Committee 

Shounak Simlai ’05, vice chair of the Young Alumni Committee, opened the meeting with introductions of each attending committee member.

After introductions, Zack Chestnut ’08 recapped the work that the Young Alumni Committee, led on this front by Zack and Phil Mone ’02, had done regarding alumni career services. In the last couple years, there has been outreach to numerous College administrators, research done on alumni career services at other institutions, a presentation given to other members of the Alumni Council, and the creation of a career specific webpage (“Alumni Career Central”) on the Alumni Relations website. Now, with the Class of 2009 Career Services Intern project and Senior VP for Advancement Carrie Pelzel’s noted attention to the subject, it is even more apparent that things are coming to fruition.

Zack then introduced Jen Murray ’09, the Class of 2009 project chair, to discuss the ’09 Career Services Intern. This intern will probably work 12 hours a week and be charged with finding jobs, posting jobs on Dartboard, and serving as a general resource in Career Services for alumni and students. Currently, only a quarter of jobs submitted to Career Services actually get posted to Dartboard, so there is a need for a position like this. Ideally, the intern would be a student who could work for at least two to three terms and would report to one of the Presidential Fellows (currently, Jen). The Class of 2009 is still in talks with career services, but hopes to have this project rolled out in the spring.  

Pelzel then presented on the role that the advancement division will play in alumni career services. She noted that some institutions run their entire career services operations through their advancement/alumni relations divisions. She did not think this a good idea because should a budget crunch occur, students and alumni would both suffer from any cuts to career services. Instead, Pelzel is creating a new position in the Office of Alumni Relations that should not be viewed as a job but as an enterprise. Hiring for this position will begin once a new Alumni Relations VP has been hired; the new position should be filled by the end of the academic year. With this knowledge, the Young Alumni Committee is tabling the topic of alumni career services until the time warrants its return.

Jane Parkin Kullmann ’01 and David Wagner ’99 then presented on the regional club experience for young alumni. Based on the metrics, young alumni are well represented in regional club leadership. Some young alumni do appear to have difficulty in transitioning from the College to the world. There should be more and better messaging targeted at young alumni to help facilitate their transition period.

Mikee Guzman ’06 then followed with the topic of getting young alumni back to campus. At the last Young Alumni Committee meeting, Guzman had talked about the option for young alumni to stay in open dormitory rooms. With budget cuts and the reorganization of the College, this option is no longer available. In lieu of this, Guzman contacted about 70 other alumni and asked if they would be willing to host alumnus/a in their homes. Of those 70 people, 80 percent would be willing to host. Another idea is for a pot of money to be collected by the College, classes, or clubs to be used by young alumni looking to get back to Hanover. Also regarding transportation, Dartmouth College just launched a rideshare program called Dartmouth Zimride for employees. Because it uses the College’s web authentication, alumni and students are also able to utilize this service. Finally, another underutilized opportunity for young alumni to return to campus is to help professors with presentations, panels, and classes. There are many young alumni who have become experts in certain fields either through further study or experience from their careers.

Currently, the topics to be discussed at the next meeting are the Dartmouth Zimride rideshare program and the succession of the Young Alumni Committee leadership. Forms were distributed for Young Alumni Award nominations and the meeting was adjourned.