Launch U

YOUR ideas can take you anywhere! Follow your interests and passions to develop a short-term and self-paced project. By connecting around a common interest, you engage alumni, faculty, and others—a group we collectively refer to as your Network Associates—to support your project and develop the beginnings of a professional network to launch your career! 

-Completed as an internship for credit (eligible for 0-6 credits)

-Can be done in any semester and is flexible to your needs – can be completed over the summer without interfering with a summer job or additional internship!

-Builds valuable alumni connections and experience!

FAQ

• • 1. Why should I do this? What’s in it for me?

    • This program is all about helping you build and advance your career. It doesn’t matter what career you have in mind, what major you are pursuing, or even what project you develop! The project is simply a tool for you to explore an interest while building a professional network. The goal is to collaborate with alumni and other professionals on the project to build your network.

      We’ll kickstart the process by giving you exclusive access to a pool of experienced professionals, primarily Quinnipiac alumni and friends of the College of Arts & Sciences (Network Associates), who have agreed to work with us; However, you are also free—and encouraged—to pursue other Network Associates. This is all about leveraging your project as a tool to make connections, so shoot high!

  • 2. What is a Network Associate?

    • Traditionally, mentors serve in an inspirational role. They work with students to provide advice, motivation, and serve as role models. Typically, a student (mentee) would only have one mentor at a time.

      Network Associates are problem solvers. They collaborate with you on a project of your choosing. They help with guidance to solve specific challenges, offer introductions, connections, and access to people, and direct opportunities to collaborate. Since Network Associates are helping you to solve a problem, you might use several Network Associates at once, each helping with a different aspect of your project. Your Network Associates are your consultants and, potentially, partners for your project.

  • 3. What do you mean by “project”?

    • Projects are tangible, finite, meaningful things providing us a reason to engage with people. They should be related to something you are already interested in or curious to learn about—it should feel like fun, not work. Perhaps you are interested in helping women build careers in science (because YOU are a women interested in a career in science!)? Your project could be organizing and hosting a one-hour panel discussion for QU women in STEM majors. If that seems like too much work, you could simply make the project to write a series of three blog posts about women in science careers and interview 4-5 Network Associates as subjects for your series.

      Your project gives you a context or a tactical reason to engage with someone beyond, “Will you be my mentor?” or “Can I pick your brain?”. The project matches YOUR interests, and you seek out Network Associates who can collaborate with you in small ways to help you complete it. You are the project leader.

  • 4. What are some examples of projects?

    • As a student, Network Associates are more likely to engage with you than they might be with experienced professionals. Think of projects that would require, or be helped by, collaboration and that leverage your position as a student. • Could you write a short series of blog posts for CAS360 on a topic of interest and interview alumni for the series? • Begin work on a book? • Arrange a concert or art exhibit? • Plan a student conference, networking event, or event series? • Develop a professional development workshop or workshop series? • Create a limited-run podcast or series? • Develop a research project with the goal of being published in an academic or industry publication? • Create a YouTube show or short series? Whatever your choose, remember the goal is for this to support your vision of your purpose and passions. It should be interesting and fun to YOU and should be something you can reasonably finish or make substantial progress on in three to four months.

  • 5. How do I get started?

    • Required Pre-Project Consultation and Project Idea Review – for all participants
      • One 30-minute Zoom or in-person meeting per student with Director of Career Development
      • Review program goals, etiquette, expectations
      • Student presents project idea(s)
      • Confirm understanding and commitment to process as ‘project leader’
    • EMAIL Rick DelVecchio, director of career development, for more information and to apply! 

Based on the book Super Mentors: The Ordinary Person’s Guide to Asking Extraordinary People for Help, Eric Koster with Adam Saves, New Degree Press, 2022, ISBN 979-8-88504-290-1