Giving Back

An internship or summer research experience can set the stage for a student’s future. So can networking or finding just the right way to explain a unique degree like leadership studies.  

Just ask an alumnus.

So when the Jepson Alumni Corps began to discuss ways to celebrate the Jepson School’s 20th anniversary last year, they knew they wanted to pay it forward and help current students as much as possible.

Their ideas? Start a 20th Anniversary Fund to raise money to support internships and student research and facilitate workshops to help students better explain leadership studies to prospective employers and prepare for life after college.

“We wanted to provide a way for willing graduates, no matter where they live, to contribute as much as they could, whenever they could, toward a handful of meaningful projects,” says Greg Efthimiou, ’99, current co-chair of the Jepson Alumni Corps. “We have been exceptionally pleased to see that our ability to work productively in small groups—a hallmark of the Jepson experience—lives on.”

Allison Marsh Bogdanovic, ’01, served as co-chair with Efthimiou.

The Alumni Corps worked to present a two-part “Elevator Pitch” workshop in the fall and assisted with the Jepson Intern Institute in the spring. Kate Materna Rezabek, ’02, worked with Dani Camous, ’13, to design the elevator pitch workshop.

Other alumni, including Jim Schettine, ’01, Alex Cramer, ’11, Melissa Collins, ’11, Aaron Lee, ’00, Kerrissa Richards, ’11, Raegan Morris, ’99, and Elizabeth Ream, ’96, assisted with the elevator pitch workshop. In the spring, Raegan Morris, ’99, and Laura Yeatts Thomson, ’94, held a workshop on the art of budgeting, and Sam Kaufman, ’99, discussed the basics of business.  

Thomson took the lead on the 20th Anniversary Fund on behalf of the corps’ special projects committee. The fund raised enough to support several student experiences next summer. All gifts counted toward the University’s 100 for 1 Challenge.

“Contributing to the fund resonated with many alumni since all of us benefitted from experiential learning as undergrads,” says Thomson.

“Current students are so fortunate to have alumni who want to stay connected with both the School and our students,” says Kerstin Soderlund, associate dean for student and external affairs. “By returning to campus and helping with programs for current students, alumni model the kind of engagement we hope our current students will embrace after they graduate.”