Dean Asif chats with second year engineering student, Valeh Moayeri, and Mohammed Zaheeruddin, Chair of the Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, at Open House, held November 8, 2014. Photo: Owen Egan.
Thinking back to your own studies, what are some of the most memorable moments that helped shape how you think about engineering research and education, not to mention the social and community side of the profession?
The most memorable day from my college and university life was my PhD graduation that was a culmination of my academic achievement. As we all know, an engineering degree at any level (undergraduate, master’s, or PhD) is a lot of personal hard work and labour, and so was it for me. I realized early in my studies that working by oneself in a closed room will not help and will probably drive me insane! To complete my degree successfully, I needed support from my classmates, mentorship from alumni, and career counseling from my professors. The relationships that I developed as a result of my collaborations are precious, and are perhaps what I cherish the most from my education.
How do you think universities’ relationships with alumni are changing? Do you notice differences from these relationships as they are today versus when you graduated?
There has been a major shift in the relationship between universities and their alumni and friends. Traditionally, universities only approached alumni at the time of hospitality or fundraising activities. The onus was primarily on universities to maintain a strong connection with alumni. This responsibility of staying in touch with each other has become more balanced now.
Alumni nowadays want to play a strong role in the future of their departments, faculties, and universities. They have pride in the institutions they attended. They want to see their alma mater grow and prosper. After graduation, they visit their campuses often, follow the news of their universities, and share their views and ideas with their collaborators. They help and guide aspiring students in their education. They serve on various university committees. They share hiring opportunities with their former universities.
Institutions look forward to the increasingly positive role that alumni have started to play. They recognize the importance of alumni as student mentors, ambassadors, and in outreach activities that raise the profile of the institution.
How do you want our Faculty’s relationships with alumni and industry to evolve over the next five years, ten years, etc.?
In the coming weeks, our Faculty will be making a consistent effort to further strengthen its alumni relations program. We are looking at implementing a three-prong alumni engagement plan.
One, we will better use modern techniques to enhance our ability to communicate with alumni. Such communications will include invitations to participate in University and Faculty events such as Homecoming, the Concordia Shuffle, Convocation, and important inaugurations. We have 14,000 email addresses of our engineering and computer science alumni in our database and we want to connect a little more often this way. We will share this magazine, Concordia Engineering News, with them through postal mail and electronically.
Two, we are looking at the establishment of the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science Alumni Association Board, which prominent alumni will be invited to organize. Members of my team and I will work closely with the board to look for alumni volunteers to participate in student life, provide mentorship, serve on Faculty advisory committees and board and on a variety of other campus initiatives. One of our long-term goals is to match every active student with an alumni mentor.
Three, we are in the process of hiring a director of development, whose mandate will include alumni relationships. In the next five years, we hope to strengthen and grow our alumni community, which will enrich the student experience through mentorship, help us raise funds for student activities through outreach, and foster new academic initiatives.
In ten years, I’d like to think we’ll be seeing tangible benefits of the work we’re starting now.
How do you think students can benefit more from engaging with alumni and industry?
Students will benefit a lot from engaging with those who have graduated ahead of them. Students often need personal direction and mentorship during their studies. This is where student-alumni engagement is most effective. Alumni help students with their selection of courses in pursuit of a career.
I believe we must also further enrich the student experience through the work placements offered by the Institute of Cooperate Education (Co-op) and the Concordia Institute for Aerospace Design and Innovation. These organizations really understand the needs of industry very well and our students generally come back from those work experiences feeling very positive and with a better focus on what they want to do professionally.
I strongly believe that the professional connections that are accessible to Concordia students are just as important as the classroom and lab learning, and will help them to thrive throughout their entire lives.