On October 20, 2019, Rutgers Global hosted an alumni reception at the Shanghai Qiantan Royal Music Center in China, and welcomed more than 70 alumni and past visiting scholars representing a range of Rutgers schools, including the Rutgers Business School, the School of Engineering, the Rutgers Law School, the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, and the Rutgers University--New Brunswick School of Arts and Sciences. This event marked the first time that Rutgers Global hosted an alumni event in China. Take a look at some photos from the reception here. Here is a student-created video that was shared at the event.
“We wanted this reception to be a celebration of our international Rutgers alumni, as well as an opportunity to share with them exciting recent developments and future growth happening at Rutgers,” said Vice President for Global Affairs Eric Garfunkel, who attended the event.
Another goal for the alumni reception was to both strengthen existing connections and build new networks for Rutgers University’s international alumni community. Rutgers Global partnered with the Rutgers Office of Career Exploration and Success on the event to provide networking opportunities for alumni to continue their career development, as well as a chance for alumni to connect with current students to help with internship, mentorship, or career options.
Director of Career Exploration and Success Janet Jones shared: “Our purpose was to introduce alumni located in China to our recruiting services at Rutgers, and to learn about potential internships and jobs for our current Chinese students. In addition, we encouraged all alumni participants to join our Student-Alumni Career Connect (SACC) platform to serve as mentors by providing coaching and advice to our students.”
The Rutgers alumni who attended the reception represented a wide variety of Chinese and international industry and higher education institutions, including Standard Chartered Bank, PingAn Bank, Honeywell, Ctrip, China Merchant Bank, McKinsey, Prudential, Shanghai Jiaotong University, and Fudan University.
Key senior staff from Rutgers Global and the Office of Career Exploration and Success were present at the event, including Dr. Garfunkel and Ms. Jones, as well as Assistant Vice President for Global Affairs Jeff Wang, Associate Director for Employer Development Michelle St. George, Assistant Dean for Rutgers Business School International Programs Dietrich Tschanz, and Director of Rutgers Bejing Center Xingcai Liu.
The group also heard from two proud Rutgers alums living in China: Florian Heiner, General Manager of the Hilton Hotel in Shanghai, who received his Executive MBA from Rutgers, and Li Yulin, from East China University of Science and Technology.
Dr. Wang believes that the event was a success. He reflected: “We were delighted to have the opportunity to connect with our alumni community in Shanghai, and were very pleased with the connections made through this event. We are committed to continuing to engage with our ever-growing international Rutgers alumni community through future events.”