Tag: alumni

Networking and Vocation

Faculty and staff members can play an important role in facilitating networking opportunities that encourage our students to explore who they want to be in the world.

When I have thought of the word “networking,” I have imagined lawyers in New York City drinking martinis after work or corporate business men playing a round of golf on the weekend, closing business deals. Based on who I am and what I value, networking absolutely did not seem to be for me. Yet this perception has been narrow: it limited networking to transactional interactions that benefit the few who fit the mold and exclude others with less power and access. Recently, I have reconsidered my understanding of the value of networking and how it can relate to broader aspects of our students’ vocational journeys beyond careers. Faculty and staff members can play an important role in facilitating networking opportunities that encourage our students to explore who they want to be in the world.

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Our Work Doesn’t End at Commencement

Have you had the experience that your work with undergraduates doesn’t end at commencement?

Have you had the experience that your work with undergraduates doesn’t end at commencement? In your role as advisor and professor, you helped first-year students and sophomores begin to find their way. You guided and supported them as juniors and seniors, when their vocational choices started to narrow with their more developed interests; this ordinary and important work may have culminated with writing a letter of recommendation or giving employers a reference. But now, especially in career-challenged and underemployed domains, have you realized that you continue to advise and mentor some of them long after they’ve graduated?

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