PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — As Brown undergraduate Daria Geller began considering the pursuit of a Ph.D. after graduation, she was initially daunted by the process and unsure of where to begin. That’s where Brown Class of 2021 alumna Sarah Ryan came in.
As a clinical psychology research assistant at Brown, Ryan mentored Geller through a Spring 2024 psychology research project, teaching her how to screen study participants and analyze data, and encouraging her to advance her academic studies and research.
“Sarah shared her experiences applying to postgraduate programs in clinical psychology,” said Geller, a member of the Class of 2025.5. “She demystified it for me and gave me a boost to start planning.”
Those kinds of powerful interactions — sometimes small, and sometimes deep and sustained — stand to grow and flourish with the support of BrownConnect+, a new digital hub for Brown students, alumni and friends that will enable expanded career development, community building, networking and more.
BrownConnect+ launched on Tuesday, Sept. 17. The rollout of the platform is the most recent step in a series of steps to sustain lifelong relationships and strengthen career development for Brunonians worldwide. It follows the 2023 launch of the Center for Career Exploration, which has expanded career support for students and is empowering them to achieve meaningful lives and careers at Brown and beyond.
“The new BrownConnect+ platform continues the University’s investment in supporting career exploration through facilitating connections, enabling mentoring relationships and expanding the impact of the Brown network through one unified and expanded tool,” said Associate Dean of the College Matthew Donato, executive director of Brown’s Center for Career Exploration.
This creates connections for students and alumni in a range of ways, whether it’s a one-time conversation, periodic check-ins or on an ongoing basis.
Matthew Donato Executive Director, Center for Career Exploration at Brown
All students and alumni received notifications and instructions to sign into the new platform. BrownConnect+ integrates, centralizes and expands on the functions of several previous platforms that are being replaced. Those include BrownConnect, which alumni and students have used widely over the last decade to build connections with each other around professional interests, and BRAVO, which alumni volunteers have used to engage with their classes and regional affinity groups.
“This new platform offers a robust set of tools to support engagement within our alumni community and between alumni and students — and as students become alumni, they will be able to use the same platform to connect with fellow Brunonians like they did when they were on campus,” said Vice President for Alumni Relations Zack Langway, a Class of 2009 graduate. “This supports our deepening commitment to supporting a worldwide community where students and alumni are able to develop lifelong relationships with one another and the University.”
Among its features, BrownConnect+ offers robust career networking capabilities, facilitates alumni mentorship for current students, provides enhanced communication and event planning tools, enables online social spaces for alumni to connect around shared interests and identities, and serves as a directory and networking platform for Brown’s community of more than 100,000 alumni.
“This creates connections for students and alumni in a range of ways, whether it’s a one-time conversation, periodic check-ins or on an ongoing basis,” Donato said. “Students can learn about career options and identify experiential opportunities that often lead to meaningful insights into career paths and employment opportunities.”
BrownConnect+ follows the 2023 launch of the Center for Career Exploration, which has expanded career support for students and is empowering them to achieve meaningful lives and careers at Brown and beyond.
The expansion of the Center for Career Exploration and the development of tools like BrownConnect+ are being funded with the generous support of donors through theBrownTogethercampaign, the most ambitious fundraising effort in Brown’s history.
Brown’s commitment to lifelong career exploration and development — which is anchored in the Open Curriculum and the University’s signature student-centered learning — aims to equip students and alumni for the evolving opportunities and challenges of the 21st-century workforce.
“We know the power of developing expansive mentoring and professional expert networks among Brown students and alumni,” Langway said. “BrownConnect+ makes it so much easier to do this, providing all members of our community the opportunity to share experiences and expertise and gain fresh perspectives, whether they are still on campus, fresh out the gates, or decades past their graduation.”
Geller, who received transformative alumni mentorship from Ryan, said she looks forward to harnessing the power of BrownConnect+ in the future.
“After I graduate from Brown, I would love to provide the same support to another student,” Geller said.
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