugh, she added that while students can just sit and enjoy the ride, AR provides opportunities such as the Genuine Gold Dinner. It is an on-campus dinner where “students get the opportunity to thank donors in person, and for the donors to get to know students they’ve helped.”
Looking to the future, Chan said alumni chapters in Asia strive to create a platform where alumni and like-minded professionals can gather, learn and uplift one another professionally and spiritually. “In the process, we expand what could be called the Church’s “storehouse of talents” and invite others to join us in doing good throughout the world,” he continued.