The Pears Foundation

Alumni Workshop in Plant Sciences

September 6 – 12, 2009

Alumni Updates

What are our M.Sc. alumni doing today, both personally and professionally?

We're sure many of the alumni are curious about their colleagues. We certainly are, and the donors who have provided scholarships to alumni would also like to know where their scholars are and what they are doing now.

During the welcome session & buffet, we'll screen pictures and hear alumni tell a bit about their current lives. Then and throughout the week - there will be lots of time to mix-and-mingle with each other personally.

The planned professional up-dates will be based on round-table discussions by alumni, grouped in panels based on their current work and fields of interest. Professional plans and hopes will certainly be of interest, perhaps raising issues/problems/questions that may be shared by alumni from different countries/years of study.

In addition to participating alumni, the M.Sc. students will be invited to these presentations, along with interested members of the Faculty staff.

It should allow alumni to form contacts with others in related fields. This is also an excellent opportunity for openings to collaboration between alumni and staff.

To broaden the potential for networking, a new alumni website is now part of a new Division for External Studies site. Both professional and personal alumni up-dates are being posted. The site will provide additional exposure to work being done in the field and to solutions being sought in particularly problematic situations. Appropriate material from the workshop will be uploaded and brought to the attention of alumni not able to attend. We've also started a Facebook group for alumni.