(564g) Alumni Engagement in the Constext of a Capstone Design Course

Alumni engagement is a most desired target for universities. Colleges generally establish Alumni Associations to foster close ties. Often these associations are structured at the level of Schools or Departments to facilitate a more specific relationship. It is recognized that they provide prestige, donations, advising, and mentoring of high impact. Special awards, fundraising campaigns, membership in advisory boards, and networking are among the many activities promoted by colleges to keep in contact with alumni, and benefit from their participation. However, there are limited approaches to engage alumni with curricular courses. Some experiences include invited talks and participation as judges in capstone design projects. We have developed a new initiative in the context of the capstone design courses in chemical engineering. Senior students are paired with alumni by the instructor or by student self-selection. Students request a first meeting with partner alumni after some biographic research and the introductions by the instructor, explaining the scope of the project. Students prepare some questions for this meeting to elaborate a bio-sketch (first deliverable). Partners are open then to follow up with meetings at their convenience. One theme for conversations is the experience at college, both academically and personally. The content of the capstone course is a common anchor topic as alumni usually remember the project they ran. The goal is to produce a short assessment (2-3 pages) contrasting both experiences and offering some advice to improve the educational performance at the department (second deliverable). Partners are invited by the instructor to discuss freely on career development, work-life balance, professional skills, etc. Students elaborate on the learning experience producing a short assessment with reflections and major take away (third deliverable). In addition, students are invited to participate in focus-group meetings to briefly share the experience with some classmates and provide useful information to evaluate and improve the project. This paper describes the experience of the last two years with this project, involving 98 senior students and over 80 alumni. Alumni graduation date range extends back to 1978, with increasing participating of more recent graduates. Quantitative assessment provided in the paper reports that this project is one of the top engagements of alumni and very often their only connection with the university. Senior students confirm the appreciation for the project with impacts including choices in career orientation and job offers.