Borderless Student Alumni Forums

The Alumni Council would like to introduce the Borderless Student-Alumni Forums program, a career-development project which aims to better inform, personalize and connect current Franklin students with Franklin alumni around the world via state-of-the-art videoconferencing technology.

The Borderless Student-Alumni Forums (BSAF) series was inspired by the success of the Alumni-Council-sponsored Networking Forums, which took place in the autumn of 2010 and spring of 2011. These forums gave current Franklin students the chance to question alumni who were experts in the fields of communications, marketing, public relations and international relations about their take on how to succeed in their own lines of work.

Since its beginning, BSAF has evolved into a student-led initiative meant to allow students to take control of these forums not only by arranging the meetings with alumni, but also by giving students a chance to ask more personalized questions in a more intimate setting. “It is a discussion based on genuine interest and initiative,” says Heather Gottschalk ’13.

In September, 2011, under the enthusiastic and ambitious leadership of Heather Gottschalk ’13 (Chair) and Kate Daugherty ’13 (Technology Chair) and with the help of Alumni Trustee Frances Stewart ’75, Franklin hosted its first BSAF, a live videoconference between a panel composed of alumni (Marco Frigido ’01, Meg Johnson ’07 and Dave Stein ’05) who work in the field of environmental sciences and an intimate group of interested and ambitious students. It was a great success!

Students challenged the three panelists with in-depth questions about their careers and how to “market” the invaluable sets of skills they are obtaining from a Franklin education. Students in Lugano were happy to have the opportunity to glean some external advice from alumni who have worked and are working in their desired fields.

In light of this forum’s success, the BSAF committee wishes to continue with this initiative by organizing more frequent forums. Further suggested topics of discussion include international management, law and social justice, and resumé and cover-letter workshops. These ideas and more have grown out of the excitement and drive not only from Franklin students wishing to gain more access to their alumni and networking communities, but also from dedicated alumni who wish to give back to Franklin with their advice and guidance.

January 2012
Article by Emily Boynton '09