Bringing Grinnell Alumni Together

“I guess alumni is sort of my brand, right?”

Karmi Mattson ’97 is describing why she pledged a $150,000 gift to name the exterior garden event space behind Grinnell College’s new Alumni House.

Bringing alumni together has been a forte of Mattson’s since she graduated 27 years ago. It began when she was a class agent and continued as an Alumni Council member and longtime coordinator of the Grinnell-in-the-Twin Cities Regional Community.

Once renovations are complete to a historic home at 1527 Broad St., the Hannah Alumni House will be home to many future alumni gatherings. Interior construction began in November.

“When Director of Planned Giving Buddy Boulton told me about this opportunity for Alumni House, I thought about how people always talk about coming back to campus and trying to stay at Grinnell House,” Mattson says. “But sometimes Grinnell House is booked. So, it will be nice to have a place that’s really dedicated for alums where they can stay or hang out. I think of my time on the Alumni Council, when we spent a lot of time just hanging out at the Comfort Inn or the Country Inn because that’s where we all stayed. It’s more fun to be closer to campus, though, and be a part of the College experience.”

The Mattson Garden will be a gathering place for alums during formal events and informal get-togethers.

“Generally, when I’ve been back for Reunion, there has been gorgeous weather,” Mattson says. “People want to hang out outside, so an outdoor space where alums can gather appealed to me.”

During her time on the Alumni Council, she began the tradition of photo montages of Alumni Award winners at Alumni Assembly. Little did she know that Mattson herself would become the subject of a slideshow at Reunion 2022, when she was bestowed with an Alumni Award during the class of 1997’s 25th reunion.

“As a former member of the Alumni Council, I was on the award selection committee for many years, so I know the debates and the discussions that go into that and how hard those decisions are to make,” Mattson said. “It was definitely an honor to receive the award and good to be recognized for the work that I do for the College.”

In 2002, Mattson joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis as an administrative assistant and rose through the ranks over the last two decades. She is now the assistant vice president of regional outreach and public programs. Mattson and her team have sought to increase the Fed’s reach and diversify its audience with public-facing programming.

In addition, Mattson has a side career as a wellness coach, workshop facilitator, and adjunct trainer for Weight Watchers. She just celebrated 15 years in this role.

Since 2008, Mattson has planned around 150 alumni events in the Twin Cities, ranging from summer picnics and Minnesota Twins games to outings that support fellow Grinnellians.

“Early in his career, when Kumail Nanjiani ’01 was in town to do an episode of National Public Radio’s Wits, we organized an event to see him,” she says. “We did this even before he was super well known because of that loyalty to other Grinnell alums. Even if you’ve never met this person, you think ‘oh, he’s one of us, so I want to go cheer for him.’”

It’s not just famous alums that Twin Cities Grinnellians turn out to see, however. “Grinnellians are lifelong learners, so some of our most popular events are when we hear from fellow alums about their areas of expertise,” Mattson says. Examples have included an art history lecture by Carleton College Professor of Art History Ross Elfine ’95; a walking architecture tour led by architect Bob Mack ’66; film discussions of Bonnie and Clyde and Die Hard with Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Professor Emeritus of Film and Literature Pete Parshall ’58; and a Grinnellians in government forum with Minnesota’s Commissioner of Human Rights Rebecca Lucero ’03 and Minnesota’s Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources Sarah Strommen ’95.

Mattson has played a role in alumni making connections in other locales as well. In 2016, she set up the Karmi Anna J. Mattson Endowed Fund for the Office of Development and Alumni Relations (DAR).

“Event planning is an overlooked part of charitable giving,” Mattson says. “A lot of people want to give to students and to scholarships, and maybe to buildings, and that’s all very important and valid. But I think people don’t necessarily think about how it costs money to have alumni events. It’s great to bring alums together, but there’s a cost to that, and those things don’t necessarily get funded by alums. So that’s why I started my original fund for DAR.”

During the past two years, the fund was used for student-alumni gatherings in Chicago and New Orleans. In 2023, the Student Government Association (SGA) co-sponsored a weekend trip for students to Chicago. The Alumni Relations team arranged a luncheon for the students to meet with local alums, and what better way to bring people together than over Chicago pizza?

During spring break this year, a group of students and faculty traveled to New Orleans as part of the Institute for Global Engagement’s (IGE) course titled Sugar, Science, and Slavery. With support from the Mattson Fund, the traveling group met alums for an afternoon reception at a local Haitian restaurant (pictured below).

Mattson credits her relationship with Boulton for giving her the idea for the DAR endowed fund as well as Mattson Garden. “The development staff in DAR are really committed to working with donors to help them find meaningful ways to invest in the College. One year, the fund financed the Grinnell-in-London alumni picnic, which was special to me because I was in the Grinnell-in-London study abroad program when I was a student.”

Mattson has stayed involved with Grinnell because her time at the College was a formative part of her life.

“I met people at Grinnell that are still my closest friends, and even after college there were lots of new people that I continued to meet,” she said. “When I was involved with the Alumni Council, I got to meet people of different eras and in different parts of the country. And being in the Twin Cities, we have a high alumni concentration here. I’ve enjoyed getting to know all of them. Grinnellians are great people, so I like to stay connected, and I like to do things that help connect other Grinnellians to each other.”

Karmi Mattson’s Grinnell Volunteer Resume

Karmi Mattson has volunteered in several capacities over the years. Here are some of her volunteer roles:

• Reunion Class Committees (1997-present)
• Class Agent (1997-2013)
• Regional Coordinator for the Grinnell Office of Admission (1998-2014)
• Alumni Council (2006-2012), president in 2010-11
• Regional Coordinator, Grinnell-in-the-Twin Cities (2008-present)

Originally published in the Fall 2024 issue of The Grinnell Magazine.