By Genoa Sibold-Cohn
Velocity Contributor
If you’re looking online for classmate Alison Ferguson, you’ll find her on three social networks: Facebook, LinkedIn and City University of Seattle’s official Alumni Online Community.
Ferguson is one of nearly 4,000 CityU of Seattle graduates plugged into the institution’s online community. Think Facebook or LinkedIn but exclusively for CityU alumni.
Like these social networking sites, alumni can query the online community and discover what classmates have been doing since graduation. It’s the perfect way to network if you’re job hunting or want to reconnect with old friends.
Velocity recently asked our Alumni Online Community members to update their profiles in order to put together some interesting fast facts about alumni. These facts include the top 10 companies and top five school districts where community members hold positions, the top five graduating classes with online community memberships, the top five states where community members live and the top five countries represented by members.
Velocity then contacted a handful of alumni in these categories and asked them to reflect on their time at CityU and how they’d recommend improving the student experience.
Ferguson, a 2002 CityU graduate who earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a Marketing emphasis, valued being able to work in her field of choice while working on her degree.
“It gave me knowledge to take back directly to my employer and incorporate into daily practice,” says Ferguson, who lives in Port Moody, British Columbia. Canada ranks second, behind the United States, where Alumni Online Community members reside.
Kyle McLeod is one of 200 CityU alumni who are registered with the online community and have identified themselves as working for a Washington state school district. He has two degrees from CityU - a Bachelor of Science in Computer Systems with a Networking/Telecommunications emphasis and a Master of Science in Project Management - along with a Graduate Certificate in Project Management. He holds a position in the Bellevue School District as an IT / capital construction project manager.
“Overall, I really enjoyed the CityU experience,” McLeod says. “The ability to interact with students and staff who are practicing professionals in many diverse fields offered fresh insights and approaches in all of my classes.”
Janka Belanova, a 2005 graduate working for IBM Slovakia, praises CityU for creating family-like relationships for students and instructors. The class of 2005 has 508 registered members in the CityU Alumni Online Community.
“Given that to my knowledge there are two schools in Slovakia (one in Bratislava and one in Trencin), it was a great mood at school…everyone knew everyone, networking worked 100 percent,” Belanova says.
Nine years after Washington State Rep. Larry Haler (R-WA) graduated from CityU with a MBA, he still values the relationships he formed with students and his instructors.
“We valued our friendships and valued being able to share our work experiences and being able to grow from what other people were going through,” Haler says.
His instructors - who came from various business backgrounds - taught him skills, such as how to read a budget and do a break-even analysis.
“I’ve been able to apply that in my political position,” Haler says. “All these other things have helped me be a successful state legislator.”
To help improve the student experience, Haler encourages CityU to counsel students interested in Ph.D. programs.
Ralph Boy is among the 224 alumni registered with the Alumni Online Community who work for Boeing - the leading employer for CityU graduates in the online community. Boy, who earned a MBA with a Project Management emphasis, appreciated CityU’s evening classes for a full-degree graduate program. He also valued the real world skills he learned from instructors. To improve the student experience, Boy recommends more out-of-the-classroom education.
“I would recommend having field trips where the students have the opportunity to go into other companies or other situations that have a real world application of what is being taught,” Boy says.
Have you joined the online community? If not, visit alumni.cityu.edu and get started on a membership. Remember to keep your profile updated so it reflects your current contact information and job details. You can try an advanced search by name, keyword, location and country or perform a basic search.
Learn more about the Alumni Online Community! Just visit alumni.cityu.edu.
Alumni Online Community Membership - By the numbers
Top five graduating classes with online community memberships
2005: 508
2006: 344
2007: 311
2004: 263
2008: 251
Top five states where alumni live
Washington: 2,204
Oregon: 83
California: 135
Texas: 70
Florida: 57
Top five countries where alumni live
United States: 3,121
Canada: 187
China: 79
Slovak Republic: 57
Egypt: 51
Top 10 companies where community members hold positions
Boeing: 224
Microsoft: 39
U.S. Navy: 26
State of Washington: 23
Paccar: 13
United States Air Force: 13
Weyerhaeuser: 10
Honeywell: 6
Washington Mutual Bank: 5
Starbucks: 4
Top school districts in Washington state where community members hold positions
Seattle: 15
Puyallup: 9
Vancouver: 9
Bellevue: 9
Kent: 8
Lake Washington: 8
Evergreen: 8
Top five professions
Education - 682
Management - 297
Business - 234
Computers - 228
Engineering - 163
May 3rd, 2010 at 7:10 pm
Hello ! I am Mr. Pracha Trakarnsilp, THAILAND.
I was a graduated student in MBA (Information Systems) during 1983-1984. It is 26 years ago.
I would like to say Hello to all Alumni.
Is there any my classmate in MBA (Information Systems) On-line ?
You can contact me at pracha@pcts2004.com and tpracha@yahoo.com
Regards,
Pracha Trakarnsilp.