Alumnus Marley Fischer Begins Work at College
Emily Cobb | March 30, 2023
Marley Fischer is the new Warren Wilson College (WWC) alumni relations manager. She started the position this March. Fischer is a WWC alumnus who graduated in 2017 with a major in psychology and a minor in education.
“I loved my experience at Wilson,” Fischer said. “I came here a couple of years after my older sister started coming here, and I met my partner here. I think I was here during a really good time.”
Fischer was on the Yearbook Crew, Wellness Crew and Residence Life Crew during her time here. On the Residence Life Crew, she was a resident director and area coordinator and oversaw Vining and Sunderland. Nowadays, yearbook and residence life are no longer crews.
One of her favorite events at WWC — when she was a student here — were plow days.
“This doesn't happen anymore, but I vividly remember my first plow day,” Fischer said. “Back when we had the draft horses, a lot of farmers from the area — who still used a lot of old machinery — would come down. And everybody was bringing their like wild old tills and get-ups and set their horses out on the field to till a field. We would press cider, and it was just like a big beginning of the year party.”
Her favorite part of campus is the river and the area surrounding it like Riverbend.
Fischer said that one of her favorite parts of being in this job position so far has been being back on campus and reconnecting with professors and administrators who were a big part of her life when she was a student here.
With this position, Fischer mainly is in charge of facilitating conversations between alumni, WWC and current students.
“I manage the Alumni Board,” Fischer said. “Then the stuff that is under that like the Alumni Awards and the Hall of Fame. I do a lot with homecoming and commencement. I'm also heavily involved in doing The Talon which goes out to all of our alumni as a newsletter.”
Fischer said that she has been receiving a lot of warm wishes and communication since taking this role, especially from alumni. One of the more challenging aspects of the job so far has been settling back into the WWC campus.
“It does take a while to re-acclimate to a community and figure out what's going on within that community and on this campus,” Fischer said. “The biggest thing on my mind right now is just kind of trying to get a read.”
Overall, Fischer is happy to be back at WWC and in this role.
“Wilson means a lot to me,” Fischer said. “This is the kind of work that I really enjoy doing because it's not as much administrative as it is community building, right? We have this great community of students who are currently here. And then all of the people who have graduated and gone out into the world. I think there's an incredible contingent of people who have come through this place. And it's really cool to be the person in charge of connecting all of those folks and figuring out what exactly it means to be in a community with Warren Wilson as the anchor.”