Graduate school’s website to keep alumni connected
By Samantha Focht
Nov. 26, 2012 12:45 a.m.
The UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies launched a new website earlier this month, to help alumni find job opportunities and stay connected to the graduate school and the UCLA community after graduation.
“The purpose of the website is to provide a one-stop total resource where alumni can access transcripts, subscribe to newsletters and see events that are happening,” said Andres Cuervo, development and alumni relations coordinator for the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.
After recently getting a new dean, Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, in September, the school’s administrators wanted to keep the alumni community updated with all of the changes the school’s programs are undergoing, said Emily Strand, director of development for the graduate school.
“It is important to reconnect with alumni and for all to participate in the community,” Strand said. “Now people will not only be able to contact faculty but will be able to share their expertise with us.”
For instance, the website has a component called Bruin Memories, which tells stories of the first alumni from classes in the 1940s, and UCLA’s impact on their lives, Strand said.
Stories featured under Bruin Memories include those of graduates who went through the program during the Great Depression of the 1930s, stories of women seeking an education to get more competitive jobs, and a married couple who met when they were students at the graduate school.
Some recent alumni said they were interested in taking advantage of the new resource.
David Wu, who graduated from the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies in 2012, heard about the website from faculty members familiar with the project, he said.
He plans on signing up for the website to network and learn about alumni events, he added.
“It’s an interesting idea. We’re very fortunate to have it available to us,” Wu said.
Administrators at the school plan to improve the website to better adapt to the needs of current and future alumni, Cuervo said.
“The premise of education professions of today and tomorrow start at UCLA,” Cuervo said. “These aren’t just any graduates that we are training, but the most innovative and transformative students in the field.”
Contributing reports from Erin Donnelly, Bruin senior staff.
Email Focht at [email protected].
