www.law.uga.edu

Jill Coveny Birch

Executive Director of Alumni Programs & Special Events

B.S.Ed., University of Georgia
M.Ed., University of Georgia

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Biographical Information

Alumni in Georgia and around the globe are well familiar with Jill Coveny Birch. She is a senior member of Georgia Law's administrative team, having served law students and alumni in various roles for more than 30 years.

Birch first joined the law school in 1978 as student affairs and law placement director. In May of 1981, she accepted a position as recruitment administrator at the Jacksonville, Fla., law firm of Smith & Hulsey. Her departure from the law school was only a brief hiatus in her Georgia Law career, however, as she was welcomed back in the fall of 1982 as legal career services director. She relished the job of helping students locate employment and remained in the office for seven years until she assumed a new role as the law school's development and alumni programs director. Birch renewed many of her old friendships with former students through her work to plan and coordinate all aspects of the law school's development program, including annual giving and major gifts, as well as supervise all alumni activities. In 1993, a separate development director was hired to oversee the law school's major gifts program, while Birch retained her duties as alumni programs and annual fund director. Her position changed again in 1995, when her responsibilities were further defined to deal exclusively with alumni programs.

Birch plans, implements and evaluates 55-70 alumni and special events each year, including Homecoming and Reunion Weekend, LSA sponsored events and regional alumni get togethers. She also administers the business operations of two alumni advisory boards - the Board of Visitors and the Law School Association Council. In addition, she and her staff maintain the alumni database and assist in the law school's stewardship program. She also serves as a law school ambassador at numerous functions and plays an integral role on the law school's institutional advancement team, comprised of directors in the development, communications and alumni offices. In the summer of 2007, major law school events were added to her duties so that she now oversees the annual first year orientation program, Family & Friends Visitation Day for the first-year class, Faculty & Student Awards Day and graduation.

Birch earned both her bachelor's degree in social sciences, magna cum laude, and her master's degree in student personnel and counseling from the University of Georgia. She worked for a year as a residential life area coordinator at Radford University in Virginia before beginning her affiliation with the law school.

Active in the local community, she has served as a volunteer with Impact Athens, an initiative to promote the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce; as a member and president of the board of directors of Project Safe, Inc., a shelter for battered women and their families; as a member of the board of directors for the Sandy Creek Nature Center; and as a member of the Athens-Clarke County Department of Family and Child Services board. She presently does volunteer work for the Nellie B. Project Community Center.

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