Alumni Host Career Forum

Approximately 200 undergraduates took part yesterday in career discussion forums at the Faculty Club intended to increase student interest in community service, organizers said.

Sponsored by the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA), the meeting featured four panels of distinguished alumni with careers in international, service-related fields, including the Consulate General of the Korean Embassy Kim Moon Ban '84.

"We're trying to urge students to consider careers in fields where their help is needed," said Kathleen H. Massimilian, who is a member of the HAA Undergraduate Relations Committee which coordinated the panels.

"There has been a good deal of talk within HAA of increasing alumni's interest in community service," Massimilian said. She said that the committee selected an international theme because of President Bok's 1987 call to internationalize the University.

A survey of the Harvard Class of '88 released last fall revealed that the number of seniors entering academic and service fields rose significantly for the first time in several years, while the number selecting professional or business careers declined.

"You are here to educate the world, not just to be educated," civil law attorney Avarita L. Hanson '75 told students at a panel discussion on "Politics and Leadership."

Hanson's remarks echoed a tone maintained throughout the day as alumni working in the international aspects of foreign investment, health care, government and religion described their experiences to students.

"I think it's very important to have undergraduates have the opportunity to talk to people who are out in the field," said William L. McLennan, Jr., Tufts University chaplain. McLennan, a Divinity and Law School graduate, added that the panels also let the alumni learn what students are thinking. "I wish we had a chance to do a little bit more of that," he said.

Massimilian, who graduated from the School of Public Health, said most alumni share McLennan's view. "Surprisingly, when it's done for students, they're happy to come back and talk," she said. "They love it."

McLennan's panel, titled "Religion and Faith," discussed missionary service as well as involvement in controversial issues such as Central America and South Africa.

This is the second year that career discussion panels have been held as part of the winter HAA Directors' Meeting, Massimilian said, although last year's program lacked a central theme. Committee members had worried that this year's international theme "might exclude some people," Massimilian said, but added that she believed the panels attracted a variety of students.

Some undergraduates, however, said they were disappointed that not all panel members worked in related fields. "I was expecting to hear more about working in international relations," said Sally E. Park '92, who attended the panel on "Politics and Leadership." She called the careers of some of the panel members "more domestic."