New Alumni Leader Makes the Connections

“Maybe I can help them see what I discovered that there is a home at San Diego State even if your experience as a student was a little bit different.”

Chiloh Baty (’08) begins her year-long term as president of the San Diego State University Alumni Board of Advisors during what is possibly both the least and most opportune moment in the organization’s history. The ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic has significantly altered almost every alumni-sponsored event, yet technology now offers opportunities for engaging Aztec alumni worldwide like never before.

“I expect this to be a year of challenges and triumphs,” said Baty, who was confirmed as president June 3 during an online board meeting. Her new role began July 1.

Baty holds a degree in public administration from SDSU and works as a project manager for Dentons, the world’s largest  law firm by attorney head count. What she enjoys most about her career, she said, is the constant array of new challenges, opportunities, and learning experiences she encounters through project management.

The new president is an SDSU Alumni lifetime member who has served six years on the board. That’s a serious commitment from someone who, in her younger days, never thought she would even attend SDSU.

Getting involved

Baty lived much of her childhood in Mission Valley and recalls walking many times with her parents to San Diego Padres baseball games at what was then Jack Murphy Stadium. In her high school years SDSU never figured into her college plans. “I thought it was too big and I wanted to go to a smaller school,” she recalled.

But after a few years in community college, her thinking changed. “It was then so obvious that State really was the best place for me,” she said. “Looking back, I often laugh that I was pushing so hard against what was always going to be my home.”

As a student working full time at the law firm, Baty was rarely on campus outside of her classes. “I really didn’t take the time to see everything the school had to offer,” she said.

After graduation, she reconnected with SDSU by attending events, volunteering on campus, donating to various programs, and joining the alumni board. “I’m thrilled that after the fact I am so involved,” Baty said.

A different experience

Baty believes her experience as a nontraditional student will serve her well in her role as SDSU Alumni president. She hopes to be a voice for members of the alumni community who are no longer connected to the university. 

“Maybe I can help them see what I discovered,” she said, “that there is a home at San Diego State even if your experience as a student was a little bit different.”

With a knack for planning, Baty hopes to help SDSU Alumni engage more of the university’s graduates through enhanced career development offerings. “I really want to sit down and see how the board can shape what the Alumni office and all the great people there can do.”

Baty said she is comfortable with the uncertainty of the upcoming academic year. She welcomes all challenges and opportunities equally.

“These days we have to reach farther in a way that maybe we wouldn’t have thought about a year ago,” she said. Whether alumni will increasingly connect through videos or online webinars as opposed to physically gathering at events “we just have to take the focus off being unable to get together in person and emphasize how many more people can attend.”
Baty is planning for triumphs.