Photo by Gary Wayne Gilbert
Boston College’s ever-expanding global reach now extends to an online mentoring platform that links BC undergraduate and graduate students with alumni worldwide.
Eagle Exchange, a collaboration between the Boston College Alumni Association and the Career Center, facilitates career-related connections, conversations, and networking by providing alumni the opportunity to share professional expertise and serve as a resource for both students and fellow graduates.
“Eagle Exchange will be the touchpoint connecting the talents and good will among our 184,000 alumni throughout the world,” says Alumni Association Board of Directors President Kevin McLaughlin ’78. “It incorporates superior, best-in-class technology to introduce, connect, build, and maintain impactful relationships between students and alumni—and among alumni themselves—for meaningful ongoing career and personal development. The Alumni Association is very pleased to collaborate with the Career Center on this important offering.”
With alumni representation in some 145 countries, the platform has enormous potential to help students and alumni build a community of personalized career support, according to its architects.
“We are thrilled that Eagle Exchange is a space where the global BC network will come alive through professional conversations, connections, and mentorship,” adds BC Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations Leah M. DeCosta.
“Our alumni have always expressed an interest in giving back by way of supporting current students as mentors, and we anticipate an overwhelmingly strong response from our alumni to join Eagle Exchange. We are now able to provide our alumni the opportunity to engage in a more meaningful way by sharing their career journeys and experiences with not only current students, but fellow alumni.”
Through Eagle Exchange, alumni participants select the ways to engage, whether serving as a mentor, sharing industry insights, discussing work/life balance, or helping with resume or interview preparation. BC staff members are also invited to join the community. Once alumni complete profiles, students and other alumni may view them and reach out to ask a question or request a conversation. Participants can expand their networks by making direct connections, gain valuable perspective from the global BC community, and make career-related queries through industry and affinity groups.
Associate Vice President for Career Services Joseph Du Pont underscores the value of Eagle Exchange in connecting students online to the power of the BC alumni community.
“Students benefit so much from speaking to alumni about their career paths, and we want to do everything we can to make that process easier,” says Du Pont. “We have been looking for a way to scale student access to alumni worldwide for career advice, and Eagle Exchange helps us do that without losing the personal component of these relationships. That was important to us.”
Carroll School of Management sophomore Bijoy Shah likens Eagle Exchange to a LinkedIn for Boston College students.
“Not only do I get all the features of LinkedIn," says Shah, "but I can also join groups and discussions particular to my interests and get advice from alumni. The best part about Eagle Exchange is that it is just within the Boston College community. I’ll be making the most of it, and I highly recommend it to any BC student who needs career advice.”
Alumni will be eager to embrace Eagle Exchange, predicts BCAA Board Vice President Ileana Jiménez Garcîa ’87. “BC alumni were ‘paying it forward’ before the term was coined. We have some of the most engaged and active alumni in the country. It’s a blessing and a tribute to the sense of community instilled in us by our alma mater. Eagle Exchange is a great way to continue to live in service to others and stay involved with the University, using the tools of our digital age.”
For more information about Eagle Exchange, and to access the registration process for participants, visit bc.edu/eagleexchange.
University Communications | October 2019