Class of ’69 Launches its Class Connections Perspectives Program

On September 22 of 2015 our 1969/2019 Class Connections Program launched its Perspectives Program—a three-year series of straight-talk career and life path panel discussions with the ’19s (and other undergrads).  Representing a variety of settings within their professions, seven of our classmates participated in the first two sessions—one on the field of medicine, the other on education.  

Pete Lawrence (Director of Vascular Surgery at UCLA), Peter Elias (recently retired from family practice in semi-rural Maine), and Pete Anderson (a gastroenterologist at DHMC) talked with a group of over 40 Dartmouth pre-meds about their experiences as practicing physicians and then took questions from the students. 

Jim Staros (Prof. of Biochemistry and former Provost at U. Mass—Amherst), Bill Berentsen (Prof. of Geography at U. Conn), Rick Willets (retired longtime high school biology teacher), and Dave Strife (another longtime high school biology teacher) talked with a small group of undergrads interested in education.  Two recent Dartmouth graduates rounded out the education panel—Katie Henderson ’11 (who received her teaching credential through Dartmouth’s Department of Education and teaches high school social studies), and Brian Freeman ’11 (who works in education research and development).

The panelists talked with the undergrads about their own career paths—describing their professional trajectories, what they particularly have enjoyed about their work over the years, what they might have done differently, how their profession has changed over the years, and the advice they wanted to impart to undergrads considering going into their field. 

Next up:  Next summer, the ’19s will be on campus and starting to think about internships and recruiting interviews.  In July 2017 (just before our class mini-reunion weekend in Hanover), we will host the next Perspectives discussion session.  We are assembling a panel of our classmates and also some recent alums in the job search field to talk with the ’19s about finding and getting internships and jobs.  They will address how to go about this process--highlighting the dos and don’ts of preparing an effective résumé and cover letter, interviewing, and basic etiquette. 

In the meantime, Class Connections Co-Chairs Norman Jacobs and Dona Heller request that you send them examples or summaries of the most poorly done job-search résumés and cover letters that you have received over the years, and your descriptions of interviewing mistakes that you have seen job applicants make.  Also, they would appreciate your adding any bits of advice that you might want to convey to current Dartmouth undergrads.  Please send your stories, examples, and helpful employment search hints to Dona Heller and/or Norman Jacobs.