Beyond the Penn Career Network and the many alumni societies, less-traditional alumni networking programs are popping up on campus.
This year, Goldman Sachs awarded a grant of approximately $4,000 to La Casa Latina and Makuu to be used at the discretion of the two cultural hubs.
The two centers elected to start a joint career development program in which a small group of students could meet alumni working in Philadelphia who have "non-traditional" careers. According to Makuu Director Karlene Burrell-McRae, one goal of the program is to combat the strong pre-professional mood on Penn's campus.
"We want students to think, 'How can you use a Wharton degree to help run a university? How can you use a degree in history to work in the Mayor's Office?'" she said.
One alumnus who the group hopes to meet is George Burrell, a political adviser to Philadelphia Mayor John Street. Burrell-McRae said, though, that the program will not exclusively target black or Latino alumni.
"We are really looking for alumni who are doing interesting, innovative work, whatever they look like," she said.
According to Director of Career Services Patricia Rose, about five companies each year offer "small gifts" such as these to activities or groups on campus, either from their philanthropic or recruiting budgets.
Rose said that Lord & Taylor recently gave a similar grant to the African-American Resource Center and that sometimes grants are awarded to Career Services itself.
"It's helpful for [the corporations] if they can associate themselves with worthwhile activities on campus," Rose said. "It helps if a student thinks, 'Oh, this is an organization that is supportive of an office or activity that I believe in.'"
Rose said, though, that the grants are not meant as offers in exchange for job recruits.
"It's not like [the corporations] are going to Makuu or La Casa and saying, 'Here is $1,000, we need to hire 'X' number of students,'" she said.
-- Uri Friedman
