Looking Back to Move Forward

Issue 14 · Spring 2009
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Stories about the days when Wesleyan was an all-male college aren’t heard every day on campus. As part of the Unconventional Wisdom: Legacies of Success series, Randall Pinkston ’72, P ’05, kept the audience members’ attention with those memories and much more. Pinkston, a national correspondent with CBS News in New York, spoke openly about how his time at Wesleyan in the late ’60s/early ’70s sparked a curiosity that has served him well throughout his career. “Wesleyan was a place that allowed me to consider and explore endless possibilities regularly—inside and outside of the classroom,” shared Pinkston.

Created and sponsored by Kurt ’87, P’12 and Michelle Anderson-Lyn ’84, P’12 with the Career Resource Center and the Alumni of Color Network, this career networking series, Unconventional Wisdom: Legacies of Success, was designed to bring prominent alumni back to campus to share “insider” information with current students. “That’s where the ‘unconventional’ comes in” says Anderson-Lyn, a pediatrician, and mother of Kurt ’12, whose initial career goal seems to be law, like his father. “It’s important for the students to hear that sometimes people take alternative paths to reach their goal—or maybe they change their mind along the way. They need mentors.” The Lyns were particularly interested in attracting students who may not know professionals from within their familial circle. They hoped the aspiring professionals would hear about the rewards, challenges, and changes that people go through when they embark on a professional career.

While sharing a meal together on a Tuesday evening in late February, Mr. Pinkston took center stage and encouraged the diverse audience of students to embrace the support offered to them as Wesleyan students. “I want students to gain hope and encouragement from successful and productive alumni. It’s often eye-opening for current students to hear alumni say they didn’t have all the answers when they left Wesleyan,” said Persephone Hall, associate director to employer relations in Wesleyan’s Career Resource Center. The need for this type of connection and informal mentoring is enormous. “The speaker was great and the whole event was enjoyable and informative,” expressed one student. For more details, visit http://newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2009/03/05/alumni-of-color-share-legacies-of-success/

Unconventional Wisdom: Legacies of Success will focus on a variety of career fields each semester to provide valuable insight and support. Contact Persephone Hall at phall@wesleyan.edu for more information.

Please take some time to share with your fellow alumni what you’ve been up to recently! Send us commentary, photos and/or articles of your latest happenings. Please forward your submissions to Sandy Tello ’06, 77 Pearl Street, Middletown, CT 06459 or stello@wesleyan.edu.