KEANmag
55
Alumni-Student Networking
“Night of Stars”
alumni news
On November 3, the Office of Alumni Relations hosted an alumni and student
networking event, “Night of Stars.” The group of over 120 alumni and students
were first addressed by two alumni professionals, Shahriar Choudhury ’08 and
Maria Vargas-Pion ’10, who spoke about their Kean experience and life after Kean.
Vargas-Pion, a news reporter for Univision, discussed how her willingness to join
clubs and attend activities at Kean, work with the school newspaper, and forge
strong connections with both faculty and peers helped prepare her to take on the
unique challenges of a career in journalism. Choudhury, who leads the technical
talent acquisition team at Morgan Stanley, gave advice on networking both to
gain and share wealth. He also challenged the room to “disrupt [their] bad habits
starting tomorrow.”
Students were then invited to network with alumni professionals throughout the
room, rotating in 10-minute intervals at tables that were categorized by industry.
Outside of industry questions, students had the opportunity to ask alumni about
their own challenges in the workforce, job search strategies, and skills learned
outside of the classroom.
Following the “speed networking session,” Latifah Olivier ’07 ’09 MPA spoke
about the important lessons she learned while a student at Kean - persistence,
perseverance, and consistent follow-up - and how these lessons helped her
successfully land her dream job as an investigator for the U.S. Department of
Labor. The program concluded with acknowledgements from Stella Maher, the
Director of Alumni Relations.
Alumni-Student
Mentoring Program
Now in its second year, the Kean University Alumni Association’s mentoring
program has paired approximately 40 senior students with alumni to focus
on career readiness as they prepare for graduation and their next steps. The
pairs are working together from October through April with monthly face-
to-face meetings and online dialogue for the days in between.
Support for theprogramand itsbenefitshavebeenclear, frombothmentors
and mentees. A mentee from last spring’s pilot program remarked, “My
goals going in were not very specific, somy mentor providedme with great
information and helpful resources.” An alumni mentor shared “I enjoyed the
overall process. I feel we both learned a lot fromeach other. Mymenteewas
a highly motivated and driven young woman. We had great conversations
with a lot of brainstorming.”
The Alumni Office is actively recruiting alumni mentors for this spring at
Kean Ocean and for next fall on both campuses. If you would be interested
in learning more or participating, please contact Alumni Relations at 908-
737-ALUM or
.
