Sharing Best Practices for Alumni Engagement (Abstract Only)

Alumni make contributions to a Computer Science program in three interconnected ways, all of which relate to the interplay between the academic environment and the "real world." For students who aim to enter the job market upon graduation, alumni provide a friendly way to receive mentoring and advice and develop a professional network. When faculty are looking for real-world projects and experiences for students, alumni provide an avenue for entrance into industry. Finally, alumni can provide assessment data about the performance of students in the workplace after graduation. In this BoF session, we will consider how individual faculty members or a department can engage alumni in meaningful ways. Small groups will consider each of the three ways to partner with alumni, with particular emphasis on sharing past experiences. Participants will be encouraged to consider ways to collaborate with their alumni office, development office, career center and student groups to leverage the potential of their alumni.