MAKING CONNECTIONS This year, our students and alumni have benefited from new ways to make connections and support student success. With support from alumni, the Political Science Department was able to launch the Iowa Career Alumni Network (ICAN), a licensed online system that allows current majors to connect with alumni directly. Prior to launching this system, students were connected with an alumnus through a faculty member. The ICAN system creates a better and easier process for students to connect with alumni. After a student joins the online platform, they can search through alumni that have joined, including finding those in career areas of interest. Students can then message alumni through the system. Alumni have been an important resource of career information and support for our students and the new system will increase student-alumni engagement. People Grove Iowa Career Alumni Network (ICAN) Through the Iowa Career Alumni Network (ICAN) on Peoplegrove, I was able to connect with many professionals from specifically my major and see what kind of career paths they have pursued. Usually with my major, I see only a couple of direct paths such as being a lawyer. By making connections on ICAN, I have seen that even if they also pursued a law degree, some ended up working as policy analysts, intelligence analysts, consultants, or other jobs. The ICAN network is a great resource to learn about future career possibilities from alumni professionals. – Ayah ElGaddal, international relations senior
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
Welcome to this year’s Poligram. Our focus is on making connections. Connections are an important part of being a student, faculty, staff, and alumnus of the University of Iowa Department of Political Science. Students form lifelong connections with each other that last well beyond their time at Iowa. They also make connections with faculty, staff, and alumni who support their academic and personal development. The department has been working to foster more connections between students, alumni, and faculty including holding alumni events across the US, running a peer mentor program, creating research opportunities for students with faculty members, having alumni teach classes to current students, and launching an online system for students and alumni to connect and engage each other about careers. Connections are a vital part of the university experience. Please reach out if you would like to learn how you can be connected to the department and current students.
Brian Lai Department Chair
If you are interested in joining ICAN, visit: uiowa.peoplegrove.com
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