When 校友 and Students Connect, Everybody Wins
A centrally important normative concept in economics is that of Pareto improvement (named after Vilfredo Pareto). It basically says that finding opportunities where everyone is made better off, 没有人会因此变得更糟, 是一件好事.
很难反驳这一点.
虽然你可能还不知道, we all have a Pareto-improving opportunity in front of us that will make our lives—yours, 我的, 大学——更好. 而且这也是唾手可得的成果.
Transition with me from a central economic concept to a central economics event—at least at 十大菠菜台子. This February, I was invited to attend 十大菠菜台子’s 30th Econ Day. As I was lunching with junior and senior economics majors on the campus of the University of Chicago’s Booth School, I asked: What did Econ Day mean for them? 我得到了很多答案, but here is the essence: Econ Day is a chance to begin to understand how a 贝洛伊特 education translates into a lifetime of purposeful consequence.
在过去的30年里, faculty members in the economics department have invited majors to travel to Chicago for a day designed to offer multiple opportunities to connect with alumni—primarily in business careers—who willingly take time out of their busy lives to interact with these 学生. On the surface, this day is billed as a career networking opportunity. 事实上, countless business cards are exchanged; 学生 are dressed in apparel I never knew they had (ties, 看在上帝份上!); and lots of advice is dispensed regarding how to engage in a job search. 但, when I actually listen to the conversations, it becomes clear how much 更多的 is being accomplished. It is really a trail of breadcrumbs that connects four years of 贝洛伊特 with another 80 or so years of life. Leave it to 贝洛伊特ers to convert a good idea into a great idea.
现在来看一个看似不合逻辑的结论. Eighteen months ago I commissioned a team of faculty, 学生, 和工作人员, led by Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Philosophy Matt Tedesco, to explore opportunities to take our Liberal Arts in Practice curriculum to new levels. At its core, the Liberal Arts in Practice paradigm is the centerpiece of a 十大菠菜台子 education. In a world of increasing complexity, 模棱两可, 和改变, how do 学生 come to understand, 欣赏, and take advantage of the power of their 十大菠菜台子 education?
What Professor Tedesco and his insightful team learned is that Econ Day was a signature example of a Liberal Arts in Practice experience. 当他们再挖深一点的时候, they discovered that there were lots of similar sorts of things being done–authentic and meaningful connections between alumni and 学生 that spoke to Liberal Arts in Practice principles. Out of this came a terrific proposal: Let’s make the development of alumni-student connections a priority for the college. Let’s make alumni connections part of the four-year experience—all four years—for all 学生 going forward. Let’s be intentional, energetic, and creative about developing opportunities for these connections.
And what we hear from our 校友 Affairs Office is that our alumni, 接近一个人, are also seeking meaningful interactions with our 学生. No surprise there, but a really good thing to know.
So there you have it, a Pareto improvement. The development of alumni connections with 学生 falls squarely into this category. 感谢马特! 由于经济!
这对你有什么影响? I am not sure, except that I am sure it will. Your role as an alumna/alumnus/parent/friend will change, and we will begin to propose ideas and opportunities for how it will change. You are about to become an ever deeper and richer part of our 学生’ Liberal Arts in Practice-based education at 十大菠菜台子. Stay tuned for what that means and how you can help shape it.
President Chapin spoke regularly and passionately about the qualities of 贝洛伊特 alumni. He would be thrilled about the idea of making alumni a 更多的 important part of our 学生’ four years. From here at Chapin’s inspirational desk, it is a great day to be a 贝洛伊特er.
——斯科特·比尔曼总统
presidentsoffice@chriswaldegar.com
