There’s no better time than this summer to reconnect with the university, the Graduate School, or your department. As we move forward with the new academic year, we are always looking for alumni and friends of the university to reconnect and become engaged with different opportunities and activities on campus.
Ways you can get engaged with the university
Alumni, who are experts in a certain area of study, are invited back to campus to present to classes on topics that are relevant to your area of expertise, serve on college advisory boards, or act as a mentor for one of our college Mentor programs.
Nandi Nagaraj, R&D Human Resources Business Partner at Dow AgroSciences, earned his Ph.D. in Entomology in 2004. Nagaraj recently came back to K-State to help send off John Reese, his major Professor, who is retiring at the end of June and to visit with Dr. Carol Shanklin.
“I came back to wish Dr. Reese well and visit with students about opportunities to conduct research in the industry,” said Nagaraj. “Having the chance to speak to the students about different research paths and provide mentorship is beneficial to the graduate students.”
Hear from Ronald Iman, graduate alumni, about the benefits of staying connected with K-State.
Ronald L. Iman, A&S BS’62, MS’70, Ph.D. ‘73
For a majority of alumni it is normal for their connectivity with KSU to lessen after graduation for a variety of reasons. The KSU Alumni Association and the Athletic Department have made great strides in increasing connectivity by providing numerous events, programs and communications that encourage alumni to stay in contact. Two examples are the award winning K-Stater magazine and Athletic Director John Currie’s frequent online letters.
Of course, each graduate needs to decide on the benefit of staying in contact with KSU. I have found many ways to stay closely connected and I believe that KSU and I have jointly benefited from each of them. I have given many seminars in my home department of Statistics; served on four different Boards at KSU; provided funding for scholarships and faculty awards; and provided pro bono consulting for the university. All of these connections have been very positive and satisfying. I encourage all alumni to have a membership in the Alumni Association and consider other ways to increase their involvement with KSU. Visiting K-State and Manhattan is always a good starting point as well as an enjoyable experience.
Do you have a lot of professional experience that may help benefit current students? Why not share your knowledge with current students? K-State offers mentoring programs in various departments.
Mentoring programs offer alumni opportunities to connect with graduate students
The College of Business offers a Business Administration Executive Mentor program:
Testimonial from Anthony Silvernagel, ’16 MBA graduate, “Over the past two years of my MBA experience, my mentor has been truly amazing. He has always given me straight shooting advice. Even if a situation was not as ideal as I would have hoped, he never let me have a negative attitude about it.”
Testimonial from Matt Brill, ’16 MAcc graduate, “This program has been fantastic and is a great tool for me. I have really enjoyed getting to know my mentor and he will continue to serve as a great mentor to my as I move forward in my career.”
Interested in learning more about the Business Administration Mentoring program, contact Emily Brueseke, Director of Executive Mentor and Business Peer Mentoring programs.
The College of Human Ecology offers a Human Ecology mentor program provides students with the opportunity to learn from successful and experienced professionals.
“[My mentee] took initiative upon receiving word that I would be her mentor,” said Derek Lawson, Ph.D. candidate in personal financial planning. “Within just a few hours of learning so, she contacted me to introduce herself and express her excitement about the program and the opportunity it afforded her.”
Potential Professional Mentors: The College of Human Ecology at Kansas State University is recruiting professional mentors for our Professional Mentoring Program. The program pairs current students with professionals working in the career fields they hope to enter.
Please direct any questions about the Human Ecology Professional Mentor to Pamela Erickson.
The College of Engineering offers an Engineering Alumni Mentor Program aimed at connecting current engineering students with alumni. Questions about the engineering program, contact Sujatha Prakash.