Switchboard Blog What Alumni Relations and Career Services Have Accomplished Together at the University of Rochester

What does it actually look like? What do we get out of it? How do we make it happen? These are the three central questions facing any attempt to break down walls between offices. The barrier between alumni relations and career services is one of the most heavily scrutinized, but many alumni relations and career services teams still struggle to answer those three questions when considering a partnership or merger. Some institutions, though, have managed to answer them. Michelle Marks-Hook, Volunteer Program Director at the University of Rochester's Gwen M. Green Center, recently presented on the topic at the CASE District 2 Conference. I discussed her presentation with her beforehand to learn more about how the alumni relations and career services teams at the U of R are working together, what they get out of it, and how they made it happen. Here's our conversation, lightly edited for clarity and continuity.