In the winter of 2008, I was asked to assist with an innovative program designed to expose students to career and networking opportunities. The plan was to take them ‘where the action is,’ and the D.C. area was the obvious target for students interested in law, government and public policy. I felt limited by my limited background—as a Canadian expatriate I had no D.C. experience, and my career path was prototypically academic with a focus on theory and methodology, not practical public policy experiences. Richard Berman, the director of the Career Center, allayed my concerns and told me about how the Scholars program draws upon extensive existing Carleton networks of parents and alumni. As our conversation progressed, I realized that this D.C. Scholars trip might offer me more than a chance to be a good citizen and help out the students—it was call to escape the ‘ivory tower’ and forge a few connections that might expand my research and teaching.
The title of this piece is an allusion to Frank Capra’s classic film in which the naïve but well-intentioned Mr. Smith travels to D.C. where he encounters a dark reality that he overcomes with the strength of personal character. Though initially less naïve than Jimmy Stewart’s Smith (and undoubtedly less virtuous too), all of us on the D.C. trip had a strikingly different experience. We were overwhelmed by the openness and enthusiasm of the denizens of our host city. The diversity of their expertise, the depth of their experience and the commitment they displayed to solving the policy problems facing our nation and the world was impressive. As I reflect back, I probably should not have been too surprised, since so many of the people we met were former Carleton students. (I suppose the one experience we shared with Mr. Smith was that our time with the Senate left us a bit jaded—there were no Carls in Amy Klobachar’s office at the time.)
The Scholars program in D.C. managed to both confirm and alter my thoughts about my career trajectory. My teaching focus on research methods was regularly emphasized. We often heard about the number of entry-level positions in the city that were available to students or graduates who could work with data. The most memorable of these exchanges occurred when the researcher at the Brookings Institute explained that he was doing this ‘cutting-edge’ stuff called computational agent-based modeling. When he asked if anyone had ever heard of it, one of the students raised his hand and boasted that he had just finished my course on this topic. The Brookings scholar, with an amazed look, immediately exclaimed, “Really? You teach this to undergrads? Wow.” And to the others he ordered, “Take that course!” My enrollments rose the following year.
The program also clarified the importance of off-campus opportunities for teaching and research (and the possible blending of the two) for me. As a consequence, I volunteered to help lead our department’s full-term Washington, D.C., off-campus program when the long-time director, Professor Steven Schier, announced this winter was his last run. I figured that if three days with students in D.C. was good, several weeks could only be better. Right? I’ll find out in 2012 or 2013.
On our final evening in the capital, the Career Center, with support from the Office of Development, hosted a social event where various distinguished alumni and a group of relatively recent grads who were just getting started in D.C. met with the students. The energy generated by this mix of established alumni, recent grads, and current students was fantastic. The recent grads were happy to answer questions from current students about getting a start in D.C. (working on the Hill, finding apartments and roommates, etc.) while they and the students happily networked with our honored guests. The dynamic of the room perfectly demonstrated the institutional benefits that accrue from an engaged and appreciated network of alumni who are encouraged to connect with and mentor students and young graduates. I’m looking forward to the day a few years from now when I can call up a senior governmental official and ask “Hey, can you make some time for our off-campus studies group? … Yes, they’re all just like you when you were at that social gathering way back in 2008.”
As a final note, lest any readers think I deserve any credit for this program, I must assert that it was entirely the result of the efforts of the Career Center staff, especially Richard Berman and Mike Hendel (who accompanied the group), and parents Kim Conroy and Penny Rashin who are testament to the fact that active parents are a vital contributing element to the College’s network.
Learn more about the Scholars program, or sign up to volunteer.