693CommunityCreatesSupport

(Note: This page addresses 2 knowledge claims, related to support and leadership.)


 * K: What do we Know?**

1) A post graduation community can be a source for networking and mutual support. Upon graduation, former students reach another stage of life in which, the options can be innumerable and mind-boggling. Having the cohesiveness of pre-graduation will foster a climate of security to the post graduates who can in part rely on one another in seeking jobs, finding companionship and so on. We can see that in many successful alumni groups that constantly get together to renew old bonds and exchange knowledge and information and provide emotional support and encouragement to one another and to others. For example, at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, there are alumni groups such as the Native American Alumni Association of Dartmouth (NAAAD) that has members getting together constantly to help give support to new Native American recruits at the university. The Women in Engineering and Science (WISP), Dartmouth Lawyers Association and many others at the university are all good examples of successful and strong alumni groups that serve certain missions and actively engage in constructive activities as post graduation communities.

2) Leadership is important in getting people organized. In almost any organizational setting, we can find the presence of leadership salient and essential. Effective leadership skills are often the indispensable elements that unite people and maintain cohesiveness and purposefulness.

(Specify which people, i.e., who would be in the constituency you would need to help build.)
 * A: Action: What could people do on the basis of this knowledge?**

1) It is thus important for the CCT program to have a post graduation community so that our graduates can also enjoy the benefits of it. We should establish a strong alumni tradition so that in years to come we can always call upon former graduates to come together to exchange fruitful ideas and knowledge and so on.

2) We could have a sort of leadership structure or management team that can oversee the establishment and maintenance of a CCT alumni group. What more do we Need to know—in order to clarify what people could do, or to revise/refine the knowledge, or to enlist someone in your constituency.
 * Q: Questions for Inquiry **

1) We do not know what people generally think of these and how they feel about building and maintaining a somewhat formal post graduation community Even if they think that a post graduation community is important, they may not necessarily be inclined to join it.

2) They may not necessarily be approving of the presence of leadership in this organizational context.


 * F: How to Find this out?**

The questionnaire serves as a way to ask questions that directly or indirectly address the issues that I am inquiring about. These issues are crucial to the goal of building a post graduation CCT community outlined under the action section. The questionnaire results provide me with data that requires further analysis in order project to me a general picture of what the psychology of the graduate students is. Without finding out about these matters, there is much uncertainty about specific actions to take. In light of the statistical data and the resulting quantitative and qualitative analysis of it, clearer steps could be taken to work towards the goals.

(original page by Beck Hing Lee)