How Alumni Involvement can help a Biotech Program

Isn’t there something reassuring about knowing that others like you have been successful when you are thinking about a career move? Seeing footprints in the sand of those who have already made the journey can help with that first step. I had the chance to speak with members of three community colleges (City College of San Francisco, Austin Community College, and MiraCosta College) who are working on building their programs’s connections for the benefit of all.

Karen Leung of City College of San Francisco (CCSF) knows the power of networking. She has worked for years building ways for alumni of the City College of San Francisco’s biotech program to connect with current students, to give that steadying hand to those just starting out. It’s not easy—although alumni often stay in the San Francisco Bay Area, finding good-paying, exciting jobs among the many biotech and biomanfacturing jobs near CCSF, there were obstacles to overcome. In-person events were tricky, with the need for parking, event space, and food making things more complicated. And many alumni weren’t comfortable getting up and making a presentation to a crowd. But Karen knew that the stories former students could tell current students could make all the difference if someone was deciding if the biotech path was right for them.

Karen wrote a blog about Speed Networking as the world was shutting down due to Covid. She had been running in-person Speed Networking events since 2018 but the switch to virtual made the event much easier for everyone. Speed networking gives CCSF alumni and current or prospective students the chance to connect one-on-one for that interaction that can make all the difference for both the participants. Students get first-hand knowledge of where the biotech path can lead and alumni get to share their hard-earned knowledge, work on their one-on-one professional presentation skills, and find a fellow traveler in the biotech career path, maybe even a future work colleague. Karen found that if she schedules the speed networking event at just the right time in the course—about week 3-- the interactions can reassure students that they are on the right path which keeps student retention higher. That is the strength of human interaction.

Karen believes in those connections. Speed networking is not the only way she works to make it possible for alumni to tell their stories and students to hear them. She and her colleagues at Austin Community College and Johnston Community College use their National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (ATE) grant, DUE 220201, to support Biotech Beat, a monthly podcast with community college alum talking about education and technicians in the biotech industry.

A list of emails and a belief in the power of human interaction--taken together, this informal CCSF alumni network helps to recruit and retain students, recruit employees, and advance the skills and careers of both students and alumni.

Linnea Fletcher and Cassandra Mitchell-Nothaus, Austin Community College

Biotech education has been going on for quite some time, but the big question was, how can programs stay in touch, and what paths did the students take? That is a question Linnea and Cassandra are working on answering, because they know connecting alumni with each other can benefit the alumni, the program and current students, and the school.

Linnea is hoping to work together with members of the biotech/biomanufacturing community to build a national network of community college alumni, with perks for members such as free or reduced rates for Continuing Education classes and broader employment opportunities. Linkedin might be a good infrastructure given that it is already widely used in the workforce and programs have made it part of their workforce readiness training. However it can be challenging for the alumni to find time to make it to campus for in-person events. So Linnea thinks that bringing their ideas to the alumni might be the way to go—lunch events hosted at local companies and a forum to ask the alumni employees what they think would be useful offerings from an alumni network. Free food is always helpful!

Cassandra likens recent graduates to “bridges” between current students and industry because they still remember their student days, but they now have the industry perspective that is so valuable for students to hear. The ACC biotech program treats their students like colleagues from their first day in class so that the students look beyond their school days and think of themselves as potential employees. When the alumni interact with students in Speed Networking events, it helps to establish a culture of connection so that when the current students graduate, they too will come back to the classroom. Seeing former students that just went through the same program gives current students a window into what their futures could be, and gives the alumni a chance to polish presentation skills, and scout for possible future fellow employees! There are ideas aplenty down at ACC, each one aimed at helping students learn, grow, and find their path to success!

Joanna Gomez, MiraCosta College

Joanna’s title is Biomanufacturing Baccalaureate Program Student Success Specialist. She works with Barbara Juncosa at one of the original 15 community colleges that have 4-year Baccalaureate Programs in California, an innovate program that began in 2017. Joanna’s job is to make those vital connections with the cohort of biomanufacturing students before they even start the two-year program, to set them up for success. Joanna’s background in education and experience with the program (she knows every one of the students that have gone through the program, 6 cohorts in all so far) means she knows how to evaluate obstacles to learning  and provide opportunities to overcome them. And the students deliver—approximately 95% of the graduates of the program go directly into the field (for a breakdown of employment visit Biomanufacturing at MiraCosta College). Alumni are becoming instrumental in hiring new graduates—Joanna told me about a graduate of the program who has since hired 6 more graduates to their team! Being a connected alumni means being able to get job candidates you can have confidence in.  Joanna also said that when she asks for alumni volunteers to attend events, mentor students, or help with outreach to local grade schools, she never hears a no. She uses the program “Constant Contact” to reach out, and then the students send information through their own app, but MiraCosta has a Biomanufacturing Linkedin group and Joanna agrees that could be a great infrastructure to use for alumni group.  MiraCosta has built a culture of connection which helps each tight-knit cohort of about 25 students make it through their two years together with almost 100% retention. A key part to that retention, according to Joanna, is pairing a student in the second year of the program with one in the first year. That pre-graduation mentoring helps the new students realize that people just like them are succeeding in the program, and they can too!

Alumni are invited back to alumni hours during Biomanufacturing Department Hours and a highlight of the year is the Alumnight Event, held in the fall and sponsored by one of the local industry partners. Instructors, Deans, even the President of the College mingle with current students and alumni with a chance to hear talks from the sponsoring company and make valuable industry connections.

A ‘hidden curriculum’ at MiraCosta--opportunities that MiraCosta makes available to their students and alumni to strengthen the most critical skill of all-communication. Students and alumni participate in outreach to STEM local events in high schools and middle schools, conferences and local ISPE (International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering), PDA (Parental Drug Association), and ASQ (American Society for Quality) events. Their alumni have a message they want to share, and the students in the program want to hear it!

Further on-line resources:

Read about alumni engagement at other colleges.

CCSF alumni have contributed videos of the biotech career journeys to Biotech-Careers.org, (https://biotech-careers.org/alumni-profiles)

InnovATEBIO has alumni videos and blogs  of biotech career journeys. Go to InnovATEBIO.org and find the ‘alumni’ link in the Students drop down menu.

Attend the November 7^th, 2024 InnovATEBIO Hub Reports Virtual event in which the Alumni Hub will have a 10 minute report on their work on building networks and engaging alumni.