Greetings Fellow Department of Psychology Alumni!
In 2008, I joined the newly formed Department of Psychology Alumni Advisory Board along with other alumni from various professional backgrounds. Our members include executives, psychologists, a judge, an attorney, members of academia and government along with Department personnel. I cannot begin to tell you how impressed I am with our alumni advisory board.
With guidance from the Department, our board established goals to:
- implement an internship program to help students prepare for their first job and establish their careers;
- initiate a mentoring program linking students and alumni willing to share their wisdom and experience;
- improve communications between the Department and alumni to keep alumni informed and disseminate valuable, career enhancing information; and
- raise money to fund unpaid internships for needy students and outfit classrooms with state-of-the-art audio video technology to enhance the educational experience for students.
Working with the Department, we have together made significant and tangible progress.
We have implemented an internship program coupled with a capstone course to help students enhance their internship experience and develop the skills needed to be better positioned to effectively market themselves.
We launched a Mentoring Program and are seeking more alumni to participate.
We are expanding opportunities to communicate with alumni. I encourage you to become a “Fan” of the Department of Psychology’s Facebook page, “University of Illinois Psychology Department”, and join the Department’s Alumni Networking Group on LinkedIn, “University of Illinois Department of Psychology Networking.”
We will be introducing an alumni e-newsletter to complement the Department’s bi-annual newsletter to keep you informed about timely news on campus and in the department.
Lastly, we just reached our halfway point for raising funds for unpaid internships and classroom technology. Our first scholarships will be awarded shortly and the first classroom will soon be outfitted with new, state-of-the-art audio-video technology.
We have been able to achieve our goals with the help of many other talented people in our alumni community. However, there is so much more we can and want to accomplish to help feed our students’ hunger for knowledge and to give them the edge to compete for jobs and shape the future of our world. As we run this race, I am extending the baton to you, our alumni community, to learn more about our alumni advisory board, share your wisdom and experience to benefit students, and/or donate to our Shape the Future Today fund.
Please contact me at larry@anthemcapitalgroup.com, Cheryl Berger at cberger@illinois.edu, or Leslie Vermillion at ljv@illinois.edu for more information about the alumni advisory board and our activities.
We are alumni of one of the preeminent Psychology Departments in the country. With your support we can maintain that position and ensure our students obtain the education they want and need.
Sincerely,
Larry Moller, President
Psychology Alumni Advisory Board